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MyFitnessPal Community

Why weighing is important (even for packaged food!)

deannalfisher

Often newbies come to the forum asking about why they can’t lose weight and sometimes the following is said - I log and eat packaged food

Here is an example of why weighing is important:

I bought this thing of spinach gnocchi at Aldi the other night; according to the package it serves about 2 (picture 2)

But when I weighed it:
(

Pardon my mathing in public...507g/140g (serving size) is 3.6servings

So I would have eaten 80g more carbs than intended (320cal); excluding protein

Replies

seska422

newheavensearth wrote: »

seska422 wrote: »

newheavensearth wrote: »

What about coming in under? I weighed out servings of beans, 130g as per the label, 3.5 servings per can. I only got 2 and maybe a quarter servings per can.

I demand a refund.

Did you drain the beans before you weighed them? I'm betting that the serving weight included the liquid in the can.

I drained them. I know some people would keep the liquid for cooking but to me thats a ton of salt and slime.

Draining them takes away some weight and you need to account for that. It was still 3.5ish servings of beans. After you drain them, you can weigh just the beans and divide that weight by 3.5 to see about how much a liquidless serving of beans would weigh.

The liquid likely has some calories but most of the calories will be in the beans. 130 grams of just beans would be more calorie-dense than 130 grams of beans plus liquid.

newheavensearth

seska422 wrote: »

newheavensearth wrote: »

seska422 wrote: »

newheavensearth wrote: »

What about coming in under? I weighed out servings of beans, 130g as per the label, 3.5 servings per can. I only got 2 and maybe a quarter servings per can.

I demand a refund.

Did you drain the beans before you weighed them? I'm betting that the serving weight included the liquid in the can.

I drained them. I know some people would keep the liquid for cooking but to me thats a ton of salt and slime.

Draining them takes away some weight and you need to account for that. It was still 3.5ish servings of beans. After you drain them, you can weigh just the beans and divide that weight by 3.5 to see about how much a liquidless serving of beans would weigh.

Thanks. I just weighed out the 130 grams drained, found the corresponding entry and went with that. Still a very small serving.

seska422

newheavensearth wrote: »

seska422 wrote: »

newheavensearth wrote: »

seska422 wrote: »

newheavensearth wrote: »

What about coming in under? I weighed out servings of beans, 130g as per the label, 3.5 servings per can. I only got 2 and maybe a quarter servings per can.

I demand a refund.

Did you drain the beans before you weighed them? I'm betting that the serving weight included the liquid in the can.

I drained them. I know some people would keep the liquid for cooking but to me thats a ton of salt and slime.

Draining them takes away some weight and you need to account for that. It was still 3.5ish servings of beans. After you drain them, you can weigh just the beans and divide that weight by 3.5 to see about how much a liquidless serving of beans would weigh.

Thanks. I just weighed out the 130 grams drained, found the corresponding entry and went with that. Still a very small serving.

I tend to eat whole cans of things to avoid the mental gymnastics of issues like this.

deannalfisher

gymprincess1234 wrote: »

Are you sure you didn't weight the bowl too? I have had those and they were 280g

nope - i tared the bowl out; the picture you can't see - had the container of pasta by itself not in a bowl and was 517g (so 10g for the packaging)

wizzybeth

Yes! I weigh my flatbreads, too - they are frequently off by several grams. Tonight I had a Lean Cuisine. I usually do NOT weigh them because I figure, how far off can they be? No worries right?

My Chicken Carbonara that is listed as a single serving (255g) for 240 calories was actually 299 ounces and an additional 40+ calories!!! I eat a LOT of Lean Cuisines - sometimes two a day.

Most days I'm not TOO worried about it because I frequently have "spare" calories at the end of the day - but today I did not....I have 8 calories left, I think....I would seriously have gone over if I had not weighed that lean cuisine tonight. ...and if I did that several times over the course of the next week that could have been quite the disaster for my deficit.

stanmann571

What's bizarre is that the front label shows the correct weight, 500 grams(which should be about 3 servings) which matches the scale weight within margin of error.

jjpptt2

Interesting. I eat a ton of packaged/prepared foods and go with the stated numbers. My weight loss has been fairly steady when I'm disciplined to stay on plan, so I don't think the numbers end up being that far off (in my case). If things weigh over the stated numbers, do they ever weigh under? Do things balance out in the long run?

Francl27

jjpptt2 wrote: »

Interesting. I eat a ton of packaged/prepared foods and go with the stated numbers. My weight loss has been fairly steady when I'm disciplined to stay on plan, so I don't think the numbers end up being that far off (in my case). If things weigh over the stated numbers, do they ever weigh under? Do things balance out in the long run?

Very rarely in my experience. Some bread slices can be smaller if it's the end if the loaf, and yogurts are often a bit less, but I'd guess that they don't do it too much because they don't want to get lawsuits, lol.

psychod787

I weighed my bread last night. It was over 10% off! Since people in my house also eat the loaf it would not even out. Thanks for all the info!

jjpptt2

Francl27 wrote: »

jjpptt2 wrote: »

Interesting. I eat a ton of packaged/prepared foods and go with the stated numbers. My weight loss has been fairly steady when I'm disciplined to stay on plan, so I don't think the numbers end up being that far off (in my case). If things weigh over the stated numbers, do they ever weigh under? Do things balance out in the long run?

Very rarely in my experience. Some bread slices can be smaller if it's the end if the loaf, and yogurts are often a bit less, but I'd guess that they don't do it too much because they don't want to get lawsuits, lol.

That's interesting... I would have assumed the opposite, because they could skim a bit more profits if they slightly under sold an item.

LivingtheLeanDream

I have never weighed any pre-packaged foods during my weight loss, it never impacted my rate of loss either... but what I did was only eat back 50-75% of my exercise calories so I guess that made up the difference...

OP its a good and enlightening post and will be a big help for a lot of people.

Hotlana4

I just wanted to say that I weighed every single Chicken Breast in my box of frozen breasts and ALL of them were DRASTICALLY under 125g. Some were 89g. That's the one thing I've found to be under...most stuff is over ha. Solution: eat less things out of boxes. I'm basically dating my Food Scale and its going SO WELL! I weigh everything by the 1g and have gotten pretty good at guesstimating and pre-logging then adjusting by 115g vs 117g of Cucumber for example, etc

GOT_Obsessed

wizzybeth wrote: »

Yes! I weigh my flatbreads, too - they are frequently off by several grams. Tonight I had a Lean Cuisine. I usually do NOT weigh them because I figure, how far off can they be? No worries right?

My Chicken Carbonara that is listed as a single serving (255g) for 240 calories was actually 299 ounces and an additional 40+ calories!!! I eat a LOT of Lean Cuisines - sometimes two a day.

Most days I'm not TOO worried about it because I frequently have "spare" calories at the end of the day - but today I did not....I have 8 calories left, I think....I would seriously have gone over if I had not weighed that lean cuisine tonight. ...and if I did that several times over the course of the next week that could have been quite the disaster for my deficit.

This may sound silly but how do you weigh it? It's a frozen chunk in a box till microwaved.
Do you weigh it first, heat, eat then weigh the empty box?

I eat them from time to time at work and don't want to bring my scale along.

seska422

GOT_Obsessed wrote: »

wizzybeth wrote: »

Yes! I weigh my flatbreads, too - they are frequently off by several grams. Tonight I had a Lean Cuisine. I usually do NOT weigh them because I figure, how far off can they be? No worries right?

My Chicken Carbonara that is listed as a single serving (255g) for 240 calories was actually 299 ounces and an additional 40+ calories!!! I eat a LOT of Lean Cuisines - sometimes two a day.

Most days I'm not TOO worried about it because I frequently have "spare" calories at the end of the day - but today I did not....I have 8 calories left, I think....I would seriously have gone over if I had not weighed that lean cuisine tonight. ...and if I did that several times over the course of the next week that could have been quite the disaster for my deficit.

This may sound silly but how do you weigh it? It's a frozen chunk in a box till microwaved.
Do you weigh it first, heat, eat then weigh the empty box?

I eat them from time to time at work and don't want to bring my scale along.

You can get the weight before you leave the house.

I weighed an empty container (after eating the contents) to get the package weight to subtract. Most Lean Cuisines come in the same size tray and box. You could weigh container + box if you take it to work in the box.

When you pack your lunch, weigh the frozen box and subtract the container + box weight to give you the weight for the dinner.

IMO, the weight difference matters more for some dinners than others. If the dinner has what looks to be extra rice, I record the actual weight to account for extra calories. If it looks like the extra weight is from a lot of tomato sauce, I don't bother.

GOT_Obsessed

seska422 wrote: »

GOT_Obsessed wrote: »

wizzybeth wrote: »

Yes! I weigh my flatbreads, too - they are frequently off by several grams. Tonight I had a Lean Cuisine. I usually do NOT weigh them because I figure, how far off can they be? No worries right?

My Chicken Carbonara that is listed as a single serving (255g) for 240 calories was actually 299 ounces and an additional 40+ calories!!! I eat a LOT of Lean Cuisines - sometimes two a day.

Most days I'm not TOO worried about it because I frequently have "spare" calories at the end of the day - but today I did not....I have 8 calories left, I think....I would seriously have gone over if I had not weighed that lean cuisine tonight. ...and if I did that several times over the course of the next week that could have been quite the disaster for my deficit.

This may sound silly but how do you weigh it? It's a frozen chunk in a box till microwaved.
Do you weigh it first, heat, eat then weigh the empty box?

I eat them from time to time at work and don't want to bring my scale along.

You can get the weight before you leave the house.

I weighed an empty container (after eating the contents) to get the package weight to subtract. Most Lean Cuisines come in the same size tray and box. You could weigh container + box if you take it to work in the box.

When you pack your lunch, weigh the frozen box and subtract the container + box weight to give you the weight for the dinner.

IMO, the weight difference matters more for some dinners than others. If the dinner has what looks to be extra rice, I record the actual weight to account for extra calories. If it looks like the extra weight is from a lot of tomato sauce, I don't bother.

Oh ok. So just keep the box tare weight "on file." That makes sense. Thanks.

I recently learned I weigh my apples wrong. I weigh it core and all, log it, throw it in the lunch box and go. I never knew you are not supposed to weigh the inedible parts. Oh well.

CharlieBeansmomTracey

Hotlana4 wrote: »

I just wanted to say that I weighed every single Chicken Breast in my box of frozen breasts and ALL of them were DRASTICALLY under 125g. Some were 89g. That's the one thing I've found to be under...most stuff is over ha. Solution: eat less things out of boxes. I'm basically dating my Food Scale and its going SO WELL! I weigh everything by the 1g and have gotten pretty good at guesstimating and pre-logging then adjusting by 115g vs 117g of Cucumber for example, etc

even if you eat less things out of boxes two apples or any fruit of the same size can be off by a lot. most chicken breast I have had weigh more than what the package states but I dont buy frozen chicken breast. I buy fresh raw and freeze my own.nothing wrong with frozen though

newheavensearth

GOT_Obsessed wrote: »

seska422 wrote: »

GOT_Obsessed wrote: »

wizzybeth wrote: »

Yes! I weigh my flatbreads, too - they are frequently off by several grams. Tonight I had a Lean Cuisine. I usually do NOT weigh them because I figure, how far off can they be? No worries right?

My Chicken Carbonara that is listed as a single serving (255g) for 240 calories was actually 299 ounces and an additional 40+ calories!!! I eat a LOT of Lean Cuisines - sometimes two a day.

Most days I'm not TOO worried about it because I frequently have "spare" calories at the end of the day - but today I did not....I have 8 calories left, I think....I would seriously have gone over if I had not weighed that lean cuisine tonight. ...and if I did that several times over the course of the next week that could have been quite the disaster for my deficit.

This may sound silly but how do you weigh it? It's a frozen chunk in a box till microwaved.
Do you weigh it first, heat, eat then weigh the empty box?

I eat them from time to time at work and don't want to bring my scale along.

You can get the weight before you leave the house.

I weighed an empty container (after eating the contents) to get the package weight to subtract. Most Lean Cuisines come in the same size tray and box. You could weigh container + box if you take it to work in the box.

When you pack your lunch, weigh the frozen box and subtract the container + box weight to give you the weight for the dinner.

IMO, the weight difference matters more for some dinners than others. If the dinner has what looks to be extra rice, I record the actual weight to account for extra calories. If it looks like the extra weight is from a lot of tomato sauce, I don't bother.

Oh ok. So just keep the box tare weight "on file." That makes sense. Thanks.

I recently learned I weigh my apples wrong. I weigh it core and all, log it, throw it in the lunch box and go. I never knew you are not supposed to weigh the inedible parts. Oh well.

I weigh the inedible parts of all fruit and just chalk it up to covering any margin for error.

GOT_Obsessed

newheavensearth wrote: »

GOT_Obsessed wrote: »

seska422 wrote: »

GOT_Obsessed wrote: »

wizzybeth wrote: »

Yes! I weigh my flatbreads, too - they are frequently off by several grams. Tonight I had a Lean Cuisine. I usually do NOT weigh them because I figure, how far off can they be? No worries right?

My Chicken Carbonara that is listed as a single serving (255g) for 240 calories was actually 299 ounces and an additional 40+ calories!!! I eat a LOT of Lean Cuisines - sometimes two a day.

Most days I'm not TOO worried about it because I frequently have "spare" calories at the end of the day - but today I did not....I have 8 calories left, I think....I would seriously have gone over if I had not weighed that lean cuisine tonight. ...and if I did that several times over the course of the next week that could have been quite the disaster for my deficit.

This may sound silly but how do you weigh it? It's a frozen chunk in a box till microwaved.
Do you weigh it first, heat, eat then weigh the empty box?

I eat them from time to time at work and don't want to bring my scale along.

You can get the weight before you leave the house.

I weighed an empty container (after eating the contents) to get the package weight to subtract. Most Lean Cuisines come in the same size tray and box. You could weigh container + box if you take it to work in the box.

When you pack your lunch, weigh the frozen box and subtract the container + box weight to give you the weight for the dinner.

IMO, the weight difference matters more for some dinners than others. If the dinner has what looks to be extra rice, I record the actual weight to account for extra calories. If it looks like the extra weight is from a lot of tomato sauce, I don't bother.

Oh ok. So just keep the box tare weight "on file." That makes sense. Thanks.

I recently learned I weigh my apples wrong. I weigh it core and all, log it, throw it in the lunch box and go. I never knew you are not supposed to weigh the inedible parts. Oh well.

I weigh the inedible parts of all fruit and just chalk it up to covering any margin for error.

Yeah that is kind of my thinking too.

DX2JX2

GOT_Obsessed wrote: »

seska422 wrote: »

GOT_Obsessed wrote: »

wizzybeth wrote: »

Yes! I weigh my flatbreads, too - they are frequently off by several grams. Tonight I had a Lean Cuisine. I usually do NOT weigh them because I figure, how far off can they be? No worries right?

My Chicken Carbonara that is listed as a single serving (255g) for 240 calories was actually 299 ounces and an additional 40+ calories!!! I eat a LOT of Lean Cuisines - sometimes two a day.

Most days I'm not TOO worried about it because I frequently have "spare" calories at the end of the day - but today I did not....I have 8 calories left, I think....I would seriously have gone over if I had not weighed that lean cuisine tonight. ...and if I did that several times over the course of the next week that could have been quite the disaster for my deficit.

This may sound silly but how do you weigh it? It's a frozen chunk in a box till microwaved.
Do you weigh it first, heat, eat then weigh the empty box?

I eat them from time to time at work and don't want to bring my scale along.

You can get the weight before you leave the house.

I weighed an empty container (after eating the contents) to get the package weight to subtract. Most Lean Cuisines come in the same size tray and box. You could weigh container + box if you take it to work in the box.

When you pack your lunch, weigh the frozen box and subtract the container + box weight to give you the weight for the dinner.

IMO, the weight difference matters more for some dinners than others. If the dinner has what looks to be extra rice, I record the actual weight to account for extra calories. If it looks like the extra weight is from a lot of tomato sauce, I don't bother.

Oh ok. So just keep the box tare weight "on file." That makes sense. Thanks.

I recently learned I weigh my apples wrong. I weigh it core and all, log it, throw it in the lunch box and go. I never knew you are not supposed to weigh the inedible parts. Oh well.

Theoretically, the whole apple is edible. If you eat it from the bottom up, you won't even notice the core and the seeds (google for instructions).

deannalfisher

stanmann571 wrote: »

What's bizarre is that the front label shows the correct weight, 500 grams(which should be about 3 servings) which matches the scale weight within margin of error.

Lol I didn’t even notice that!

Tacklewasher

Mazintrov13 wrote: »

Totally agree.
I don’t even look at the serving size on packaged food, just the amounts per 100g

I really wish this was a standard here.

thediamonds

This to me looks like they're using the cooked and uncooked weights rather than it being an error. How much did it weigh after you cooked it?

Wynterbourne

thediamonds wrote: »

This to me looks like they're using the cooked and uncooked weights rather than it being an error. How much did it weigh after you cooked it?

The default is uncooked (as packaged), so unless it says 'cooked weight' on the label, the weight listed would be for as it comes in the package.

deannalfisher

thediamonds wrote: »

This to me looks like they're using the cooked and uncooked weights rather than it being an error. How much did it weigh after you cooked it?

Gnocchi has minimal weight change - I think it went to 517g...

unknown

This content has been removed.

deannalfisher

It’s roughly the same calorie breakdown as other brands of gnocchi - so I trust it at least that far

Wynterbourne

JerSchmare wrote: »

If the label isn’t accurate, what makes you think the calorie per serving is accurate. This is what cracks me up about this whole thing. I don’t Weigh packaged food, and I never will. It’s close enough given all the variables thought out a week.

I’ve heard of people weighing eggs. Lol.

I do. If you don't want to, don't, but you don't need to make fun of others for doing so.

HonuNui

JerSchmare wrote: »

I’ve heard of people weighing eggs. Lol.

I collected the eggs from my (all the same age and size) chickens today. I think a generic "One Egg, 80 cal" would be in error...

The_Ta

Keep in mind that these food companies are self-reporting, so that means that nobody is there to verify the accuracy of the information.

I worked for a private label brand many years ago. We had to pull some Fig Newton type cookies because the label info was wrong. People got mad because the new version had too many calories : /

Noreenmarie1234

I've also found powdered peanut butter is one of those things you HAVE to weigh since it settles in the canister. I found out I was eating almond double even though I measured level tablespoons since the powder was more "packed" than what they considered a tablespoon.