Using a food scale plus this app

oliviawoloshyn
oliviawoloshyn Posts: 1 Member
edited December 24 in Getting Started
I use a food scale to measure my food. Eyeballing just doesn't do it for me, so it makes it waaay more accurate. I'm new to this app, so I don't know how everything works just yet, but I noticed it measures food in stuff like slices or servings. I'd find it much much easier if I could just log in ounces. Is there any way of making it so I measure in ounces for all food?

Replies

  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    edited December 2019
    Change how you search. Add USDA when you are searching. That gives you options in grams and ounces. (If you are using a food scale, grams are a better option than ounces, just FYI. More accurate.)

    Are you aware of the drop down tab? That gives you more options.

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  • poisonesse
    poisonesse Posts: 573 Member
    What @quiksylver296 said. Also, you'll find there are many options for the same item... when using the drop down menu, I find it more accurate if you look for the proper measurements... as in, you find the *insert solid food here* but the drop down gives fluid measurements... check more items until you find that "solid" food in a pure "oz" measurement, rather than fluid. Also, I find I often get better results by adding "USDA" to my search, it cuts out a lot the false info users have added to the data base over the years. I've been on this journey for 7 full years now (made my goal, now just holding it) and I'll be weighing my foods for the rest of my life. It works for me, and you stick with what works! Best wishes on hitting your goals! :)
  • chris_in_cal
    chris_in_cal Posts: 2,548 Member
    --Go with grams. Nearly all US foods with nutritional informational labels will have grams.
    Sometimes it'll be mixed: (3 thimbles full {4 grams}) or (1 large {15 grams}) since your food scale is your best tool, use grams.

    Lastly I agree with you so much, MFP really changed for the better once I got a food scale.
  • Sharon_C
    Sharon_C Posts: 2,132 Member
    Yaaaassss for getting a food scale. But I agree with chris_in-cal, measure in grams. It's much more accurate
  • Pupnuzz
    Pupnuzz Posts: 203 Member
    Also, it's handy to learn how to do a rough calculation of how many calories food is in your head so if something doesn't happen to be in the database (a lot of local brands here in New Zealand) you can get a rough estimate of how much it will be per serving and work out what you want to buy based on that

    Also, do your scales measure in OZ and ML too? I got some that do then as well and it's quite handy for measuring liquids and spread and stuff like that! I was always going over with my sauces and butter beforehand 😅
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,097 Member
    Pupnuzz wrote: »
    Also, it's handy to learn how to do a rough calculation of how many calories food is in your head so if something doesn't happen to be in the database (a lot of local brands here in New Zealand) you can get a rough estimate of how much it will be per serving and work out what you want to buy based on that

    Also, do your scales measure in OZ and ML too? I got some that do then as well and it's quite handy for measuring liquids and spread and stuff like that! I was always going over with my sauces and butter beforehand 😅

    You can't really measure volume on a scale. A scale can make a conversion from weight to volume, usually based on the assumption that you're measuring water or something else with a density of 1 (1 ml = 1 g), in which case it hardly seems worth paying for that feature.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    Pupnuzz wrote: »
    Also, it's handy to learn how to do a rough calculation of how many calories food is in your head so if something doesn't happen to be in the database (a lot of local brands here in New Zealand) you can get a rough estimate of how much it will be per serving and work out what you want to buy based on that

    Also, do your scales measure in OZ and ML too? I got some that do then as well and it's quite handy for measuring liquids and spread and stuff like that! I was always going over with my sauces and butter beforehand 😅

    You can't really measure volume on a scale. A scale can make a conversion from weight to volume, usually based on the assumption that you're measuring water or something else with a density of 1 (1 ml = 1 g), in which case it hardly seems worth paying for that feature.

    what i've done in the past is measure 8oz of milk (for example) and then anotate what that weighed - so in the future, i can just plunk my bowl of cereal on the scale and pour in milk
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    Pupnuzz wrote: »
    Also, it's handy to learn how to do a rough calculation of how many calories food is in your head so if something doesn't happen to be in the database (a lot of local brands here in New Zealand) you can get a rough estimate of how much it will be per serving and work out what you want to buy based on that

    Also, do your scales measure in OZ and ML too? I got some that do then as well and it's quite handy for measuring liquids and spread and stuff like that! I was always going over with my sauces and butter beforehand 😅

    remember you can also add foods to the database - so if your brand isn't there - add it, and then you are helping not only yourself but others
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    Pupnuzz wrote: »
    Also, it's handy to learn how to do a rough calculation of how many calories food is in your head so if something doesn't happen to be in the database (a lot of local brands here in New Zealand) you can get a rough estimate of how much it will be per serving and work out what you want to buy based on that

    Also, do your scales measure in OZ and ML too? I got some that do then as well and it's quite handy for measuring liquids and spread and stuff like that! I was always going over with my sauces and butter beforehand 😅

    I suspect that OP is talking about the weigh ounce, not the liquid (volume) ounce. They are two separate things.
  • Pupnuzz
    Pupnuzz Posts: 203 Member
    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    Pupnuzz wrote: »
    Also, it's handy to learn how to do a rough calculation of how many calories food is in your head so if something doesn't happen to be in the database (a lot of local brands here in New Zealand) you can get a rough estimate of how much it will be per serving and work out what you want to buy based on that

    Also, do your scales measure in OZ and ML too? I got some that do then as well and it's quite handy for measuring liquids and spread and stuff like that! I was always going over with my sauces and butter beforehand 😅

    You can't really measure volume on a scale. A scale can make a conversion from weight to volume, usually based on the assumption that you're measuring water or something else with a density of 1 (1 ml = 1 g), in which case it hardly seems worth paying for that feature.

    Well, it gives me the option and I really only use it for trim milk and it seems accurate to my eyes as to when I used a measuring cup
    deannalfisher wrote: »
    Pupnuzz wrote: »
    Also, it's handy to learn how to do a rough calculation of how many calories food is in your head so if something doesn't happen to be in the database (a lot of local brands here in New Zealand) you can get a rough estimate of how much it will be per serving and work out what you want to buy based on that

    Also, do your scales measure in OZ and ML too? I got some that do then as well and it's quite handy for measuring liquids and spread and stuff like that! I was always going over with my sauces and butter beforehand 😅

    remember you can also add foods to the database - so if your brand isn't there - add it, and then you are helping not only yourself but others

    I quite often do 👍🏻🤗
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    Pupnuzz wrote: »
    Also, it's handy to learn how to do a rough calculation of how many calories food is in your head so if something doesn't happen to be in the database (a lot of local brands here in New Zealand) you can get a rough estimate of how much it will be per serving and work out what you want to buy based on that

    Also, do your scales measure in OZ and ML too? I got some that do then as well and it's quite handy for measuring liquids and spread and stuff like that! I was always going over with my sauces and butter beforehand 😅

    I suspect that OP is talking about the weigh ounce, not the liquid (volume) ounce. They are two separate things.

    I was referencing all of them? My scale standard is Gram. But then it also does OZ and ML as well.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,622 Member
    When you're getting started, it's good to validate entries you choose (by looking at the real USDA database or some similar authoritative source). After you use things, they'll stay in your "frequent foods" and come up first for you, unless/until something more frequent knocks them off, so you won't have to keep verifying routinely.

    If your scale uses ounces/tenths (not hundredths), I'd suggest using grams (if your scale does grams), because it's more "granular", so can be more precise. (There are about 28g in an ounce, so in essence you can be measuring to the 1/28 instead of the 1/10).

    Perhaps you already realize this, but another tip is to avoid other people's generic/homemade complex foods ("cheese sandwich", "chicken noodle soup", "meat lasagna" - you don't know what recipe they used, or whether they just made up details). Instead, use simple ingredient entries when you can, and save things as recipes or meals, for later re-use. Meals, in particular, are pretty flexible: For example, you can save your cheese sandwich as a meal, bring it back into your diary with all the parts, then add/delete if (for example) you use mayo instead of mustard, and that makes a difference for you.

    One clarification:

    The entries that include "USDA" in the name of the food are user entered. (These may be more conscientious users, on average, since it implies that they looked it up).

    The entries that were loaded from the USDA database to MFP at start-up (before crowd-sourcing) don't include "USDA" in the name. They can be recognized by their torturously bureaucratic naming (Examples: "Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average", "Squash, winter, all varieties, cooked, baked, with salt") and the fact that the default quantity is often 1 Cup (even for things no sane person would measure in cups, like grapes or hard-boiled eggs), and the drop-down list often contains both volume and weight measures, and/or "NLEA serving" in addition to sizes and counts in the drop down (i.e., the tomatoes one has things like "1.0 plum tomato" and "1.0 slice, thick/large (1/2" thick)" in addition to the weights and volume measures).

    Often it's easier to find them by searching on the noun ("tomatoes") followed by one of the adjectives ("raw"), and looking for bureaucratic-named green-checked versions.

    Quite a few of these have errors, really major ones, for some quantity (often 1 tablespoon), but these will be so far off that you'll know, and there's usually a similar measure (maybe teaspoons or cups) that isn't incorrect, and can be used with an equivalent fractional quantity.
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