Started weighing food.....

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trudie_b
trudie_b Posts: 230 Member
in Food and Nutrition
..... instead of measuring by volume (cups) or size (medium sweet potato), and I'm shocked at how many more calories I've been eating than I realised. Like, 500 more a day!!!! And yet, I've steadily continued to lose weight and inches. I can only assume that my calorie output is also higher than I realised!

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  • Jules_farmgirl
    Jules_farmgirl Posts: 225 Member
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    Weighing food is much more accurate! Good for you! I always still pay attention to how big those portions are on my plate so when I am somewhere I can't weight my food, I can still be as accurate as possible!

    Calories burned are usually over estimated on more apps and trackers unfortunately, be careful if you are eating back those calories!
  • crzycatlady1
    crzycatlady1 Posts: 1,930 Member
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    It really is eye opening using a food scale! I'm several years into maintenance and I still use mine regularly :)
  • markrgeary1
    markrgeary1 Posts: 853 Member
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    Glad to hear. I found the same to be true.
  • williams969
    williams969 Posts: 2,528 Member
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    Oh, such an eye opener, indeed! I (and probably all of us) believed I was a great portion estimator. Well, my eyeball sizes and measuring spoons (and expanding waistline) proved that was lie, lol! And a food scale is actually more simple to use; no sink full of dirty measuring cups and spoons.
  • successgal1
    successgal1 Posts: 996 Member
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    I actually found I was underestimating vegetables and found I can fill up on more when I weigh them. I was close on meats, not a big deal. Being the chief cook around here my eyeballing of cups and tablespoons is pretty accurate. I always told my SO he was WAY over estimating things like butter. He finally became serious about losing weight though and had the sad enlightenment of how little butter there really is in a tablespoon!
  • Hamsibian
    Hamsibian Posts: 1,388 Member
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    when I got my scale, I found out how much I was under eating. I am trying to gain weight, so this tool is wonderful both ways!
  • comptonelizabeth
    comptonelizabeth Posts: 1,701 Member
    edited January 2017
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    Hamsibian wrote: »
    when I got my scale, I found out how much I was under eating. I am trying to gain weight, so this tool is wonderful both ways!

    I was using a traditional scale. Just bought a digital one and I've actually been underestimating and eating more than I thought. I'm trying to gain weight too and seem to have reached a plateau despite this!
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
    edited January 2017
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    A food scale was a huge revelation to me, and I doubt I'll ever be without one.

    The only things I can reliably estimate are a teaspoon of butter (oddly enough, though I still weigh this and just lop a slice off to make a game of how accurate I am) and fractions of teaspoons of spices/seasonings in the palm of my hand.
  • leanjogreen18
    leanjogreen18 Posts: 2,492 Member
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    I was surprised at how good I eyeballed on most foods I ate. Some I was under and some over. BUT on a few I had everyday - like a squirt of agave in my coffee could be a difference in 45 calories. My popcorn was off too, it seems I can eyeball close to a cup if I dole it out but in a big bowl I'm not even close on how many cups in the whole bowl.

    Lastly what I thought was a medium potato at 163 Calories was actually 300g and just under 300 calories. Whoops!!
  • JaxxieKat
    JaxxieKat Posts: 427 Member
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    Absolutely! I noticed a tremendous difference in my progress once I stopped using scoops/spoons/eyeballing to measure food and actually began weighing my portions in grams.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,134 Member
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    In for peanut butter sadness.
  • traz1973
    traz1973 Posts: 3 Member
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    I bought a digital scale and still have not used it yet. I think it's time to pull it out
  • trudie_b
    trudie_b Posts: 230 Member
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    zyxst wrote: »
    In for peanut butter sadness.

    Oh, don't!! That's been the worst revelation - what I was putting in my oatmeal as 1 tbsp of peanut butter turned out to be about 3 times the calories when I weighed it!
  • indiacaitlin
    indiacaitlin Posts: 691 Member
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    It's definitely a shock when you start weighing things out properly! But at least now you know and can start tracking even more accurately :smile:

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