How precise is everyone with food diary?

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  • AustinRuadhain
    AustinRuadhain Posts: 2,573 Member
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    I started with a little, very cheap dial scale (picked up at a garage sale), and eventually got a digital scale. If you can spare about $15, a digital scale that has a "tare" feature (lets you put a bowl on the scale, set the readout to zero, and then add food, so that you see just the weight of the food) and that can switch between grams and ounces, is very valuable.
    Example: http://a.co/d/e97AtES

  • RadishEater
    RadishEater Posts: 470 Member
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    Food Scale made cooking so much easier! I feel like more of pro at cooking using a scale and not in the least bit like I'm obessed with dieting

    I cook in bulk for the week, no way I can estimate 1000g of cauliflower. Also heads are not even close to the same size at wegmans at least. And this week I made my delicious Sweet Thai chili turkey cauliflower and rice bowl. I sprinkle peanuts on top but I weight those peanuts because they are super calories dense and it would very easy to rack up some extra calories.
  • MichelleWithMoxie
    MichelleWithMoxie Posts: 1,819 Member
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    so *kitten* precise you have no idea!!


    ...kidding. I mean, i try to be as precise as i can without being too crazy about it. i think it's definitely a necessary tool, for me, for weight loss/management. but i'm human, i'm off sometimes i'm sure.

    and yes a food scale is awesome and makes accuracy more attainable.
  • OHFlamingo
    OHFlamingo Posts: 239 Member
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    My food scale was $12.00, and it is my best friend. I try to be as accurate with my food diary as I am with my checking account, as mistakes in either can be costly! Be careful when logging things like "Banana
    Supermarket, 1 banana, 105 calories", even if they have a green check mark! For example's sake, I peel and weigh my bananas; today's was 117 calories, yesterday's was 112, and Sunday's was 134! That's 48 calories difference with just one item over three days. (I'm on 1200 calories a day, so I have little room for errors.) Good luck to you! You can do this!
  • VeryKatie
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,931 Member
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    I used to be. Now I am not. But... I'm pregnant so I have some leeway since I'm going the other way temporarily...
  • TrishSeren
    TrishSeren Posts: 587 Member
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    Food scale is a must, I weigh everything including the milk I put in my tea. However, I'm short and have only a small amount to lose so I have to be extremely accurate.
  • Evelyn_Gorfram
    Evelyn_Gorfram Posts: 706 Member
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    danasmashinggoals wrote: »
    Evelyn_Gorfram wrote: »
    I've started up tracking my food so many times that I have a routine. This may not be The Right Way To Do It, but it's what I do.

    For the first few weeks, I guesstimate, eyeball, and rely on package weights. I'm making all sorts of changes in how I eat, and I don't want to get overwhelmed with trying to get everything perfect all at once. I'm very overweight, plus tall and solidly built even without the fat, so I can rely on a "honeymoon period" where I lose water weight and my system adjusts to the eating plan.

    But the honeymoon always ends. When I stop losing weight at my goal rate, it's time to tighten up. The food scale comes out of the back of the cupboard, and it's weigh-&-measure time. I also get more serious with comparing food labels to the nutrition info in the app - most of that info is correct, but there are errors that can make a difference. After a while, I have verified entries for most of what I usually eat, and I've gotten pretty good with portion sizes. Then I can start getting more relaxed with the weigh-&-measure routine.

    Until I hit a plateau. Then it's time to tighten up and verify all over again. The thing that really works for me about this is that I get to pour my frustration over the plateau into all that renewed weighing and measuring.

    FWIW, I use a spring scale that I bought at a thrift store for $5 or so, and it's done fine for me so far. Eventually, I expect I'll hit a plateau I can't break, and then I'll get myself a better scale.

    Your mileage, and weight loss, will almost certainly vary. :)

    I’ve actually wondered what to do when I plateau- is it a better idea to start slow and use those times to get strict like you would?
    Not sure it's a better idea - I'm not advocating that you deliberately start out misestimating portion sizes. More like:

    If what you're doing now works, don't fix it.
    If what you're doing now doesn't work, do fix it.

  • vingogly
    vingogly Posts: 1,785 Member
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    Be sure to get a scale with a tare button; it zeros out the scale when you put a container on it. I use it like this: put a bowl or plate on the scale, press tare to zero it out, put in the food. If I have something else to add, tare again and add the additional item. I use gram measurements for the best accuracy.

    Once you get used to doing this, it becomes second nature. I tend to eat the same things over and over again, so I have the food search return results sorted by most recent first. Probably takes me a minute or so to record my foods each day.
  • Teri_F
    Teri_F Posts: 9 Member
    edited September 2018
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    I use a food scale. I also do a lot of home cooking and those items that are prepackaged or canned I scan and include the portions used. I got a great scale for less than $10 on Amazon. Good luck!

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  • MsHarryWinston
    MsHarryWinston Posts: 1,027 Member
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    danasmashinggoals wrote: »
    MsHarryWinston wrote: »
    Get a scale! The scale will be your new god. Make sacrifices to the scale in tribute.

    😂😂😂 I’m naively trying to avoid sacrifices !

    Well I suppose you could use chocolate Easter bunnies or something. Just be sure to weigh it before you eat it!
  • hipari
    hipari Posts: 1,367 Member
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    So far I've been OK only weighing most calorie dense foods, like nuts. I have, however, in the past weighed out some of my most regular foods so I know how much a slice of cheese weighs when cut with my cheese slicer, what 5g of olive oil looks like on my frying pan, etc. I do take advantage of package labels, tho. For example, the pasta I use comes in 500g bags, and my husband and I use a bag in 3 dinners. So, one dinner is 1/3 of the 500g bag, and I had half that, so 1/6 of 500g. I put in a can of crushed tomatoes, and log half a can. And so on. It's very helpful to me since it's accurate enough for my personal weight loss goals, and I don't have to interrupt things like my burger-building process to weigh everything. Instead, I can sit down, log everything before or afterwards, and just enjoy the cooking and eating without the scale hassle.

    To add: I'm fairly tall (5'8"), have still 20+ to lose, and I'm pretty active. I don't even own a car, and I average more than 2500cals in daily burn. If you're petite, inactive and don't have a lot to lose, this might be trickier.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    edited September 2018
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    The food scale is my freedom. I don't worry about overeating because I know exactly how many calories I'm eating. This gives me the freedom to eat whatever I want. It would feel too "diety" without it, having to stick to true and tested lower calorie foods.
  • danasmashinggoals
    danasmashinggoals Posts: 16 Member
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    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    danasmashinggoals wrote: »
    sytchequeen wrote: »
    Get a food scale!

    I mostly cook from scratch, and it's astonishing how much estimates can be out of whack

    Is this how you reply?!

    That’s what I was worried about! I’m sure I’m being far too generous 😂

    This is a great example of how easy it is to misread tone and intention on the Internet. When I first read this, I thought OP felt like sytchequeen was being rude and hostile ("Is this how you reply?" = "This isn't a nice way to respond to me?") and I was trying to figure out how OP's feelings were hurt by that. It was only the third time I read that it occurred to me that OP might be talking about how the buttons on the forum thread work ("Is this how you reply?" = "Do I click on 'quote' to show what you said that I'm replying to?").

    And yes, yes it is. :smile:

    I find weighing at home greatly improves my estimating when I'm eating away from home. And I already was using a food scale for much of my baking when I started logging on MFP, so it wasn't a great leap to start weighing other food that I prepare at home. I don't consider it being anal. I do occasionally just estimate or even ignore something that I know from experience is low cal and I'm eating in a small amount, so it doesn't matter if I'm a little off.

    While I echo everyone who has said that they found food scales to be really helpful, and also that they're not expensive, if you are not having any problem losing weight without using them, and you'd rather not be weighing things, there's no reason to buy them.

    But if you eventually hit a point where you aren't losing weight anymore and come back for advice, you will be advised to get a food scale and start weighing. :smile:

    Best of luck.

    Oh I’m sorry! I’m relieved you re-read it and saw it wasn’t my intention to be rude! It was my first post in here and the layout is quite different to other forums I’ve used :)

    The advice has been amazing! I’m keeping an eye on my progress while I look for a good scale that has all the right buttons and doesn’t use those little button batteries (I’m taking notes!)

    Thank you 😊
  • danasmashinggoals
    danasmashinggoals Posts: 16 Member
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    Thank you so much to everyone’s responses! This ‘healthy lifestyle’ is quite new to me (quite different to the quick fad diets) so while my question seemed basic, you guys went above and beyond! I didn’t expect so many people to weigh their food but I now understand why, I’m fairly convinced I’m too generous with my portions even though at the moment I seem to be losing weight (it’s so early on I’m assuming it’s water weight). Thank you for sharing your stories and opinions with me :smile:
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
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    danasmashinggoals wrote: »
    Thank you so much to everyone’s responses! This ‘healthy lifestyle’ is quite new to me (quite different to the quick fad diets) so while my question seemed basic, you guys went above and beyond! I didn’t expect so many people to weigh their food but I now understand why, I’m fairly convinced I’m too generous with my portions even though at the moment I seem to be losing weight (it’s so early on I’m assuming it’s water weight). Thank you for sharing your stories and opinions with me :smile:

    Come back in a few weeks time and keep us posted of how its all going :smile:
  • sytchequeen
    sytchequeen Posts: 526 Member
    edited September 2018
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    lynn_glenmont wrote: »

    When I first read this, I thought OP felt like sytchequeen was being rude and hostile ("Is this how you reply?" = "This isn't a nice way to respond to me?") and I was trying to figure out how OP's feelings were hurt by that. It was only the third time I read that it occurred to me that OP might be talking about how the buttons on the forum thread work ("Is this how you reply?" = "Do I click on 'quote' to show what you said that I'm replying to?").
    danasmashinggoals wrote: »
    Oh I’m sorry! I’m relieved you re-read it and saw it wasn’t my intention to be rude! It was my first post in here and the layout is quite different to other forums I’ve used :)

    hahaha, it never occurred to me the post might be a negative reaction to my answer... so we're all good.

    I'm glad the responses have helped you decide. Now I've been weighing a logging for over 400 days (crikey) I feel much more confident to estimate when I am eating out or at friends houses. So you should find it a very useful learning tool.

  • endermako
    endermako Posts: 787 Member
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    i use a food scale for every meal that In grams and i weight my snacks as well.
  • StephCain1990
    StephCain1990 Posts: 6 Member
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    I never used scales in the beginning, in fact I never even logged my cups of tea! (I tended to always be under on my cals though - so really, I was probably just about there or only slightly over - at least that's what I tell myself) But now I use my scale all the time, quickly realised how much I was underestimating what I ate aha, especially cereal!!! I assumed I was having the serving size on the box, then found out I was eating double that! Now I scan barcodes and weigh my portions and its helped loads! Finally over the half way mark to my goal, so definitely would recommend getting a food scale

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