Do you weigh prepackaged meals?

patrickaa5
patrickaa5 Posts: 70 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been at this over 2 years, losing around 80lbs in the process. Still have another 30 or so to go. I eat a lot of prepackaged meals (WW, Healthy choice, etc). I've seldom weighed them - always just taking the calories on the package. The few times I experimented and actually weighed the food, it was always a little less than what the package states.

Now that my weight loss has slowed down considerably, should I start weighing the meals to get a more accurate calorie count? I weigh everything else.

Replies

  • MaltedTea
    MaltedTea Posts: 6,286 Member
    If you're eating the whole thing, then no
  • Dogmom1978
    Dogmom1978 Posts: 1,580 Member
    I wouldn’t either and never have.

    And with less weight to lose, it’s normal for your rate of loss to slow down.
  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,757 Member
    I used to pretty much live off prepackaged meals and never weighed them.
  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    I don't weigh those. Or yogurt containers. I figure the small amount that I don't scrape out will offset any overage.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    The following refers to foods other than prepackaged meals, which I do not eat.

    I'm always curious to see if I am getting the stated weight so do weigh new products initially and then periodically. Some products are consistently under, some over, and some dead on. I've never found any that were consistently varied.
  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,757 Member
    I've weighed bread before because the slices looked a touch larger than I was used to seeing in the same brand loaf I always buy and they turned out to be 10-20 calories more than stated. That wouldn't be a big deal but 2 slices (and the heels that I don't log) a day add up.

    I think you can get away with not logging prepackaged things until you hit a real plateau/maintenance and it's good just to do a spot check.
  • dragon_girl26
    dragon_girl26 Posts: 2,187 Member
    I used to, but these days I don't. Its close enough that a few grams isn't that big of a deal to me.
  • dragon_girl26
    dragon_girl26 Posts: 2,187 Member
    glassyo wrote: »
    I've weighed bread before because the slices looked a touch larger than I was used to seeing in the same brand loaf I always buy and they turned out to be 10-20 calories more than stated. That wouldn't be a big deal but 2 slices (and the heels that I don't log) a day add up.

    I think you can get away with not logging prepackaged things until you hit a real plateau/maintenance and it's good just to do a spot check.

    Yeah, I mean, I weigh bread slices and cheese slices and stuff, because of the variation in sizes. I've had bread slices range from 25g to 50g in the last bag I purchased.
  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    The bread I typically use: is supposed to be 41g for 2 slices. It is often 44-47g, so I just automatically log 1.1 'servings' now.
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    The following refers to foods other than prepackaged meals, which I do not eat.

    I'm always curious to see if I am getting the stated weight so do weigh new products initially and then periodically. Some products are consistently under, some over, and some dead on. I've never found any that were consistently varied.

    I do the same. I'll do a "check" and see how close they are to the stated weight (if I'm not doling out my own servings, like with wraps). I'll adjust if they're consistently over or under. The only brand I really came across that was aggressively over was Joseph's wraps. Most other things I've tested tend to be about right, or close enough to count as the same.
  • HoneyBadger302
    HoneyBadger302 Posts: 2,084 Member
    I have not.

    If you've been eating these meals right along, I doubt that it's suddenly become an issue. My first question would be - have you adjusted your calories for your current weight and activity, or just going off what has worked in the past.

    If you have made those adjustments, yes, your losses will slow in the last ~25 pounds (and should in order to preserve muscle).
  • nooshi713
    nooshi713 Posts: 4,877 Member
    No, I don’t.
  • Luke_rabbit
    Luke_rabbit Posts: 1,031 Member
    I have spot checked occasionally but have never found any foods I buy to be so off that I felt the need to weigh them regularly. And I use a good number of packaged foods.

    I do have OCD tendencies, so I deliberately try to not get too picky about weighing food. I would probably get a B+ if someone graded us on our food tracking. It's worked well for my weight loss and 10 months so far of maintenance.
  • patrickaa5
    patrickaa5 Posts: 70 Member
    HoneyBadger155 wrote: »
    I have not.

    If you've been eating these meals right along, I doubt that it's suddenly become an issue. My first question would be - have you adjusted your calories for your current weight and activity, or just going off what has worked in the past.

    If you have made those adjustments, yes, your losses will slow in the last ~25 pounds (and should in order to preserve muscle).

    Yes, I've adjusted calories down as I've lost weight. My main problem things have slowed down is that I'm eating too many calories. My goal is 1800. I've averaged around 2,000 over the last year. My TDEE is down to 2,200, so I just need to do a better job.
  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,460 Member
    Like you, I never have. Also like you, I think I may need to when I get closer to goal and it gets harder.
  • Noreenmarie1234
    Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,492 Member
    Not frozen meals.

    Some things that I've noticed are always way off I sometimes do out of curiosity. Now that I am not tightly logging (since I am in maintenance) I just estimate a little over for some things that I know in the past were always a lot more calories than stated. (Namely bread, tumaros wraps, lenny and larry are the top things I've noticed were consistency way off lol.)
  • GummiMundi
    GummiMundi Posts: 396 Member
    I do weigh most of the prepackaged meals and food I consume. Sometimes they're very close to the announced weight, but other times they're not. And 50 calories here, 100 calories there... they add up over time.
    The only ones I consistently don't weigh are things that don't have much room for fluctuations due to their packaging, like yogurts.
  • menotyou56
    menotyou56 Posts: 178 Member
    No I just scan the labels. I have 80 pounds or so to lose so I figure doing it that way will get me at least close to where I need to go without weighing everything. If I get within 5 or 10 lbs of the goal weight and the rate of loss slows way down I would start weighing everything or adjust the calorie goal for my present weight.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    no. very rarely, and then out of idle curiosity. the actual weight and stated weight has never been off by a significant amount.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,301 Member
    No I dont - I just scan the bar code.
  • wunderkindking
    wunderkindking Posts: 1,615 Member
    No. I'm trying to lose weight and get healthier, not tank my mental health. And THAT level of tracking would be terrible for my mental health.

    Honestly, now that I'm down to about 20 to lose, I just set my calories and maintenance, log and aim to be under that. Some days I'm 30 calories under, sometimes I'm 500 under. I definitely give myself a lot of flex room - certainly more than any inaccuracy in a package will state.

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