Tips for using food scales

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texasredreb
texasredreb Posts: 541 Member
edited March 2019 in Health and Weight Loss
I got a food scale yesterday and played around with it some. Weighing my food is new to me, so of course I have questions:

1. When you weigh fruit do you weigh it peel on or off? (ie oranges, bananas, avocado). I would assume peel off but that seems so much messier especially when I pack breakfast and lunch and take them with me to work.
2. Last night I had half an acorn squash, de-seeded. It weighed 235g cooked weight with the peel. I didn't eat the peel but I also didn't weigh it post eating.
3. When you weigh meat, do you weigh cooked or raw?
4. Is it okay to find something in the database that is "close enough" in terms of size/style/brand? I'm eating pizza this weekend. I know what kind, but the pizza house I go to isn't in the database--so I just picked another brand with a high calorie count. Is that close enough?

Lastly, this isn't directly related to weighing but something I'm curious about. When I see homemade prepared foods on the database (ie meatloaf, chicken picata, etc), does the calorie count account for the sodium, cooking oil, spices, and other ingredients? Would it be better for me (if I made say meatloaf) to add the egg, meat, crackers, tomato sauce, spices, etc. (each individual ingredient) into my meal plan for the day?

How wrapped up in the minutia of logging meals is needed to be successful?

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,080 Member
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    Fruit, I would weigh them with peel if you are taking them to work - it's better to over estimate than under estimate in my opinion.

    The squash I would weigh raw.

    Meat, I use USDA-vetted entries so I use raw weight. As a matter of fact I use all vetted entries the first time so I will be assured I've used good numbers. https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10621050/how-to-use-the-usda-food-database-mfp-food-database-for-accurate-logging/p1

    Homemade foods - I enter my own recipe. I would never use someone else's recipe unless I was eating out. In that case, I make a best guess.

    Pizza, guess.

    With time using your food scale you'll start to get really good at eyeballing and figuring out "What's in that?" when you eat out.

    When I was losing I didn't eat out very often.
  • kazminchu
    kazminchu Posts: 250 Member
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    As above, really. With the fruit, I have a food scale at work so if I'm wanting to get really accurate results, I weigh the whole fruit, then weigh whatever is left when I'm done eating, and subtract that from the original weight.

    Depending on how you cooked the squash I would do the same thing, weigh the whole thing, eat what you're going to eat, weigh the leftovers and subtract from the original.

    When eating out it really is a "best guess" situation. But yes, basically look for something that seems too high, it';s probably close enough. Remember restaurants will cook everything with extra oil, butter, fat etc to make it tastier, they're not fussed about calorie counts. And the portions are likely to be larger as well.

    With recipes you can add each ingredient to your meal plan, but if the recipe you're making is more than one serving or you're likely to make it again, it's much better to add it as your own recipe on MFP. That way you can use it over and over without having to search each ingredient every time.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
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    A lot of tips and tricks are discussed in these threads.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10697068/how-i-stopped-kidding-myself/p1

  • texasredreb
    texasredreb Posts: 541 Member
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    Thanks Y'all! How to do ensure your scale is accurate?
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,080 Member
    edited March 2019
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    I think you have to just trust that it is.

    I mean, I weigh things in grams. I've lost all my weight and stayed at my goal weight for 11 years, so it's accurate enough.

    Just do what you can, keep a good food log. The weight will start coming off and you will see that it all works out. This is not an exact process, but it doesn't have to be.
  • sarahEA88
    sarahEA88 Posts: 15 Member
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    I was just digging into how to weigh avocados the other day because it can make a big difference in weight. The USDA calories are based on just the edible part. Hope that helps!

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