Benefits of a Photo Diary of Meals

Morphissara6
Morphissara6 Posts: 7 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Well I am wondering what the benefits are of snapping photos of what you eat. I am going to start since I have to make due without a food scale till I buy another one. I didn't think my last one was working so I threw it out. I am going to get another one. Hopefully if it is more expensive I will get what I pay for. Fingers crossed I know it doesn't always happen that way. I will look up the photos thing on Google but would appreciate any benefits y'all can tell me about, too.

Replies

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,222 Member
    Does MFP still have photo scan of meals in premium? (I wouldn't trust it, personally, so haven't looked.)

    I only take photos of meals (and only when it can be done politely) if I need to estimate portions of a meal someone else cooked, so that I can estimate it better afterward. That, plus cases where I made something new or unusual, and want to share a photo in one of the threads in Food & Nutrition or Recipes here in the Community.

    How are you thinking a full photo diary will help you?

    At home, I rely on my scale, or measuring cups/spoon for a subset of liquid things. I've not had major problems I can trace to my (inexpensive) food scales. I've had two, so far. The first one was a few years old, finally died. The new one's been working for, I dunno, a couple of years now. Close enough to be effective. (I think it's maybe accurate to around 2 grams, roughly.) I think I paid $12-15 USD for it on Amazon.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,455 Member
    I’ve had luck with cheap scales from Amazon, too. My first one last four years, I accidentally bought two to replace it- which was a good thing because I somehow broken the second within a couple weeks. The third is doing well.

    Not a sarcastic question, but I’m curious? Why did you think it wasn’t working?

    I admit to a certain amount of horrified shock when I first started weighing, and realized how small actual portions really were.

    That was on me, though, not the scale, lol.
  • Rockmama1111
    Rockmama1111 Posts: 262 Member
    edited May 2023
    My digital food scale is kind of crusty and probably 10 years old. I’ve only had to replace batteries. The brand is Camry. I’m sure it was cheap because I told my ex I wanted a food scale and that’s what I got for Christmas. My cheap food scale outlasted the ex.

    But on topic: pics are good for remembering so you can record later. The food log is the goal, not the pics.
  • Morphissara6
    Morphissara6 Posts: 7 Member
    Well it wasn't measuring right so I threw it out. It is already gone, but I admit now it was kinda wonky when I first got it. Oh well, there's other food scales and hopefully more accurate less wonky with measurements I can use on here or Weight Watchers.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    edited May 2023
    I have an expensive scale that I received as a gift. I wanted to get another one and leave one at my mothers. The new model ate batteries. When complaining about that, I heard a lot of nice things about this: Ozeri Pronto Digital Multifunction Kitchen and Food Scale which is currently only $10 on Amazon. It has a 11.24 lbs (5100 grams) capacity.

    I still use my original expensive scale for bigger items and the Ozeri for smaller. (It would work for bigger, but not as easily.)

    I went to a scale because I didn't consider measuring cups accurate and I was always wondering how tightly to pack a cup. Photos would be even less accurate.

    How could it estimate how much calorie dense foods such as oil or butter went into the meal? I made a large bean salad today with 100 grams / 881 calories of olive oil and would be really surprised if a picture would capture that accurately after it soaks into the beans.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    springlering62 wrote: »
    I’ve had luck with cheap scales from Amazon, too. My first one last four years, I accidentally bought two to replace it- which was a good thing because I somehow broken the second within a couple weeks. The third is doing well.

    Not a sarcastic question, but I’m curious? Why did you think it wasn’t working?

    I admit to a certain amount of horrified shock when I first started weighing, and realized how small actual portions really were.

    That was on me, though, not the scale, lol.

    Yeah, I had peanut butter banana (and protein powder and other things) smoothies for breakfast for years but I ceased after making them once using a food scale :disappointed:
  • spacetreemonkey
    spacetreemonkey Posts: 171 Member
    I like taking photos of my meals because it gives me ideas of what to eat when I'm hungry. I had a folder on my old phone of healthy meals I enjoyed, for ideas of when I needed to eat less calories or healthier options.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,252 Member
    When eating out a picture allows me to better log my meal when I get back home

    It helps me not just rely on memory and recall as to what I ate since i can actually see most of it in the picture. It also let's me use relative sizes and previous scale experience to better guess at the quantities I am logging.

    Most food scales are annoying in that one or two gram adjustments can be hard to achieve.

    While that IS annoying, ultimately you can work with it! And ultimately it is a lot more precise than guessing from a picture 🤷‍♂️

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