Did you have any surprises about how much you were eating when you got a food scale?

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kiela64
kiela64 Posts: 1,447 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I’ve been measuring my food with cups and guesstimating for a long time, and I finally got a food scale. Measuring things in a new way is fun, and it’s nice to see more accurately what I’m really eating.

I wondered if you had any surprises when you made the switch?

I was surprised to see how accurate I was measuring out nuts in 1/6th cups by using the halfway line on the 1/3rd measuring cup. I was only a few grams off! Which i really didn’t expect!

And I was over estimating things like apples but underestimating bananas!
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Replies

  • WholeFoods4Lyfe
    WholeFoods4Lyfe Posts: 1,518 Member
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    I was totally under-estimating how much mayo I was using. Whoops.
  • DoubleUbea
    DoubleUbea Posts: 1,115 Member
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    Yes, the difference between, tablespoon, cups and grams is shocking.
    Peanut Butter was a biggie for me as well. I loved peanut butter on Graham crackers. My two tablespoons vs 32g is a lot different.
  • Rivers2k
    Rivers2k Posts: 380 Member
    edited July 2018
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    I underestimated with meats 4oz was actualy 6-8oz. And I overestimated with cup size by about half. I was shocked how much 1 cup of rice was I probably was really eating about half a cup.
  • snemberton
    snemberton Posts: 175 Member
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    I was ok with eyeballing a lot of things, but it surprised me at how much meat I could actually have. I was misjudging that by shorting myself some.

    Nuts, cheese, and peanut butter were less ok. I don't eat a lot of peanut butter, but I love cashews and other nuts, and enjoy good cheese. Thankfully I wasn't WAY off with my eyeballing, but those portions got smaller after I got my scale.

    I think I was most mad at how much I needed to cut out butter and oils (or take the hit for those calories). Definitely started playing around with my cooking to learn how to still use them some, but minimize the impact on my deficit.
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,874 Member
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    lsutigerscage wrote: »
    pinuplove wrote: »
    2 words. Peanut. Butter. :disappointed:

    My husband had some extra room to eat a snack last night. We just got our scale. He fixed his regular ice cream, and then added a hefty scoop of peanut butter to the top. When he went to log it into MFP, it told him his 'snack' was 958 calories. He almost cried as he scraped the peanut butter off the top and chunked it in the trash, leaving him a very small amount for his ice cream.

    I can eyeball PB pretty well now (lots of practice, ha!) My typical teaspoon dip and scoop is roughly 21 grams. But I still weigh it most of the time, if only to keep myself honest.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,902 Member
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    pinuplove wrote: »
    2 words. Peanut. Butter. :disappointed:

    Yup, this was the biggie. :'(
  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,978 Member
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    lsutigerscage wrote: »
    pinuplove wrote: »
    2 words. Peanut. Butter. :disappointed:

    My husband had some extra room to eat a snack last night. We just got our scale. He fixed his regular ice cream, and then added a hefty scoop of peanut butter to the top. When he went to log it into MFP, it told him his 'snack' was 958 calories. He almost cried as he scraped the peanut butter off the top and chunked it in the trash, leaving him a very small amount for his ice cream.


    Aww Peanut Butter...RIP
  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
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    I'm not particularly strict about weighing things which I fully recognize. I have my reasons and I can live with that. That said, I was shocked to realize that my default handful amount of corn chips was within two grams of the serving size the last two times I weighed it.

    I don't eat chips terribly often and when I do it's either 1 or 2 handfuls (as in hand in bag, chips from hand in a bowl or paper towel) but it was a pleasant surprise. On the other end of the scale, I was less than pleased to realize what 1 serving of gnocchi was a few months ago.
  • jdubois5351
    jdubois5351 Posts: 460 Member
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    OH MY GOD, YES!!!!! I found out very soon, that I am really, really, really super bad at guesstimating weights and portion sizes. Using my food scale (I had one, I just didn't think I need it) made ALL the difference for me. I've always been eating a pretty healthy diet, just way too much of everything. Sure, 2kg of cherries are healthier than eating 2 kg of chocolate, but they still have a lot of calories, and if you eat them on top of your regular food, stuff like that adds up quickly.
  • Candyspun
    Candyspun Posts: 370 Member
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    It was a huge surprise. I’d been eyeballing most things and when I got the scale, realised I could eat so much more.
  • h1udd
    h1udd Posts: 623 Member
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    cheese ... I rarely eat cheese now knowing that the the amount I want is about 600kcal ... and a 100kcal serving is just not worth my time eating

    Fries ... I was cooking a whole tray of them for me and the missus .... turns out thats 6 portions !
  • VUA21
    VUA21 Posts: 2,072 Member
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    I rarely have granola anymore. Seen the amount vs amount of calories, and NOPE! Not worth it, rather have some slivered almonds and a few strawberries on my yogurt instead.

    Some foods I severely overestimated, some underestimated.

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