Do I really need to weigh food?
purplebirdey8080
Posts: 5 Member
New-ish to MFP (one month). Had a big loss the first two weeks I was counting and nothing the second two weeks (a few splurge days, maybe?) I never counted calories so this is a big change all around...I keep reading that people weigh their food? Is it that important? Like if the package says two pieces of bread is 140 calories, do I not believe it? My diary is open, so feedback welcome (please, be kind stranger)!
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If you stop losing it may help. Our eyes play tricks on us and we underestimate portions. Here is a great video demonstrating why weighing is important:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vjKPIcI51lU 11 -
For myself, I do. And yes, often times packaging is not accurate. Sometimes a piece of bread weighs a lot more than what is stated on package. So if I didn't I'd be eating a lot more calories if I did that on everything. But there are people who don't. Just know if you start having trouble losing, it could be because of being inaccurate.2
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MeganMoroz89 wrote: »I know that a lot of people do but I don't. I'm just cognizant that there are going to be times where I'm inputting a meal and I am most likely eating more calories than MFP says that I am. Because of that, I have my activity level set to sedentary (I also work a desk job) and I don't eat my exercise calories back.
It's worked for me.
Ditto.
I do weigh loose stuff but I don't double check packet weights.5 -
I think that measuring out (I've done a ton of cooking and baking, so if it is a low calorie item like veggies, I tend to just eyeball it because I am familiar with both the volume based measurements and weight measurements) is close enough. Granted, I have a low enough calorie goal that an extra couple of calories are not going to make a huge difference. I also usually don't eat back a ton of my exercise calories. I used to weigh religiously, but I really only pull my scale out for certain high calorie items like nuts. If you are happy with your progress without weighing, than just keep doing that. If you stall or aren't at least measuring some way (i.e. with a measuring cup or following the package when it says 4 crackers is a serving), than I would vote for weighing. Especially when new and might be overestimating portion size.Good luck!3
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Being new and depending on how much you have to lose, you WILL benefit from using a food scale. Packaged foods that you can scan are not so important as things like weighing meat, vegetables, fruits and cereals to help you start to gauge portion sizes.4
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When I began counting calories, I didn't weigh my food. Fortunately, I was pretty good at eyeballing my food and I was losing weight pretty well... until it got to a point that I stopped losing. That's when I decided to buy a food scale and that has helped me to continue losing pounds. Being as precise as possible is what helps. Although there are certain things that I still don't weigh, like my slices of bread or tortillas, but at the moment that hasn't stopped my progress. If my progress stalls, then I'll get even more precise and weigh what I haven't weighed so far.
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You don't have to do anything you don't want to do.
If you are asking if weighing your food will increase the accuracy of your calorie logging in a way that will better enable you to accurately predict and adjust your weight loss then yes.
If you are asking if you HAVE to do it, no...no one is forcing you to do anything. Do whatever you want.13 -
You don't HAVE to. If you want as close to accuracy in your calorie consumption, this is the way to do it. If you have a good amount of weight to lose, it won't matter in the beginning, but later it can..
However, my husband lost 65 pounds and has never logged one single calorie! He encouraged me to do it because I had trouble losing. For me I needed extra help and tools.
So it can be done, my own husband is a testament. I will add that he ate what dinners I fixed, but he was on his own from morning till dinner time. What he ate in those hours was on his own. So I take no credit.4 -
If you are not going to weigh your food, there is a rule of thumb that isn't perfect but that can help---just assume that you are eating 20% above what you think you are eating.
Of course, if you are stalled and you have quite a bit of weight to lose (60+) then the more accurate you are the better off you'll be.
Good luck finding what works best for you and your lifestyle.2 -
It is a bit of a chore to begin with but weighing your food is probably the best way to accurately calculate the calories you're consuming. It's SO easy to over/under estimate if you measure things by eye.2
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If you are not going to weigh your food, there is a rule of thumb that isn't perfect but that can help---just assume that you are eating 20% above what you think you are eating.
Of course, if you are stalled and you have quite a bit of weight to lose (60+) then the more accurate you are the better off you'll be.
Good luck finding what works best for you and your lifestyle.
20% seems like a lot. Especially if you your target is 1,200 per day. If you are using packaging sizes, I bet you would be closer to 1-5% off. In the example of 1,200 per day, you could wind up eating ~950 a day, which would start getting close to eating disorder territory.0 -
I don't. I do measure and over estimate my intake. It's working fine for me.0
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If you're losing weight as expected then no, you don't have to weigh your food. Weighing everything you eat becomes important when weight loss stalls, plateaus or you gain, but if everything is going along swimmingly, then save the scales for when/if they are needed.
As for weighing bread.. The info on my loaf of bread says 2 slices equals 83g, but in reality they are 101g, quest bars say 60g, but they usually weigh 65-66g. If i trusted the package info for everything i eat, i would be eating way more calories than i thought..4 -
You don't have to. For that matter, you don't even have to count calories, but it's a good technique for sustainable weight loss and weighing food enables you to be more accurate in tracking consumption.
What I like about accurate calorie counts are the fact I can trend my calories and my weight and come up with a good estimate of my actual TDEE. It also helps me decide by how much I should adjust my calorie targets.4 -
It's a very useful tool in knowing how many calories you're eating, which is very useful information in the process of losing weight. Think of it as a very odd game you play.0
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I weigh all of my food whilst I am trying to lose weight. (I didn't weigh for the first 2 months but still lost weight). Before scales, my eyeballing/guesstimates were waaaay off! Do it only if it suits you and your needs.1
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Lasmartchika wrote: »When I began counting calories, I didn't weigh my food. Fortunately, I was pretty good at eyeballing my food and I was losing weight pretty well... until it got to a point that I stopped losing. That's when I decided to buy a food scale and that has helped me to continue losing pounds. Being as precise as possible is what helps. Although there are certain things that I still don't weigh, like my slices of bread or tortillas, but at the moment that hasn't stopped my progress. If my progress stalls, then I'll get even more precise and weigh what I haven't weighed so far.
This^
"Plateaus" related to inaccurate counting are so annoying. When you get closer to goal, your deficit becomes smaller. More accuracy can help.1 -
Thanks all! Gonna maybe give it a bit, overestimate what I am eating and go for there - I guess I should have said my starting weight is 160, end goal 135.2
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purplebirdey8080 wrote: »Thanks all! Gonna maybe give it a bit, overestimate what I am eating and go for there - I guess I should have said my starting weight is 160, end goal 135.
If you get stuck, you know what to do.4 -
I don't YET. I measured cheese a few times to be able to eyeball 1oz. BUT I'm set to lose 2lbs a week. If I go over slightly I'm still ok. I also don't eat my exercise calories back YET (I'm only walking) to help cover for any overages.
Having said all of that I'm sure I cheat myself some calories and some days I'm over due to not weighing. My goal has been from day 1 to learn while I'm losing to get a good feel of calorie count and portion so I can eat this way for life hopefully without weighing.
Disclaimer: I may change my mind if weight stops coming off for weeks or when I get closer to goal as I hear its a much slower rate of losing.1 -
I did weigh food in the beginning to help me get an idea of portion sizes. Then when I thought I had gotten the hang of it I would do a 'maintenance trial' and not weigh food for a bit and if/when the weight started to creep up, I would start weighing food again. I really don't want to be weighing food every day for the rest of my life.3
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purplebirdey8080 wrote: »Like if the package says two pieces of bread is 140 calories, do I not believe it? My diary is open, so feedback welcome (please, be kind stranger)!
The last loaf of bread I bought said 2 slices = 50 g = 130 cals. I weighed one slice. It was 55 g. So, actually, 2 slices = 110 g = 286 cals.
Packages don't usually lie by that much (and I find bread to be worse for misreporting portion size than most other food), but if you stop losing, you may want to look into weighing your food. If you can lose without weighing then you don't need to weigh.
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My scale has been the most useful practice in my weight loss. After goal I got a bit lazy and weight starting slowly creeping back. Back to the scale, and back to goal. But to your question, no you don't have to use a scale to lose.1
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I don't weigh anything but pretty much everything I eat I cook myself so I know what I am putting on my plate and even if some items are a little off, it averages out.
Even if your calorie counting is perfect, your weight will still fluctuate quite a bit just from water weight. I weigh myself once a week on Sunday morning. Some weeks, it is disappointing not to see the improvement I expect but then I typically see a bigger jump the following week or vice versa.5 -
weighing food is the newest big rant on here. I weigh for reference to educate myself.. I know now what two to three ounces of meat look like and two ounces of uncooked pasta. My work there was done. Don't want to weigh each bite i eat forever.3
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If you stop losing it may help. Our eyes play tricks on us and we underestimate portions. Here is a great video demonstrating why weighing is important:https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vjKPIcI51lU
See.. i wouldn't weigh this stuff.. i just wouldn't eat chips or a creamy salad dressing.0 -
do what works for you. i have lost quite a bit of weight, and i never weigh my food. i do weigh myself every day though.1
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purplebirdey8080 wrote: »New-ish to MFP (one month). Had a big loss the first two weeks I was counting and nothing the second two weeks (a few splurge days, maybe?) I never counted calories so this is a big change all around...I keep reading that people weigh their food? Is it that important? Like if the package says two pieces of bread is 140 calories, do I not believe it? My diary is open, so feedback welcome (please, be kind stranger)!
if you're going to do this then you may find the closer accuracy that comes with weighing food to be helpful
But no there's no rule ...do what works for you0 -
You don't need to but if you want than you can.
If you want to lose weight than eat not more than 1/3 rd of your stomach and drink not more than 1/3 Rd of your stomach. And don't eat more than 3 times a day. You will be suprised of the results you see.0 -
I don't weigh things like slices of Wonder bread or packaged things but I do weigh things like meat, cheese, anything really calorie dense. If I were to stall (and I have) I'd just evaluate if I'm being as accurate as I can be. There are days I weigh vegetables I chop and there are days I eyeball 2tbsp of mayo. You need to collect more than two weeks of data to know what you can and can not get away with1
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