Did you have any surprises about how much you were eating when you got a food scale?
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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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When I first starting using my food scale I discovered that a 75g of dry pasta looks miniscule. I must have been eating twice that amount before tracking. 😳 and don't get me started on peanut butter!2
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@lsutigerscage Check out PB2. It is basically peanut butter powder. I think it is delicious and packs a lot of pb flavor for far fewer calories.
For me I was bad at judging rice and pasta.1 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »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.
That's why I buy tenderloins, they're quite close the the norm serving size!
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My cereal was way underestimated using measuring cups. my 1c was more like 1.5c in weight.
Same with powdered peanut butter! I thought I was eating 2tbsp, but when I weight it it was close to double because the powder had settled a bit. My veggies sure added up and I was eating a lot more than I thought. (I was estimating my salads)
When I first started weighing, I found out I was eating about 300 more than I thought a day.2 -
The variation in packaged food weight accuracy is eye-opening.0
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ashliedelgado wrote: »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.
oh I still eat it - I plan 2ish servings in my calorie goals most days - and for stuff like strawberry frosted shredded wheat - that is a decent amount0 -
Without the food scale I always overeat. As soon as I start to measure my food, I start to lose weight. I don't even have to cut down very much, just keeping track makes a huge difference.0
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You guys prolly know I just started right?
Before I started tracking, I'd annoy my sister and get out a tablespoon out of the drawer to keep track of the peanut butter; I never did heaping, I'd level it off with a finger. (She hate hate HATES washing that) Unlike most of you, I don't have a food scale. But..I DO HAVE A MAIL SCALE THAT DOES GRAMS. I just checked and I've been doing a little under on the peanut butter, lol! (We've used that mail scale for recipes where you have to weigh stuff in the past; I'm considering getting a real food scale since I think I'll prolly be resorting to that for a while.)0 -
maryadavies4667 wrote: »You guys prolly know I just started right?
Before I started tracking, I'd annoy my sister and get out a tablespoon out of the drawer to keep track of the peanut butter; I never did heaping, I'd level it off with a finger. (She hate hate HATES washing that) Unlike most of you, I don't have a food scale. But..I DO HAVE A MAIL SCALE THAT DOES GRAMS. I just checked and I've been doing a little under on the peanut butter, lol! (We've used that mail scale for recipes where you have to weigh stuff in the past; I'm considering getting a real food scale since I think I'll prolly be resorting to that for a while.)
I used a mail scale for years, only replaced it when it finally died!0
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