You don't use a food scale?
Replies
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In the interest of fairness, the other day, for the first time ever, I had a recipe I entered in the recipe builder come up without a single mistake or wrong entry! Maybe it's a sign of great things to come
Of course, tell that to the 37,000 threads this week saying, "I can't log food."
Trade-offs!1 -
cmriverside wrote: »In the interest of fairness, the other day, for the first time ever, I had a recipe I entered in the recipe builder come up without a single mistake or wrong entry! Maybe it's a sign of great things to come
Of course, tell that to the 37,000 threads this week saying, "I can't log food."
Trade-offs!
I know! I was baffled that it happened during this period of extensive problems. I thought maybe the fix "cured" the recipe builder (not really, but a girl can dream ). 1 -
FWIW: I have tried other logging apps. And, depite some of the annoyances of MFP I keep coming back. I keep finding I cant find the food I want on the other apps, and end up going to MFP to cross reference my data. Might as well stick to MFP if I have to go to it anyways. Anyhoo, since this is the food scale thread and why we should be using one, I'll get back on topic. I keep finding weighing is 9 times out of 10 more convenient then measuring with spoons and cups and what not. I just love plopping it on my plate, enting in the grams and going on my way. Instead of busting out measuring cups and hoping that 1 cup of "melon, cubed" or "chicken, 1 cup ( when I have a whole breast) " is accurate.0
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Crafty_camper123 wrote: »FWIW: I have tried other logging apps. And, depite some of the annoyances of MFP I keep coming back. I keep finding I cant find the food I want on the other apps, and end up going to MFP to cross reference my data. Might as well stick to MFP if I have to go to it anyways. Anyhoo, since this is the food scale thread and why we should be using one, I'll get back on topic. I keep finding weighing is 9 times out of 10 more convenient then measuring with spoons and cups and what not. I just love plopping it on my plate, enting in the grams and going on my way. Instead of busting out measuring cups and hoping that 1 cup of "melon, cubed" or "chicken, 1 cup ( when I have a whole breast) " is accurate.
In my case, it's just good-natured teasing
It's an awesome resource and worth the glitches, IMO (though it was a mistake to suggest that to the angry hordes last week ).
I can't understand why anyone would choose to use measuring cups or spoons over a food scale (at least,anyone who is lazy and hates doing dishes like me).
This has probably been covered in this thread, but why the advice "food scale for solids, measuring cups for liquids" that I often see? I know liquids are based on volume, but does it make any difference, especially since the scale has a ml setting?1 -
Crafty_camper123 wrote: »FWIW: I have tried other logging apps. And, depite some of the annoyances of MFP I keep coming back. I keep finding I cant find the food I want on the other apps, and end up going to MFP to cross reference my data. Might as well stick to MFP if I have to go to it anyways. Anyhoo, since this is the food scale thread and why we should be using one, I'll get back on topic. I keep finding weighing is 9 times out of 10 more convenient then measuring with spoons and cups and what not. I just love plopping it on my plate, enting in the grams and going on my way. Instead of busting out measuring cups and hoping that 1 cup of "melon, cubed" or "chicken, 1 cup ( when I have a whole breast) " is accurate.
In my case, it's just good-natured teasing It's an awesome resource and worth the glitches, IMO (though it was a mistake to suggest that to the angry hordes last week ).
I can't understand why anyone would choose to use measuring cups or spoons over a food scale (at least,anyone who is lazy and hates doing dishes like me).
This has probably been covered in this thread, but why the advice "food scale for solids, measuring cups for liquids" that I often see? I know liquids are based on volume, but does it make any difference, especially since the scale has a ml setting?
Food scale for liquids is close enough. I do both. It's really close enough. Some people will argue that some liquids are denser. Meh, it's a gram if anything at all.1 -
...and not all scales have ml setting. Mine doesn't.0
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cmriverside wrote: »Crafty_camper123 wrote: »FWIW: I have tried other logging apps. And, depite some of the annoyances of MFP I keep coming back. I keep finding I cant find the food I want on the other apps, and end up going to MFP to cross reference my data. Might as well stick to MFP if I have to go to it anyways. Anyhoo, since this is the food scale thread and why we should be using one, I'll get back on topic. I keep finding weighing is 9 times out of 10 more convenient then measuring with spoons and cups and what not. I just love plopping it on my plate, enting in the grams and going on my way. Instead of busting out measuring cups and hoping that 1 cup of "melon, cubed" or "chicken, 1 cup ( when I have a whole breast) " is accurate.
In my case, it's just good-natured teasing It's an awesome resource and worth the glitches, IMO (though it was a mistake to suggest that to the angry hordes last week ).
I can't understand why anyone would choose to use measuring cups or spoons over a food scale (at least,anyone who is lazy and hates doing dishes like me).
This has probably been covered in this thread, but why the advice "food scale for solids, measuring cups for liquids" that I often see? I know liquids are based on volume, but does it make any difference, especially since the scale has a ml setting?
Food scale for liquids is close enough. I do both. It's really close enough. Some people will argue that some liquids are denser. Meh, it's a gram if anything at all.
I've done all my liquids in grams with no problems.0 -
Crafty_camper123 wrote: »FWIW: I have tried other logging apps. And, depite some of the annoyances of MFP I keep coming back. I keep finding I cant find the food I want on the other apps, and end up going to MFP to cross reference my data. Might as well stick to MFP if I have to go to it anyways. Anyhoo, since this is the food scale thread and why we should be using one, I'll get back on topic. I keep finding weighing is 9 times out of 10 more convenient then measuring with spoons and cups and what not. I just love plopping it on my plate, enting in the grams and going on my way. Instead of busting out measuring cups and hoping that 1 cup of "melon, cubed" or "chicken, 1 cup ( when I have a whole breast) " is accurate.
In my case, it's just good-natured teasing It's an awesome resource and worth the glitches, IMO (though it was a mistake to suggest that to the angry hordes last week ).
I can't understand why anyone would choose to use measuring cups or spoons over a food scale (at least,anyone who is lazy and hates doing dishes like me).
This has probably been covered in this thread, but why the advice "food scale for solids, measuring cups for liquids" that I often see? I know liquids are based on volume, but does it make any difference, especially since the scale has a ml setting?
Saves a step when the majority of your cookbooks are from the US and don't include metric weights. Plus it's what you're used to. I started baking as a toddler in the mid-seventies (Mom let me measure ingredients and mix them; she handled the trips to and from the oven) and I was definitely doing Jello and soup mixes at seven. So, when I came to MFP, I'd been using cups and spoons for 40-odd years. I'd also lost weight before using measuring cups and spoons, so what did I need with all you young whippersnappers and your new-fangled ways? But, I started reading the forums, learning, sort of deciding, "when my weight loss stalls, I know the first thing I'm tightening up," and then started tightening ahead of time. At first just figuring out whether "1 medium sweet potato" actually weighed what the recipe/MFP database said it did (not... even... close!), but I eventually got to the point of weighing out my flour, sugar, etc. I still use spoons for spices and baking powder/baking soda/>1/4 cup cocoa.
My scale doesn't have an ml setting. Sometimes I'll google the grams on honey or maple syrup. Sometimes, I just trust the spoons and liquid measuring cup.2 -
estherdragonbat wrote: »Crafty_camper123 wrote: »FWIW: I have tried other logging apps. And, depite some of the annoyances of MFP I keep coming back. I keep finding I cant find the food I want on the other apps, and end up going to MFP to cross reference my data. Might as well stick to MFP if I have to go to it anyways. Anyhoo, since this is the food scale thread and why we should be using one, I'll get back on topic. I keep finding weighing is 9 times out of 10 more convenient then measuring with spoons and cups and what not. I just love plopping it on my plate, enting in the grams and going on my way. Instead of busting out measuring cups and hoping that 1 cup of "melon, cubed" or "chicken, 1 cup ( when I have a whole breast) " is accurate.
In my case, it's just good-natured teasing It's an awesome resource and worth the glitches, IMO (though it was a mistake to suggest that to the angry hordes last week ).
I can't understand why anyone would choose to use measuring cups or spoons over a food scale (at least,anyone who is lazy and hates doing dishes like me).
This has probably been covered in this thread, but why the advice "food scale for solids, measuring cups for liquids" that I often see? I know liquids are based on volume, but does it make any difference, especially since the scale has a ml setting?
Saves a step when the majority of your cookbooks are from the US and don't include metric weights. Plus it's what you're used to. I started baking as a toddler in the mid-seventies (Mom let me measure ingredients and mix them; she handled the trips to and from the oven) and I was definitely doing Jello and soup mixes at seven. So, when I came to MFP, I'd been using cups and spoons for 40-odd years. I'd also lost weight before using measuring cups and spoons, so what did I need with all you young whippersnappers and your new-fangled ways? But, I started reading the forums, learning, sort of deciding, "when my weight loss stalls, I know the first thing I'm tightening up," and then started tightening ahead of time. At first just figuring out whether "1 medium sweet potato" actually weighed what the recipe/MFP database said it did (not... even... close!), but I eventually got to the point of weighing out my flour, sugar, etc. I still use spoons for spices and baking powder/baking soda/>1/4 cup cocoa.
My scale doesn't have an ml setting. Sometimes I'll google the grams on honey or maple syrup. Sometimes, I just trust the spoons and liquid measuring cup.
Oh, I wasn't thinking of baking- I actually do use cups for that, though I know it's imprecise. I was just thinking of eating/meals throughout the day. Would hate filling a TB with peanut butter and having to clean it out with my finger, or 1/2 cup of refried beans, etc.0 -
If you find discrepancies in entries, can't you edit them? I'm pretty I have before, or I've added my own with the nutritional facts listed on the package.
My yogurt always wants to use ml to weigh it. It's annoying to say the least.0 -
Funny thing.. While weighing the is king for counting calories, the last time I tried to weigh my ingredients to bake cookies, they came out all wrong. I thought for sure by weighing everything out, it would produce a superior result. Not true. Not sure where I went wrong there. I did use it this year for measuring out the cookie dough though. I ended up with perfect uniformly sized cookies. It was kind of awesome, lol.6
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I have two digitial food scales at home and I use them religiously.
One thing to remember when using grams and ml for liquids - if meauring liquids in grams, food scales are set for the weight of water, i.e. 1gm = 1ml. 1 metric cup (250ml) of orange juice is NOT 250g. It's more. That is why I will only use mls for liquids.1 -
Getting close to that 3 week mark!2
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allieeveryday wrote: »I've only had my food scale for a couple of weeks, and I have some questions re: weighing for portion sizes. I tend to make big pots of food for dinner, then box the leftovers up in tupperware for lunches over the next few days. What I've been doing is weighing the pot (so I know weight to subtract later), tare-ing, adding each ingredient individually, writing down the weight and tare-ing between each ingredient. It sounds like that's consistent with what ya'll are doing.
So if I'm doing a recipe, and it says "8 servings," do I just divide the total weight by 8 and that's the portion size? This is what I did last night for dinner and then weighed out the leftover portions too. Though it weighed different amounts uncooked vs. cooked - which weight is the correct one? How do you determine how many portions if you're improvising a recipe? Am I totally overthinking this?
When creating a recipe, I always mark the serving as 1 and make sure I know the total weight of it all. Then I can just serve myself however much I want, weigh it, and divide that weight by the total weight of the food to get my percentage of that “1” serving. Ie: I have spaghetti sauce that weighs a total of 35 ounces. I portion out 5 ounces for my dinner. Calculate 5/35. My serving is logged as .143 (always round up). This way, I don’t have to weigh out left overs or go to extra trouble. If you know the total weight of your recipe and weigh your servings, you know what % of the total batch you’re eating.3 -
sarahlucindac wrote: »allieeveryday wrote: »I've only had my food scale for a couple of weeks, and I have some questions re: weighing for portion sizes. I tend to make big pots of food for dinner, then box the leftovers up in tupperware for lunches over the next few days. What I've been doing is weighing the pot (so I know weight to subtract later), tare-ing, adding each ingredient individually, writing down the weight and tare-ing between each ingredient. It sounds like that's consistent with what ya'll are doing.
So if I'm doing a recipe, and it says "8 servings," do I just divide the total weight by 8 and that's the portion size? This is what I did last night for dinner and then weighed out the leftover portions too. Though it weighed different amounts uncooked vs. cooked - which weight is the correct one? How do you determine how many portions if you're improvising a recipe? Am I totally overthinking this?
When creating a recipe, I always mark the serving as 1 and make sure I know the total weight of it all. Then I can just serve myself however much I want, weigh it, and divide that weight by the total weight of the food to get my percentage of that “1” serving. Ie: I have spaghetti sauce that weighs a total of 35 ounces. I portion out 5 ounces for my dinner. Calculate 5/35. My serving is logged as .143 (always round up). This way, I don’t have to weigh out left overs or go to extra trouble. If you know the total weight of your recipe and weigh your servings, you know what % of the total batch you’re eating.
I just learned that it's much easier if you weigh the entire cooked recipe and edit the recipe number of servings as 1oz (or 1 gram). If my total meatloaf weighs say 40oz, when I eat a 4oz portion my number of servings would be 4.3 -
thank you girls! I am feeling EMPOWERED
now and love all your helpful comments!
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This morning I did an experiment, as photo shows my breakfast guessed compared to weighing everything is 70 less - that's just one meal. And for someone who's only on a 250 cal deficit a day any deficit could be wiped out easily.
Just thought I'd share on this thread and bump it for any newbies
ps this morning I didn't use any milk in the porridge, if I had that would have been another 30 cals -so 100 cals more than I thought.12 -
quiksylver296 wrote: »
https://youtu.be/XpHykP6e_Uk
If anyone has any other infographics or videos that are pro-food scale, add 'em!
The best thing about OP's video is that Zed from Police Academy is narrating it.
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LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »
This morning I did an experiment, as photo shows my breakfast guessed compared to weighing everything is 70 less - that's just one meal. And for someone who's only on a 250 cal deficit a day any deficit could be wiped out easily.
Just thought I'd share on this thread and bump it for any newbies
ps this morning I didn't use any milk in the porridge, if I had that would have been another 30 cals -so 100 cals more than I thought.
This is awesome! Thanks for that comparison. And you have that dreaded peanut butter in there! So good, so calorific! 4 -
I just wanted to say that I've been reading through this thread over the past couple of days - This is my third (AND FINAL) weight loss journey, and in the past, I've definitely used the scale over cups, etc whenever possible. However, reading through all of this has given me a lot of great new information and insight into better measuring and logging tips - specifically, my mind was blown (BLOWN, I SAY!) by the idea of logging my salad by putting the bowl on the scale and taring each ingredient as I added. That's really all I came here to say
- thanks to the OP for starting and keeping this thread up, and to everyone who's added comments and insights along the way. Much appreciated and very helpful. 15 -
bump3
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Bump1
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Cheap at Canadian Tire at the moment if you want one👍2
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I just got my new scale.
https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/perfect-portions-digital-nutrition-food-scale/1016983853
The site shows $39.99US for non-members, but it was marked $24.99. I have no idea how accurate the nutritional values are, but reviews look decent, so..better accuracy here I come. 2 -
Sigh, this thread convinced me. Just bought a food scale.11
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Bump.1
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Kitchen scales are great for precise baking. Measure a cup of flour 3 times and you'll get 3 different amounts by weight.
You can get volume to weight conversion for flour and other ingredients right off the nutrition facts label on the package. Or check out Michael Ruhlman's book, "Ratio" to learn more about cooking by weight ratio instead of recipes. It's easier than you think!
One interesting thing I learned from Ratio is that when you're substituting ingredients in a recipe, for example whole wheat flour instead of all purpose, the reason why it doesn't work so well is cause you're measuring by volume and whole wheat is heavier. If you sub ingredients by weight, your healthy substitutions will be much more successful!5 -
davepollack wrote: »This may seem like a silly question but, if 1 tbsp (15 fl oz) is a serving of creamer, how much would it weigh? or how would you know. I know that 1 oz of water weighs 1oz of weight but other liquids have different densities. Thanks in advance.
You're right, not all liquids have the same density as water. Some are similar enough as to not really matter and others are significantly different.
The website https://www.aqua-calc.com/ does conversions between weight and volume. It even has info on specific brands.[/quote]0 -
So maybe this is the place to ask. I'm cooking some bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts tonight and I know I won't be eating the whole breast since they are HUGE, how in the world do I weight this accurately? I normally weigh my meat raw as it's more accurate but this time I'll only be eating a portion of it and not eating the skin, plus obviously not eating the bone.1
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Another food weighing question!
When weighing fruit like bananas or oranges, do you peel them first?0
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