Do you weight food even when the serving size is stated?

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  • nighthawk584
    nighthawk584 Posts: 1,992 Member
    I am OCD and weigh everything. Down 80 lbs as of today.
  • Pipsqueak1965
    Pipsqueak1965 Posts: 397 Member
    No - I just go by what it says on the packet. But I'm sort of in maintenance and log fairly loosely.
  • GreenValli
    GreenValli Posts: 1,054 Member
    I don't weigh items that are packed and labeled with calorie counts, but I have noticed that many calorie counts on the boxes and containers seem to be rounded off numbers (ending in 0 or 5). I am sure these are not as accurate as they should be. Guess the manufacturer decides an estimate is good enough.
  • Danp
    Danp Posts: 1,561 Member
    What irritates me, is when you look at the panel and check out 1 serving and it looks like it will easily fit in your goal for the day only to check out the 'servings per package' and see that it's 1.8 or 1.3 servings per package.

    That so deceptive. They've clearly done it so that they can make the 'per serve' figure appear to be lower in calories (and therefore more appealing). I mean who opens a packet of something and thinks "oh yes. I'll definitely only eat a weird percentage of this and leave an odd fraction of the stuff for next time"
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,156 Member
    Danp wrote: »
    What irritates me, is when you look at the panel and check out 1 serving and it looks like it will easily fit in your goal for the day only to check out the 'servings per package' and see that it's 1.8 or 1.3 servings per package.

    I bet this often is an artifact of how package sizing changes. The physical size of the box may not change, but they put less in so they don't have to raise the price. The serving size stayed the same, but now there's no longer a full two servings in the box, just 1.8

    GreenValli wrote: »
    I have noticed that many calorie counts on the boxes and containers seem to be rounded off numbers (ending in 0 or 5). I am sure these are not as accurate as they should be. Guess the manufacturer decides an estimate is good enough.

    I have some sugar free gum that says one piece is <5 calories; no actual number. I was playing around with the MFP calorie goal estimator for maintaining my weight at a number of very slightly different weights. The calorie goal stays steady until it changes by 5 (or was it even ten) calories, so it's not just the food producers that round to five.

  • OhMsDiva
    OhMsDiva Posts: 1,074 Member
    sfinsc wrote: »
    I weigh veggies, but not anything else, really, especially not if it says something like "4 pieces." And for reference, I've continued to lose weight (got to my target this month!).
    sfinsc wrote: »
    I weigh veggies, but not anything else, really, especially not if it says something like "4 pieces." And for reference, I've continued to lose weight (got to my target this month!).

    I am just curious. Why do you weigh veggies and nothing else?
  • MonaLisainCT
    MonaLisainCT Posts: 41 Member
    I weigh everything since I want my records to be accurate. (It's also surprising how many packages don't contain the number of grams the label says it should!)
  • denjan333
    denjan333 Posts: 158 Member
    Weigh everything. I just saw a post on r/1200isplenty today where a person looked at the serving size of frozen french fries. The serving size said: 84 grams (about 27 pieces). They weighed out 83 grams and it was 15 pieces. That is 130 calories per serving, and they would get TWICE what they thought they would if they went off the "27 pieces" serving. If you're not using a food scale, you WILL be eating more than you think you are, and it will affect your progress. I guarantee you that 99% of all the people on here and complaining everywhere that they've stalled or plateaued, are just not weighing their portions, and are therefore eating more than they believe they are.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
    denjan333 wrote: »
    Weigh everything. I just saw a post on r/1200isplenty today where a person looked at the serving size of frozen french fries. The serving size said: 84 grams (about 27 pieces). They weighed out 83 grams and it was 15 pieces. That is 130 calories per serving, and they would get TWICE what they thought they would if they went off the "27 pieces" serving. If you're not using a food scale, you WILL be eating more than you think you are, and it will affect your progress. I guarantee you that 99% of all the people on here and complaining everywhere that they've stalled or plateaued, are just not weighing their portions, and are therefore eating more than they believe they are.

    I'd add to that, that's often why a lot of women think "1200 is plenty". Because they're logging volume or pieces and are really eating more like 1500+ :smile:

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