21 day fix

People have lost a ton of weight by using the containers and measuring cups. While many on here will suggest that you have to use a scale, I don't think it's necessary. It's one thing if you aren't losing weight and need help, but for many people, using the containers and getting a feel for realistic portion sizes can help a lot.

That being said, I do personally use a scale bc I get annoyed w washing all those containers all the time. But I did just use the purple one to measure grapes and didn't weigh them. Even if I'm off a gram or two for foods like that, it won't have a large impact on my calorie counts.

It's not the same but will work fine...

until you find you aren't losing the way you want to or should be based on your log you don't have to worry about weighing your food.

and this coming form someone who has a food scale and has since almost the start...

Didn't take me long to figure out that 3/4 cup of cereal was more than 85grams (listed as servings on the box) and get with the program of using a food scale.

I've always been told, you can gain weight by not eating enough

PennStateChick wrote: »

People have lost a ton of weight by using the containers and measuring cups. While many on here will suggest that you have to use a scale, I don't think it's necessary. It's one thing if you aren't losing weight and need help, but for many people, using the containers and getting a feel for realistic portion sizes can help a lot.

That being said, I do personally use a scale bc I get annoyed w washing all those containers all the time. But I did just use the purple one to measure grapes and didn't weigh them. Even if I'm off a gram or two for foods like that, it won't have a large impact on my calorie counts.

When I had 124lbs to lose and was on 1710 calories/day, measuring cups were fine. They weren't as accurate as a scale would have been, but I lost weight steadily. Then, one morning, after having read one two many forum posts about how much more accurate scales were, I took my '1 cup' of seedless grapes that the MFP database told me should be X grams and about 90 calories and threw it on the scale. And discovered that the grapes weighed about 150% of what the database said a cup was, and were about 60 calories higher. And yeah, 60 extra calories in the grand scheme of things? Especially when you've got a lot to go and probably just logging food in a ruled notebook without checking calories would have given results, due to the psychological impact of a written record? Not such a big deal on its own. The problem? I usually had a half a cup of corn for lunch. And 3/4 of a cup of rice with dinner. I made tartar sauce with a tablespoon of mayonnaise. I liked using 1/4 cup of hummus as a dip for raw veggies. And the closer I got to goal, the lower my TDEE got and the more the little extras mattered.

It could well be that the OP will have great initial results with the cups. But over time, the inaccuracies are likely to lead to eating more than they think, and causing a 'plateau' (really, the OP being at maintenance when they think they're in a deficit).

By all means, OP, use the cups if you want. They're more accurate than eyeballing portions. But they aren't as accurate as a scale would be. And if your weightloss slows/stops, using a scale to measure your portions is the first 'fix' you ought to try.