Foods you were OVERestimating calories for before you used a food scale?

So I had a revelation today with avocados. I always just assumed a medium avocado was around 250 calories. I bought a normal (to my eye) sized hass avocado today. Scooped out the contents from the skin and removed the pit. When I weighed the actual edible avocado, it was only 90 grams (144 calories).

What a pleasant surprise! Was curious if anyone else had been overestimating calories before using a food scale, and for which foods.
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Replies

  • Copper_Boom
    Copper_Boom Posts: 85 Member
    Oatmeal, for me. I was eating at least an extra 100 calories or more until I got my food scale. Now, when I scoop, it is a scant 1/3 cup.

    ETA: overestimating? Ugh. My calorie burns. Lol


    Lol! :)
    P.S. What a beautiful Siamese cat!
  • NJCJF
    NJCJF Posts: 134 Member
    of all things...peanut butter-- was only eating 1.5 tbsp instead of 2.
    also cereal
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
    skram01 wrote: »
    Shredded cheddar cheese. I would eyeball a quarter cup. Found out I was shooting myself by a decent amount. Yay, more cheese!!

    Same here, only I was eyeballing an ounce. For a while, flavored yogurt, apple sauce and a few other things that I accepted as close enough to weighing the same as water to just use these little 8 oz glass dishes to measure into and eat from. I mentioned that to my my wife and she shook her head and told me they were 6 oz. So now I weigh into bigger bowls. Shaved turkey lunch meat. Rolls - I would use the calories on the package and always take the smallest one; I usually still do that even though I found the smallest one is often 1/4 - 1/3 less.
  • somethingsoright
    somethingsoright Posts: 99 Member
    Peanut butter. I don't like goopy globs of it and have always used a thin smear for sandwiches. Thought that was a serving, but no.
  • Noreenmarie1234
    Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,493 Member
    Chicken! I was surprised that my 100 calories of chicken was really only like 50! I can have a lot more now!
  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,978 Member
    NJCJF wrote: »
    of all things...peanut butter-- was only eating 1.5 tbsp instead of 2.
    also cereal

    All that pb you could have been eating... :'(
  • youngcaseyr
    youngcaseyr Posts: 293 Member
    Canned beans typically say 3.5 servings per can, but after measuring I have found that it is almost always nearly exactly two servings. I can eat more beans but that also means I have to BUY more beans. Worth it.

    However, 1 dry cup of flour is typically more than the weight in grams as it is listed on the package.
  • admaarie
    admaarie Posts: 4,297 Member
    Peanut butter for me. What I thought was 15g (a serving) was actually around 7-8 g because I was trying to be careful.
    Chia seeds as well. I thought I was using around 20g, turns around it’s always been a solid 4-5g
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
    edited October 2018
    Canned beans typically say 3.5 servings per can, but after measuring I have found that it is almost always nearly exactly two servings. I can eat more beans but that also means I have to BUY more beans. Worth it.

    However, 1 dry cup of flour is typically more than the weight in grams as it is listed on the package.

    You have to be careful about canned fruits and veggies. Even though you will eat the drained product, nutrition information is "as packaged" unless specified otherwise. If liquid you pour off is water or mostly water and has very little calorie content, what's left has more calories per unit of weight. With fruit it's probably closer to okay to ignore the syrup as it has as many or more calories by weight than the fruit.
  • Cbean08
    Cbean08 Posts: 1,092 Member
    Avocado. I always called 1/4 of a medium avocado 100 calories. It's about half that.
    Lunch meat. I thought my 4 slices were 3oz of meat. Not even close.
    Potato. I also thought that a potato the size of my hand was 300 calories.
  • Keto_Vampire
    Keto_Vampire Posts: 1,670 Member
    I think everyone has to plead guilty for peanut/almond/cashew/etc. butter
    Bulk powders and using rounded vs. leveled scoops for stuff like oatmeal, flaxseed, & protein powders because the more times you measure something, the greater amount of uncertainty & accumulation of error (i.e. using 4 1/4 cup measurements vs. 1 one cup measurement)

    Kind of dread weighing out portions so I stick to pre-packaged foods only for better consistency
  • New_Heavens_Earth
    New_Heavens_Earth Posts: 610 Member
    Meats and especially fish. I assumed most fish, except salmon, was about 175 calories. But some portions I take are about 100.

    Condiments as well, like jellies, dressings, and sauces.
  • ghudson92
    ghudson92 Posts: 2,061 Member
    The occasional times I buy prepackaged foods for dinner, such as fresh pasta and a pre-made sauce with a garlic bread. I was gladly going along with the packet e.g half the box of ravioli is 260cals and half of the garlic bread is 395cals etc... When I actually entered the foods per 100g in to the database and then weighed them I found I was being grossly short changed :neutral: