Did you have any surprises about how much you were eating when you got a food scale?
kiela64
Posts: 1,447 Member
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!
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
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I was totally under-estimating how much mayo I was using. Whoops.3
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2 words. Peanut. Butter.
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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.1 -
Honestly, I realised that despite the warnings, all of my errors, if any, averaged out over the course of a week. If I overestimated my apples, I underestimated the bbq sauce on my steak, and so on and so forth. The scale did not make a huge difference in terms of logging. My weight loss rate didn't improve either. I also went a little bonkers the first week of owning a scale and I weighed EVERYTHING including apple cores, chicken bones, cherry pits, etc. to deduct from my calories.
Now, I'm a lot more easy going with the food scale. Cause I also realise that my TDEE is an estimate, if I start overthinking every single part of the equation, I'll drive myself pretty nutso.
However, once I let go of my obesesiveness, it did make my life easier. I could plop whatever I wanted on a plate and using the TARE function I can very quickly know how much I am serving myself.7 -
MFP and I have very different definitions of a "medium" sweet potato as it turns out. Weighing my first one was an eye-opener.15
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Water melon weighs more than I thought, and pasta is sad.11
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I was regularly logging my chicken and other meat as 4 ounces because that was the standard serving size...turns out an actual chicken breast is closer to 8-10 ounces or more.10
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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.1
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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.4 -
2 words. Peanut. Butter.
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.21 -
lsutigerscage wrote: »2 words. Peanut. Butter.
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.2 -
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Today I was surprised how much I'm able to eat! I made a simple pasta with a good salami cut in little pieces, used the pieces as fat for sauteing onions and garlic, added tin of tomatoes and a pile of pasta. Then serve with coarsely grated parmeggiano. First attempt cooking for three days: Hmm.. too little calories. So I ended up upping my pasta amount twice.5
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lsutigerscage wrote: »2 words. Peanut. Butter.
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...RIP4 -
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.3 -
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.3
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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.1
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Turns out my previous portion size of pasta was actually enough for a family of 6.24
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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 !3 -
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.2 -
Grams vs. Tbsp or half cup, sometimes I was shorting myself other times getting too much.0
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I actually overestimated for most things lol. I love having the scale now though, takes the guess work out of it.0
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lsutigerscage wrote: »2 words. Peanut. Butter.
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.
OMG he has my sympathy. That feeling is the worst. I don't tend to put things on my ice cream, so I only had to cut back on how much i considered a serving, but it still hurt. I hope you gave him a big hug and told him you are proud of him. It is surprising how much that helps when you are dieting and fighting the urge to cheat or give up.
My wake up call was ketchup. I was always a fan, to the point where those around me would ask if I wanted fries to go with my ketchup. Weighing what I thought was a serving was an eye opener. Since then I have purchased restaurant-style metal ramikens to contain a measured portion, and I don't let myself get a refill. After a few months I now find I can stick with a serving size that is much smaller than I used to have.6 -
Few years ago I was using some dubious protein brand I will not name, and the scoops were supposed to be 25g. I even had a small pastry scraper left beside the container to slide across the scoop and ensure it was level (I love baking).
I got a food scale toward the end of that container and weighed a level scoop-- it was 38g. Number is burned in me noggin, it wasn't something terrible like unknowingly eating triple the ice cream I thought or similar, but it did teach me the lesson to use the labels on many packages as a guide or baseline, and not accurate for the item amount they describe. I am sure many of us have experienced that with bread, one slice is 30g and you weigh it, sucker's 52g, etc.
And thankfully my protein now measures exactly as described, I'm wondering if that brand from years back might have been made in someone's basement...2 -
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Always buy the same frozen chicken burgers in bulk and would enter them based on what the label said (100g per burger) because I figured "while it won't be exact, it can't be THAT much off". Finally got a kitchen scale and weighed up the last three burgers in the bag. Lightest was 178 g.3
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Turns out my previous portion size of pasta was actually enough for a family of 6.
That has been by far the most depressing thing to realize. Today I allowed myself 350 g of pasta with a vegetarian sauce. That was a whopping 600 calories. For a puny little serving, about maybe a third of what I usually ate when I had pasta ... which, of course, might explain my weight gain in parts. I'll probably swear off pasta altogether in the weight loss phase. It's just not worth it whetting my appetite and then not being able to eat my fill.2 -
Sweet potatoes are surprisingly heavy!3
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deannalfisher wrote: »
Cereal... Sigh. I never eat it any more. It's just not worth it. I don't understand how to not eat a mixing bowl full.1 -
I overestimate meat and fish.
I underestimate cereal, ice cream, and fruit. I'll never forget the 500 calorie fruit salad. Yeesh.
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