Do I have to actually weigh my food?

If you don't weigh your food you're basically just guessing. Guessing can lead to you accidentally imbibing more calories and not losing or underestimating and not eating all that you could.

How else will you measure it?

Only if you want an accurate count of calories that you're consuming.

You don't have to weigh food in order to lose weight, but it's the best way to ensure you're being as accurate as possible with your diet, otherwise it's just guesswork and very easy to get wrong.

I don't, and I've lost 40 pounds. However, I almost never eat all the way to 0 calories left. Leaving a few gives me wiggle room if something is inaccurate.

You don't have to. I just found that it was much easier for my peace of mind than guessing (and it turns out I was HORRIBLE at guessing).

You're an adult. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do.

But that's the wrong question.

I resisted the idea of weighing food for a long time. I posted a question like yours, too. My reasoning was that every part of the equation is a gross estimate, so how much real difference could it make to tighten up only one component. Also, I felt like it was obsessive and what would my husband think if he caught me weighing my food?

I was never fully convinced but I got a scale anyway just to see what would change. I found that I had been overestimating food intake and so I could actually eat more than I had been. That was welcome news. And my husband never questioned it...at least to me.

If you are satisfied with your progress then maybe you don't want to fix what isn't broken. You can always try weighing food later on if that ever changes.

I have never weighed my food. I do sometimes measure things I use often, like butter or milk, to be sure I'm staying consistent. This has worked for me, but I've read many posts here from folks who aren't losing because they don't log accurately. When I started MFP I was very educated and aware of calories in foods. Lots of people aren't. It depends on the person.

Mike02209 wrote: »

I try to weigh/measure everything, just curious what people do to measure peanut butter without making a sticky mess. I have been estimating 2 tablespoons, but that is subject to error.

Put the jar on the scale and scoop it out. I used to just weigh it going on whatever I was putting it on, but that wasn't accounting for what was left on the knife (and if you're like me, you lick the knife afterwards).

IF you have a lot of weight to loose estimating will work short term. The more you loose and less calories you need, the more it will get harder to use estimating to loose weight.

You don't have to, and there are some tricks to get around some of the weighing. Although all of this is about accuracy. Can I build a shed without measuring boards? yup, will it be "great" probably not.


Take a crock pot meal for example. I figure out the entire pot. It is fairly easy if most things are predetermined and I only have to worry about vegetables. (chicken says how much it weighs on the package).

Then I make the whole pot a meal in mfp. Split it up into say 5 containers. Then I just log 0.2 of my meal every time I have one. Everything is then evened out in the end.

same thing like with milk. There are 16 cups in a gallon of milk. As long as you get 16 "cups" out of the gallon it doesn't matter if some were more and some were less. (if other people are drinking it, kinda doesn't work so well).