Weighing Food Takes Too Long And is OBSESSIVE!
Replies
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GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »I am trying to gain weight while eating on a restricted diet for health. It wasn't until I came on this site and bought a food scale to realize how much I was under eating. I know some people don't need to weigh or measure to reach their loss/gain goals - I am not one of those people. I can take the extra few minutes every day if it will improve my health in the long run.
This is a good point. I don't get the moralizing some people use about food scales. Like it's somehow superior to not use one. They're tools. If you don't want to use it, that's cool. But that doesn't make you any better or worse than someone who is choosing to use one. It's just a ... gadget. There's no moral value to a gadget that quantifies something.
There is no better or worse way to do this, and everyone has different ways of achieving their goals. If some of us choose to use a tool, I don't see why others feel the need to pass judgement on that choice.
I've said this in the past. I need my eyeglasses to see the world properly. I need my food scale to see portions properly.
So much this... Even on this thread.3 -
Tacklewasher wrote: »Larissa_NY wrote: »I've never weighed or measured my food in my entire life. I've also never been obese or even significantly overweight, and I've never had trouble losing ten or fifteen pounds when I needed to.
Weighing and measuring is okay if you need it, I guess, but not everyone does.
My wife is like that. And it is absolutely fine for those that it works for. Some are calling it intuitive eating. So,yes. Not everyone one does.
But a lot of us on this website are not that way, which is why we are here. I need a food scale and to learn proper portions etc.
People do. When I first started surfing weight loss web sites, I was amazed to discover that there were people who thought they were supposed to fill their entire plates corner to corner with food and eat all of it. It legitimately never even occurred to me to do that. Your food would touch your other food, and ick, who wants that?
That was kind of my point. Yes, there are some people who will just never have time in their lives to weigh and measure their food. There are people who think it's obsessive and don't want to do it. Those people aren't necessarily wrong. Saying "Well, I weigh and measure every morsel that goes into my mouth and it only takes .4375 seconds per day, I know because I time it" is fine for people who like doing that sort of thing, but it's not right for everyone just because it's right for the OP. People managed to diet and lose weight long before calorie-counting apps and food scales were created, just as people managed to get fat before Cheetos and Hot Pockets were invented. Just because something works for the OP doesn't mean it's a sine qua non for weight loss.2 -
OP is not saying it's necessary. She's just pointing out that it's easier and quicker than some people might think, and shouldn't be considered "obsessive" by those who choose not to do it.
Weighing doesn't work for everyone. Eyeballing doesn't work for everyone. It would be a dull world if we were all the same.
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. . . I did have a little bitty paperback book (printed in the 70's) that listed the calorie content of common foods.
This one?
I just looked - I still have mine.
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GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »I don't get the moralizing some people use about food scales. Like it's somehow superior to not use one. They're tools. If you don't want to use it, that's cool. But that doesn't make you any better or worse than someone who is choosing to use one. It's just a ... gadget. There's no moral value to a gadget that quantifies something.
I've felt that sort of vibe from some people on the forums in the past, now you come to mention it. Whether they actually mean it that way or not, it sometimes comes across as a kind of feeling that there must be something wrong with me if I can't learn to closely estimate a portion size.
I like your analogy with the glasses - I have to wear them too. Sometimes I can fumble around without them for a while, just like sometimes I can make a half-decent stab at the correct portion of a few foods. But I'd much rather be able to see clearly! 1 -
Larissa_NY wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »Larissa_NY wrote: »I've never weighed or measured my food in my entire life. I've also never been obese or even significantly overweight, and I've never had trouble losing ten or fifteen pounds when I needed to.
Weighing and measuring is okay if you need it, I guess, but not everyone does.
My wife is like that. And it is absolutely fine for those that it works for. Some are calling it intuitive eating. So,yes. Not everyone one does.
But a lot of us on this website are not that way, which is why we are here. I need a food scale and to learn proper portions etc.
People do. When I first started surfing weight loss web sites, I was amazed to discover that there were people who thought they were supposed to fill their entire plates corner to corner with food and eat all of it. It legitimately never even occurred to me to do that. Your food would touch your other food, and ick, who wants that?
That was kind of my point. Yes, there are some people who will just never have time in their lives to weigh and measure their food. There are people who think it's obsessive and don't want to do it. Those people aren't necessarily wrong. Saying "Well, I weigh and measure every morsel that goes into my mouth and it only takes .4375 seconds per day, I know because I time it" is fine for people who like doing that sort of thing, but it's not right for everyone just because it's right for the OP. People managed to diet and lose weight long before calorie-counting apps and food scales were created, just as people managed to get fat before Cheetos and Hot Pockets were invented. Just because something works for the OP doesn't mean it's a sine qua non for weight loss.
Weighing and logging is definitely not a prerequisite for weight loss, it just happens to make life easier for me.
Yes, many people lose weight without weighing a single crumb, and that's fine too because it's what works for them. The only time i recommend a food scale here is on one of the many, many posts from people lamenting about their lack of weight loss, it's just the first and most obvious place to start. Usually if they're not losing or gaining they are eating more than they think, and using a food scale rectifies it quick smart.2 -
I've done both. I've lost and made it to goal without a food scale. Gained everything back bc of personal reasons. Then I decided it was time to lose the weight again, started without a scale, stalled, read the boards, and invested in a food scale. Made it to goal weight.
You can do it both ways. I prefer with the scale bc things moved quicker once I had it. It was like a formula, I can eat X amount of calories to lose X amount of weight that week. That was easy for me to understand and get behind.
There's nothing wrong with intuitive eating and there's nothing wrong with using a scale. Different strokes for different folks.
But for me, I choose the scale.4 -
Larissa_NY wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »Larissa_NY wrote: »I've never weighed or measured my food in my entire life. I've also never been obese or even significantly overweight, and I've never had trouble losing ten or fifteen pounds when I needed to.
Weighing and measuring is okay if you need it, I guess, but not everyone does.
My wife is like that. And it is absolutely fine for those that it works for. Some are calling it intuitive eating. So,yes. Not everyone one does.
But a lot of us on this website are not that way, which is why we are here. I need a food scale and to learn proper portions etc.
People do. When I first started surfing weight loss web sites, I was amazed to discover that there were people who thought they were supposed to fill their entire plates corner to corner with food and eat all of it. It legitimately never even occurred to me to do that. Your food would touch your other food, and ick, who wants that?
That was kind of my point. Yes, there are some people who will just never have time in their lives to weigh and measure their food. There are people who think it's obsessive and don't want to do it. Those people aren't necessarily wrong. Saying "Well, I weigh and measure every morsel that goes into my mouth and it only takes .4375 seconds per day, I know because I time it" is fine for people who like doing that sort of thing, but it's not right for everyone just because it's right for the OP. People managed to diet and lose weight long before calorie-counting apps and food scales were created, just as people managed to get fat before Cheetos and Hot Pockets were invented. Just because something works for the OP doesn't mean it's a sine qua non for weight loss.
Being the OP, I feel well-situated to point out that I believe you're misinterpreting OP's opinion.
If people can achieve their goals without weighing food, or even without logging food, that's a wonderful thing. Yay!
However, if people are having difficulty achieving their goals, it can be a helpful tool. Some of those people don't try weighing their food because they fear that it's time-consuming and obsessive. It need not be, if one knows some tricks for doing it efficiently.
You'll note that at the end of the OP, I even encourage against developing an anxiety attachment to weighing food. That would be obsessive.
But I can see how a happy non-weigh-er might read between the lines, and find something that makes them believe I think weighing food is essential.
But I didn't write that there. I don't believe that, so I didn't write it. I appreciate that some have joined this thread with tips about how to arrange things so that they need not weigh food, and still come out fine, just as I appreciate those who add tips about weighing food efficiently. If you could see who clicked "like", I think (IIRC) that I've "liked" some of each.
I just like seeing people succeed.7 -
I do feel weighing your food is pushed a bit on MFP.
I think it can be a great tool for some, but other people simply don't want to or don't have to do it.
And yes, in some people I think it can contribute to disordered thoughts and some people may be hesitant to do it because of exactly that reason.
However, I encourage everyone to find what works for them whether it's weighing their food or not weighing their food, etc.1 -
In 20 years, you maybe singing a different song.marieamethyst wrote: »Eh, to each their own. I tried it for a week - just wasn't worth the hassle. I got to goal just estimating and was happy with the result. Some people need it, some people don't. Definitely worth a try though if you find yourself stalling for some reason.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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Weighing and measuring everything is kinda senseless. I weigh the important stuff, like a portion of high calorie lasagna but take a swag when loading up my plate with veggies.2
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I weigh some things, though it's at the point now where I can guesstimate pretty accurately for foods I commonly eat. Plus I don't have a need to be exact with some things - particularly veggies. I do like to be more exact with cheese because for some reason my mind refuses to accept that tiny bit of cheese is already a whole ounce!1
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I cook and bake a lot, always trying new recipes. Because I'm a Brit, that means weighing things.
So when I decided to lose weight and people said 'use a scale' it wasn't a chore. I don't weigh everything, only calorie dense things but when something is 25% more than it says that adds up.
I do appreciate how if you've not been brought up with that it's a new skill to learn and quickly could become irritating
In other news, when I was baking an American cookie recipe that was a massive chore, working out 1 cup = 250ml by volume and weighing out sugar after I’d guestimated by volume in my old Pyrex jug.
And that was after frantically googling confectioners’ sugar……
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In 20 years, you maybe singing a different song.marieamethyst wrote: »Eh, to each their own. I tried it for a week - just wasn't worth the hassle. I got to goal just estimating and was happy with the result. Some people need it, some people don't. Definitely worth a try though if you find yourself stalling for some reason.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
Why do you think this? Many people have been successful and maintained without ever owning a food scale.
Don't get me wrong...I use a food scale...I don't however plan to use it on a daily basis for the rest of my life. Right now I am using the food scale as learning tool for portion sizes.1 -
I cook and bake a lot, always trying new recipes. Because I'm a Brit, that means weighing things.
So when I decided to lose weight and people said 'use a scale' it wasn't a chore. I don't weigh everything, only calorie dense things but when something is 25% more than it says that adds up.
I do appreciate how if you've not been brought up with that it's a new skill to learn and quickly could become irritating
In other news, when I was baking an American cookie recipe that was a massive chore, working out 1 cup = 250ml by volume and weighing out sugar after I’d guestimated by volume in my old Pyrex jug.
And that was after frantically googling confectioners’ sugar……
For some of us Americans baking and cooking means weighing too. If a recipe doesn't give grams I just convert it. I keep my staples in containers. On the outside I have listed the measurements in grams...40g(1/4 cup)...etc.1 -
I do feel weighing your food is pushed a bit on MFP.
I think it can be a great tool for some, but other people simply don't want to or don't have to do it.
And yes, in some people I think it can contribute to disordered thoughts and some people may be hesitant to do it because of exactly that reason.
However, I encourage everyone to find what works for them whether it's weighing their food or not weighing their food, etc.
I agree that "weighing your food is pushed a bit on MFP." So much so, in fact, that it seems like a religion. Every time someone says they aren't losing weight at some low calorie count someone is sure to say it is because they aren't weighing their food. So I like to give people a hard time about it, even though I own a scale and I actually use it for some things.
One of the things people don't seem to get is that a food scale will accurately tell you how much food you are eating but it doesn't give you an accurate calorie count. If people want to use a scale that is fine, but if they think it means they don't have to allow for inaccuracy in calorie counts then they are sadly mistaken.0 -
The thing is, we're on a calorie counting website, so I have to wonder why it seems so crazy to want to actually be accurate about it. If anything, you're more likely to overeat if you log your food and constantly underestimate everything (as opposed to following a low carb diet or something, where treats are pretty much forbidden and you stick to 'a lot of veggies and lean meats' pretty much)... 'oh look, I ate so little today, I can fit a 200 calorie cinnamon roll'. Except you didn't eat so little, you were already 300 calories over your goal, and your 200 calorie roll is actually 300 calories, so you end up with a tiny deficit and basically eating at maintenance (especially if you ate back all your exercise calories too, and used MFP's number).
Again, obviously it's not a huge deal if you don't eat back exercise calories or if you leave a buffer every day. But a lot of people don't, and think they are a special snowflake that can't lose weight on 1200 calories, that's when using a food scale can really help.9 -
It was like a formula, I can eat X amount of calories to lose X amount of weight that week.
This. It demystified weight loss. There was no guesswork, no "maybe I ate too much fat/too many carbs, etc", no "but I only ate salad and cereal!" and that's why I'm not losing (but conveniently didn't realize it was 2 portions of cereal not one, or waay more dressing, or too much cheese in the salads).
Many people feel powerless and hopeless when they try"eating healthy " without portion control/just eyeballing it when the weight doesn't fall off right away. Fad diets make it seem like we will all lose 5lbs a week eating whatever combination of foods it recommends. When we don't, we get discouraged and give up. The food scale makes it a scientific process/experiment for me--it takes the emotion out of the equation.
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The thing is, we're on a calorie counting website, so I have to wonder why it seems so crazy to want to actually be accurate about it. If anything, you're more likely to overeat if you log your food and constantly underestimate everything (as opposed to following a low carb diet or something, where treats are pretty much forbidden and you stick to 'a lot of veggies and lean meats' pretty much)... 'oh look, I ate so little today, I can fit a 200 calorie cinnamon roll'. Except you didn't eat so little, you were already 300 calories over your goal, and your 200 calorie roll is actually 300 calories, so you end up with a tiny deficit and basically eating at maintenance (especially if you ate back all your exercise calories too, and used MFP's number).
Again, obviously it's not a huge deal if you don't eat back exercise calories or if you leave a buffer every day. But a lot of people don't, and think they are a special snowflake that can't lose weight on 1200 calories, that's when using a food scale can really help.
I find that I tend to overeat more frequently when I weigh my food than when I don't. When I don't weigh my food I tend to give myself a bigger margin of error in order to make sure that I'm not overeating.0 -
I was about to come on here and "sakjhdfkasjdhflkjhd" at you, but good on ya.1
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TimothyFish wrote: »The thing is, we're on a calorie counting website, so I have to wonder why it seems so crazy to want to actually be accurate about it. If anything, you're more likely to overeat if you log your food and constantly underestimate everything (as opposed to following a low carb diet or something, where treats are pretty much forbidden and you stick to 'a lot of veggies and lean meats' pretty much)... 'oh look, I ate so little today, I can fit a 200 calorie cinnamon roll'. Except you didn't eat so little, you were already 300 calories over your goal, and your 200 calorie roll is actually 300 calories, so you end up with a tiny deficit and basically eating at maintenance (especially if you ate back all your exercise calories too, and used MFP's number).
Again, obviously it's not a huge deal if you don't eat back exercise calories or if you leave a buffer every day. But a lot of people don't, and think they are a special snowflake that can't lose weight on 1200 calories, that's when using a food scale can really help.
I find that I tend to overeat more frequently when I weigh my food than when I don't. When I don't weigh my food I tend to give myself a bigger margin of error in order to make sure that I'm not overeating.
That can definitely be true too. But you have to know a bit about serving sizes in the first place in order to be able to overestimate them, lol.2 -
I cook and bake a lot, always trying new recipes. Because I'm a Brit, that means weighing things.
So when I decided to lose weight and people said 'use a scale' it wasn't a chore. I don't weigh everything, only calorie dense things but when something is 25% more than it says that adds up.
I do appreciate how if you've not been brought up with that it's a new skill to learn and quickly could become irritating
In other news, when I was baking an American cookie recipe that was a massive chore, working out 1 cup = 250ml by volume and weighing out sugar after I’d guestimated by volume in my old Pyrex jug.
And that was after frantically googling confectioners’ sugar……
For some of us Americans baking and cooking means weighing too. If a recipe doesn't give grams I just convert it. I keep my staples in containers. On the outside I have listed the measurements in grams...40g(1/4 cup)...etc.
I wasn't saying all, just that if it's something you don't do often it might be a pain. Depending on what you're trying to measure the conversion can be more, or less, difficult.
My mum took pity on me and bought me a set of cups and spoons, very useful for cocktails!0 -
I cook and bake a lot, always trying new recipes. Because I'm a Brit, that means weighing things.
So when I decided to lose weight and people said 'use a scale' it wasn't a chore. I don't weigh everything, only calorie dense things but when something is 25% more than it says that adds up.
I do appreciate how if you've not been brought up with that it's a new skill to learn and quickly could become irritating
In other news, when I was baking an American cookie recipe that was a massive chore, working out 1 cup = 250ml by volume and weighing out sugar after I’d guestimated by volume in my old Pyrex jug.
And that was after frantically googling confectioners’ sugar……
For some of us Americans baking and cooking means weighing too. If a recipe doesn't give grams I just convert it. I keep my staples in containers. On the outside I have listed the measurements in grams...40g(1/4 cup)...etc.
It really doesn't always work though. I made a no knead bread recipe using the normal conversion of 1 cup flour = 120g, and I had to throw it away because it was a mess. Turns out you had to use 135-140g for 1 cup. No idea where they got that 'conversion' from, considering that a serving of flour is typically 1/4 cup (30g).
Sigh.0 -
Truthfully, the only scale in our house since we moved is the food scale.
Went to the doc's yesterday for the first time since moving at the end of August, 2016 and am down 10#. I'm sure some of it is fluctuation scale to scale, but a lot of it is more accurate intake count because of the food scale.
Now if I could just figure out that !@#*&^*#$^-ing iPhone calorie adjustment. :P4 -
The thing is, we're on a calorie counting website, so I have to wonder why it seems so crazy to want to actually be accurate about it.
As a single woman, a lot of my meals aren't cooked from scratch but rather are restaurant meals, meals cooked by family or friends, or meals that I cooked but I used a package of some sort (and in the U.S. nutritional information can be off by as much as 20%). So that box of spaghetti I used to make dinner could have 20% more calories than I think anyways.
I realized when I did attempt to use a food scale for a while for "accuracy" that the only way I was going to get extremely accurate was if I cooked all my meals from scratch and stopped eating packaged foods (that are most likely off), stopped eating out in restaurants, stopped eating foods other people prepared...
It was too much and weighing only some foods (read: dinner when I prepared it at home myself) seemed ridiculously unnecessary when I'm not weighing lunch because it's either take out usually, a prepackaged meal, or something like a sandwich (which at one point I was weighing lunch meat until I realized how ridiculous that was when I was going to eat the whole pack eventually anyways). I don't weigh breakfast because it's usually eggs or yogurt or apples or some combination. So weighing only dinner when I cook it myself seemed unnecessary for me.
But I do realize some people need to weigh things and I always suggest when people are struggling to lose weight to double check their logs.
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*bump*
Think weighing is pointless or too much trouble? Think again.0 -
gradchica27 wrote: »Many people feel powerless and hopeless when they try"eating healthy " without portion control/just eyeballing it when the weight doesn't fall off right away. Fad diets make it seem like we will all lose 5lbs a week eating whatever combination of foods it recommends. When we don't, we get discouraged and give up. The food scale makes it a scientific process/experiment for me--it takes the emotion out of the equation.
THIS! Weighing my food (and taking the time to find accurate entries in the database) makes it so much easier for me to trust the process. I use to obsess every time the scale went up (and I weight daily, so that's often) and pour over the previous day to figure out what I did wrong because I didn't really know how much I was eating. Now, I do have a fairly accurate view of how many calories I'm eating every day, and when my weight is up despite eating at a deficit the day before, I don't worry about it because I know the weight will come off eventually.
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Good bump - three weeks into the new year and there are bound to be people who are starting to feel discouraged. The OP is full of helpful advice to make it easier to get our logging a bit more accurate. 3
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I have a backup scale now.2
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