weighing and measuring the foods you eat
 

I was just curious as to how many of you weigh and measure everything you eat or do you just "eye ball" it? I tend to get a little obsessive-compulsive about weighing, measuring and calories. :dizzy:

I have not ever and do not now have a food scale, so I don't weigh anything. The only thing I cook by weight is meat, and thats only because the raw weight is listed on the package (so if I know I want 4 portions of chicken, 4 oz raw each, I'll get that in a 1 lb package).

I do measure almost everything but vegetables. Veggies I eyeball, unless they are superstarchy like butternut squash, corn, peas, etc. Starches I always measure.

It depends on the food.

I have been in maintenance for nearly 4 years and I still measure (using either a food scale or measuring cups/spoons):

Salad dressing
Granola
Cold cereal
Nuts
Rice
Pasta

Even when I was dieting, I never measured "salad greens" type vegetables, my rule I could have as much as I wanted. I never really measured fruit either, just estimated calories to the nearest 100.

I weight and measure everthing with about 95% accuracy.

I measure SOME foods in a measuring cup. Cottage cheese, Oatbran cream of wheat, most dry foods.

Things I do NOT measure are things like peanut butter, honey, condiments (ketchup, mustard, mayo) etc.
Just kind of eyeball them.

I weigh or measure 90% of what I eat. I have found that I much prefer weighing to measuring - I like the accuracy of it.

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I measured faithfully for the first 9 months. Then, I started "spot" weighing foods to make sure I'm still eyeballing things correctly. Any food where my spot check is significantly off target, I start weighing again. Though, usually, my spot checks show that I underestimate rather than overestimate portions.

This is a great thread! I've measured and weighed pretty faithfully until recently. Lately I've started eyeballing fruits and veggies. I try and 'guess up'. I was feeling guilty, but I'm feeling better about it now!

I was measuring things, haven't so much in the last 1-2 months. A few things I still do, more because they're hard to eyeball than because they're calorie dense.

For example, I usually use 1/4 of an avocado, and don't try to weigh or measure it. I even eyeball my granola, but it goes into a tiny little container that makes eyeballing it easy. OTOH, I measure the yogurt and blueberries in my morning snack - with the container I use to take it to work, eyeballing is just awkward - the ratio of the size of the container to the amount of each item is too high. I also measure the 1/4c of pom juice that I mix with my berry seltzer for my dinner drink. Again, it's because it's just hard to tell in the glass I usually use. But for the same drink, I eyeball the splash of white wine I use ;). It's only a tbsp or so, and it goes in first, making it easy to see how much.

I don't find that I start eyeballing bigger and bigger. Certainly my success with this was built on measuring for a long time and learning from that.

If it's calorie-dense or compacts easily, I weigh it. Otherwise I just guesstimate.

I measure everything. And because I know that measuring can be innacurated (so that you are overeating) I knock a bit out of the cup or spoon ;)

I too can be alittle obsessive about things but I am new to the calorie counting and I want to get it right. I just bought a food scale yesterday. I am horrible at eyeballing things always have been. I am sooo glad you started this thread.

I weigh or measure everything that's not a single serving in the container, such as Lean Cuisine meals or granola bars. I just know that my 'eyeballing' leads to much larger servings than a real serving should be:lol: Yes, to some, it may seem obsessive, but it's just become habit now and I don't want to fail this time. For recipes I prepare, I don't go by # of servings per recipe, but I figure out how many calories in the whole recipe, then measure how much the recipe made (2 qts, 5 cups, etc) and figure the number of cals per cup or 1/2 cup and measure my meal accordingly. It's work,but it's worth it:D

i want to buy a food scale--- how much are there and who sells them