Portion Control

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  • jdlobb
    jdlobb Posts: 1,232 Member
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    kommodevaran wrote: »
    jdlobb wrote: »
    I just realized that I am an idiot. Using the tare button to re-zero as you add things, or to subtract the weight of a container after you finish the contents, is genius super simple stuff I have literally never even considered.

    Then just imagine how you will feel after you've learnt to use negative weight: Put container on scale. Scoop out until you see the desired number of grams with a minus in front. Be sure to lick spoon.

    congrats. You managed to double down on how stupid and narrow sighted i am. This is brilliant.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    jdlobb wrote: »
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    jdlobb wrote: »
    I just realized that I am an idiot. Using the tare button to re-zero as you add things, or to subtract the weight of a container after you finish the contents, is genius super simple stuff I have literally never even considered.

    Then just imagine how you will feel after you've learnt to use negative weight: Put container on scale. Scoop out until you see the desired number of grams with a minus in front. Be sure to lick spoon.

    congrats. You managed to double down on how stupid and narrow sighted i am. This is brilliant.
    This is the Illuminati of portion control. User manuals won't tell you this. And who reads user manuals anyway?
  • sheryllromero
    sheryllromero Posts: 2 Member
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    What is the weight of 1 cup cooked brown rice?
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    sheryllromero wrote: »
    What is the weight of 1 cup cooked brown rice?

    It depends. Weigh it and see :) Because it depends, you should ideally weigh the dry rice.
  • msjac23
    msjac23 Posts: 140 Member
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    I use measuring cups. I also use containers and snack size ziploc bags to put my food in. Since I do not eat my exercise calories, this helps if I over measure something, but I try to be accurate majority of the time.
  • OliveGirl128
    OliveGirl128 Posts: 801 Member
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    jdlobb wrote: »
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    jdlobb wrote: »
    I just realized that I am an idiot. Using the tare button to re-zero as you add things, or to subtract the weight of a container after you finish the contents, is genius super simple stuff I have literally never even considered.

    Then just imagine how you will feel after you've learnt to use negative weight: Put container on scale. Scoop out until you see the desired number of grams with a minus in front. Be sure to lick spoon.

    congrats. You managed to double down on how stupid and narrow sighted i am. This is brilliant.

    I'm 4 years into maintenance and I didn't know about this either lol. Off to go weigh something :D
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    msjac23 wrote: »
    I use measuring cups. I also use containers and snack size ziploc bags to put my food in. Since I do not eat my exercise calories, this helps if I over measure something, but I try to be accurate majority of the time.

    But measuring isn't accurate. I'm not saying that your method isn't working, but it's not accurate.
  • OliveGirl128
    OliveGirl128 Posts: 801 Member
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    Theeerica wrote: »
    So, now what scale would you recommend?

    I've owned two-both cheapy digital scales from the grocery store (under $15). They've both worked great, (I lost the first one when we moved, otherwise it was still working great after a lot of use)-not something you have to spend a lot of money on :)
  • RandJ6280
    RandJ6280 Posts: 1,162 Member
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    I haven't advanced far enough to do it at home... but when I saw the title "Portion Size".... I thought I'd tell you what I do when we go out to eat. I think part of the problem in America is that when we go out to eat the portion sizes are far to large.... hence... a large population (myself included lol) When they bring my plate out to me, first thing I do is ask for a to-go box, then I divide everything in half and put it in the box. This does two things... #1. Smaller portion #2 I get two meals for one price.
  • jdlobb
    jdlobb Posts: 1,232 Member
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    I've been meaning to buy a small scale to keep at work, but I know people are going to look at me sideways when i'm weighing my food in the cafeteria.
  • juliet3455
    juliet3455 Posts: 3,015 Member
    edited August 2017
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    @Theeerica There is an evolving forum about Old Posts that is a good resource.
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10260499/i-like-old-posts-and-i-cannot-lie/p1

    My favorites and one that directly relates to your comment about portion control
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1290491/how-and-why-to-use-a-digital-food-scale/p1
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

    Also I should add that if you search through the Food database for an item ones that have multiple verifications and quantities in grams and ounces are a good choice. I find that there is usually already an accurate entry for anything I use. Questionable entries would use odd quantities, generic or homemade in the name. Anything with USDA in the name has usually been verified by someone using entries from the USDA database. As an example if you search for USDA Nectarine you will see quite a few entries. The one I use is Nectarines, Raw (09191) as the number in brackets refers back to the USDA data and it gives a standard calorie/100g rating.

    If you go to the Getting Started Message Board you will see a list of posts at the top of page 1 that have Announcement and Closed below them these are commonly referred to as the Stickies. The one titled Most Helpful Posts - Getting Started (Must Reads) is exactly what it says.
    This concept applies to all the Forum's/Message Boards

    Here are some of the direct Links.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300331/most-helpful-posts-getting-started-must-reads#latest

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300319/most-helpful-posts-general-diet-and-weight-loss-help-must-reads#latest

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300312/most-helpful-posts-food-and-nutrition-must-reads#latest

    http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/a-beginners-guide-to-your-metabolism/

    http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/quick-easy-guide-creating-calorie-deficit/
  • bgeorgie13
    bgeorgie13 Posts: 10 Member
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    jdlobb wrote: »
    I've been meaning to buy a small scale to keep at work, but I know people are going to look at me sideways when i'm weighing my food in the cafeteria.

    I have a scale at home and another one at work. Colleagues may think I'm weird but I'm losing fat and feel great - who cares what they think? :wink:

  • cece1012003
    cece1012003 Posts: 11 Member
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    I also swear on measuring food. However I still use measuring spoons and cups at work, it's been helpful in gauging how much I consume. What it doesn't help is the cravings, my white whale.
  • vnb_208
    vnb_208 Posts: 1,359 Member
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    HeidiCooksSupper wrote: »
    Not only is it more accurate to weigh food but it makes life a lot easier. You don't dirty measuring cups. The tare button, which sets the scale back to zero is a boon. Want a bowl of cereal? You could dirty a measuring cup or two (one dry measure, one wet) or you could just put your bowl on the scale and tare to zero. Then add the cereal. Then tare to zero. Then add the milk. Bingo. You have two separate measurements for what you want to eat.

    You can do this for all sorts of things. Want to toss a chopped veggie in a tablespoon of olive oil? Don't dirty a measuring spoon, just pour 15g of olive oil into the bowl. Want to eat a 1/2 cup of yogurt that lists a cup as a serving on the container? Look at the gram listing for that cup, e.g. my favorite full fat yogurt lists a serving as "1 cup (227 g). Cut the number of grams in half, and plop that much into your bowl. 114g of that yogurt is close enough to a 1/2 cup serving to me.

    Want to eat the rest of the yogurt in the container? Weigh it, scribble down how many grams it weighs. Weigh the empty container when you are done and subtract. That's how many grams you ate. Now, whip out your calculator. Divide the number of grams you ate by the number of grams in a serving and that's how many servings you ate.

    Let's say I ate 97 grams of that yogurt. A 1-cup serving is 227 grams. I ate 97/227ths of a serving or about 0.43 servings. I just put 0.43 in MFP as the number of servings I ate.

    Works great for veggies, too. Let's say I'm dividing a monster sweet potato between the two of us. I just weight it and figure I'm going to eat 1/2 of it. Last night, for example, the potato weighed 420 grams after I peeled it. Therefore, my portion of the potato was 210 grams. I found the listing for 100 grams and just put that I had 2.1 100-gram servings of potato. If I could only find a listing with 30 gram servings, I'd divide 210 by 30 and put that I had 7 30-gram servings.

    I find I use measuring cups and spoons much less as I became more adept at using the scale.

    Mind blown lmfao I had no idea what the tare button was for thanks !!!
  • Theeerica
    Theeerica Posts: 45 Member
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    juliet3455 wrote: »
    @Theeerica There is an evolving forum about Old Posts that is a good resource.
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10260499/i-like-old-posts-and-i-cannot-lie/p1

    My favorites and one that directly relates to your comment about portion control
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1290491/how-and-why-to-use-a-digital-food-scale/p1
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

    Also I should add that if you search through the Food database for an item ones that have multiple verifications and quantities in grams and ounces are a good choice. I find that there is usually already an accurate entry for anything I use. Questionable entries would use odd quantities, generic or homemade in the name. Anything with USDA in the name has usually been verified by someone using entries from the USDA database. As an example if you search for USDA Nectarine you will see quite a few entries. The one I use is Nectarines, Raw (09191) as the number in brackets refers back to the USDA data and it gives a standard calorie/100g rating.

    If you go to the Getting Started Message Board you will see a list of posts at the top of page 1 that have Announcement and Closed below them these are commonly referred to as the Stickies. The one titled Most Helpful Posts - Getting Started (Must Reads) is exactly what it says.
    This concept applies to all the Forum's/Message Boards

    Here are some of the direct Links.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300331/most-helpful-posts-getting-started-must-reads#latest

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300319/most-helpful-posts-general-diet-and-weight-loss-help-must-reads#latest

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300312/most-helpful-posts-food-and-nutrition-must-reads#latest

    http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/a-beginners-guide-to-your-metabolism/

    http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/quick-easy-guide-creating-calorie-deficit/

    This is very helpful, thank you so much for going to the trouble of finding and posting all of these links.
  • xvolution
    xvolution Posts: 721 Member
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    Theeerica wrote: »
    So, now what scale would you recommend?

    Any digital scale should work, as long as it can weigh in both ounces and grams and has a button to zero out the weight. Mine is an OXO Good Grips I got at Kroger for $20.
  • descene
    descene Posts: 97 Member
    edited August 2017
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    I recently got my first kitchen scale and I fell in love with it, if only because it's cut the dirty dishes down by like 33%. And I actually have clean measuring cups when I need them now, lol.

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