Underestimating Foods? Post Please.

llbrixon
llbrixon Posts: 964 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I think I am seriously under estimating the amount of watermelon I am eating. 1/2 cup is a great amount to eat, but who only eats a small amount of watermelon? I just ate up the rest of the watermelon this morning.

We usually buy a watermelon, then cut it up in large bite-size pieces and put it in a bowl, refrigerate. Then, you grab what you want to eat. I am back to measuring!

Replies

  • johnnylakis
    johnnylakis Posts: 812 Member
    All fruit servings are measured in half cup for nutrition purposes. We are supposed to eat 4 servings of fruit per day. And by the way, a half cup of watermelon is only 30 calories.
  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
    Yes with the weighing.
  • dlkfox
    dlkfox Posts: 463 Member
    Use a food scale. It's the only way to know for sure. And it's OK to eat more than one serving, too!
  • BethAnnieT
    BethAnnieT Posts: 263 Member
    Yep I ate 1.5 lbs of watermelon the other day. Weighed it before (sliced with rind on) then weighed the rind afterward to subtract. The rind weighed almost twice as much as the edible part (fun fact).
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    I liked that "the only weigh to go", it really is! Forget about "servings", eat to satisfaction, weigh it. YOU choose how much to eat of anything, sometimes more of this, but it will have to be balanced with less of that.

    I had Galia melon today - I had to make a tough decision on whether it should last me two or three days (91 grams is a small portion, 137 is better; but three days is better than two days; but then I get to choose another fruit for Saturday instead). Oh the horrible horrible dilemmas :#
  • fr33sia12
    fr33sia12 Posts: 1,258 Member
    I never got the cup system for measuring, I don't know why foods aren't just weighed rather than filling a cup. Do you have to fill the cup level, what if the food doesn't fit in a cup, do you pack the food in tight or lose?
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    edited June 2016
    I think weighing is considered "obsessive" by many, and that measuring cups are supposed to be "easy". They are both methods to impose portion control, but one is more accurate than the other. It doesn't make sense to discourage the most accurate method. Maybe it just boils down to technophobia?
  • fitmom4lifemfp
    fitmom4lifemfp Posts: 1,572 Member
    edited June 2016
    fr33sia12 wrote: »
    Still doesn't answer my question :( But thanks for pointing out my typo, hope that made your day.

    Make my day? LOL. I was just trying to be helpful. But you have a good one. ;)

    As far as your question, some foods it does make sense to measure. Oats. Raisins. Dried cherries. Cereal. Sugar. Liquids. Obviously everything CAN be weighed...but for many people a cup is simpler.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    edited June 2016
    Ditto on buy a scale.

    kommodevaran wrote: »
    I think weighing is considered "obsessive" by many, and that measuring cups are supposed to be "easy". Maybe it just boils down to technophobia?

    Would weighing be more obsessive than wondering if you're underestimating your food constantly?
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
    Weighing is so much easier. plonk it on the scale, switch to grams, find the official entry, pick "one gram" as your serving size and enter the number of "servings." Don't panic over eating 80 "servings" of something though!
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
    And once you get used to weighing for portions? Look up baking/cooking recipes that are written for weights, like most UK recipes. It is SO EASY to just tare, add an ingredient, tare again and add again - you can mix most things in one bowl.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    Ditto on buy a scale.

    kommodevaran wrote: »
    I think weighing is considered "obsessive" by many, and that measuring cups are supposed to be "easy". Maybe it just boils down to technophobia?

    Would weighing be more obsessive than wondering if you're underestimating your food constantly?

    Yeah, I don't get this either. I love the control weighing gives me. It takes away anxiety for me, it doesn't make me more anxious.
  • fitmom4lifemfp
    fitmom4lifemfp Posts: 1,572 Member
    savithny wrote: »
    And once you get used to weighing for portions? Look up baking/cooking recipes that are written for weights, like most UK recipes. It is SO EASY to just tare, add an ingredient, tare again and add again - you can mix most things in one bowl.

    I always weigh ingredients when baking certain things (bread, and one particular cookie recipe). But for many people it's easier to just dump it in a cup. One step. Done.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    crazyravr wrote: »
    If you worry about your calories intake from eating a watermelon you have other bigger issues ;)

    Not so fast..

    there is a lot to be considered if you want to make the most of all your cals and what if you are one of the unlucky ones that is short on that 1200 calorie diet to loose ounces (that's me).. I weigh the watermelon. A half a cup of watermelon is not much fruit at all..


  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
    fitmom4lifemfp wrote: »
    savithny wrote: »
    And once you get used to weighing for portions? Look up baking/cooking recipes that are written for weights, like most UK recipes. It is SO EASY to just tare, add an ingredient, tare again and add again - you can mix most things in one bowl.

    I always weigh ingredients when baking certain things (bread, and one particular cookie recipe). But for many people it's easier to just dump it in a cup. One step. Done.

    I thought that until a British friend showed me her method:

    Bowl on scale, zero it.
    Dump in flour until it hits the right weight. Zero it.
    dump in oats until it hits the weight, zero it.
    Dump in sugar until it hits the weight, zero it.
    sprinkle in cinnamon until it hits weight.

    No finding separate 1/2 or 1/3 cups or even tablespoons, and no nondrying about whether its packed tightly enough (sugar) or sifted fluffy enough (flour) for consistency! I love it now.
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
    fitmom4lifemfp wrote: »
    savithny wrote: »
    And once you get used to weighing for portions? Look up baking/cooking recipes that are written for weights, like most UK recipes. It is SO EASY to just tare, add an ingredient, tare again and add again - you can mix most things in one bowl.

    I always weigh ingredients when baking certain things (bread, and one particular cookie recipe). But for many people it's easier to just dump it in a cup. One step. Done.

    How is dumping it in an inaccurate cup any easier than putting a bowl on the scale and dumping whatever it is in there? Or put your pot/plate/whatever on the scale, zero it and dumped the thing in until it shows the weight. Just as easy and a hell of a lot more accurate. Oh and less washing up!

    You actually won't find many British kitchens with cups at all (evident by some people asking how you know what cup to use when presented with it as a measurement). I have cups, purely because I've been known to use American recipes and am a bit too lazy to do the conversions ((though I would now for the purposes of logging accuracy).
  • llbrixon
    llbrixon Posts: 964 Member
    Another food that is hard to measure is all the popcorn I eat. I will definitely be getting out the scale for sure. I was under estimating popcorn too.
  • bkennedy29
    bkennedy29 Posts: 6 Member
    fr33sia12 wrote: »
    I never got the cup system for measuring, I don't know why foods aren't just weighed rather than filling a cup. Do you have to fill the cup level, what if the food doesn't fit in a cup, do you pack the food in tight or lose?

    You can actually use both for most food items. For example, 1 vegetable serving is 6 oz. on a scale. When you throw this into a measuring cup it's around 1 cup. If the food does not fit into a cup then definitely throw it on the scale.

    Hope this helps!
    -Britney
    @onpointphilly
  • bkennedy29
    bkennedy29 Posts: 6 Member
    llbrixon wrote: »
    Another food that is hard to measure is all the popcorn I eat. I will definitely be getting out the scale for sure. I was under estimating popcorn too.

    Make sure to measure your popped popcorn in a measuring cup. 3 cups = 1 serving. If you throw popcorn on a scale you'll end up with WAY too much, simply because it does not weight much.

    -Britney
    @onpointphilly
  • bkennedy29
    bkennedy29 Posts: 6 Member
    llbrixon wrote: »
    I think I am seriously under estimating the amount of watermelon I am eating. 1/2 cup is a great amount to eat, but who only eats a small amount of watermelon? I just ate up the rest of the watermelon this morning.

    We usually buy a watermelon, then cut it up in large bite-size pieces and put it in a bowl, refrigerate. Then, you grab what you want to eat. I am back to measuring!

    1 serving of watermelon is actually 1 1/2 cups cubed. Don't stress too much over being perfect here though. There are much worse things to be eating than watermelon. However, too much of a good thing is still too much. I would suggest keeping a 1/2 cup measuring spoon in the bowl in your refrigerator and scooping 1.5 cups it into a bowl when you get a hankering for a fruit.

    -Britney
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
    bkennedy29 wrote: »
    llbrixon wrote: »
    Another food that is hard to measure is all the popcorn I eat. I will definitely be getting out the scale for sure. I was under estimating popcorn too.

    Make sure to measure your popped popcorn in a measuring cup. 3 cups = 1 serving. If you throw popcorn on a scale you'll end up with WAY too much, simply because it does not weight much.

    -Britney
    @onpointphilly


    No, that doesn't make any sense. Logging by weight, you look for the entry in the foods list that gives you the number of calories per 100 grams. Then you weigh a bowl of popcorn, see how many grams it weighs, and record that as grams/100 (so if you eat 20 grams of popcorn, you say you ate 0.2 servings of popcorn.

    Calories and weight are not the same. You can measure by volume or weight, but measuring by weight doesn't make you pick more volume (and thus count more calories)
  • Gisel2015
    Gisel2015 Posts: 4,185 Member
    Now I want watermelon!
  • bkennedy29
    bkennedy29 Posts: 6 Member
    savithny wrote: »
    bkennedy29 wrote: »
    llbrixon wrote: »
    Another food that is hard to measure is all the popcorn I eat. I will definitely be getting out the scale for sure. I was under estimating popcorn too.

    Make sure to measure your popped popcorn in a measuring cup. 3 cups = 1 serving. If you throw popcorn on a scale you'll end up with WAY too much, simply because it does not weight much.

    -Britney
    @onpointphilly


    No, that doesn't make any sense. Logging by weight, you look for the entry in the foods list that gives you the number of calories per 100 grams. Then you weigh a bowl of popcorn, see how many grams it weighs, and record that as grams/100 (so if you eat 20 grams of popcorn, you say you ate 0.2 servings of popcorn.

    Calories and weight are not the same. You can measure by volume or weight, but measuring by weight doesn't make you pick more volume (and thus count more calories)

    Yes, you are correct. But - what most often happens is that most people do not properly convert. I'm not sure about you, but I think scooping 1 cup of popcorn is much faster and easier.

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