Hello Everyone...

I am starting the flat belly diet on Monday and I am very excited about it. I had a baby in May and I started heavier then I should have. I was 178 (5'4, 31 years old) the day I found out I was pregnant and I was 196 the day I gave birth. Through breastfeeding and cutting out most of the junk and running around like a chicken without my head I now weigh 150. I want to get down to 135 plus tone up a bit.

SO here we are. I have read the 4 day jump start, will be food shopping tomorrow. BUT here is my question. How do I measure the oz in some of these foods without getting a food scale. E.G. 4 oz of turkey meat, 1/3 of tilapia? So far that is the only thing that has turned me off.. I just want something straight forward.

Any ideas how to go about this...

PS - TOday is my last breastfeeding session with the little boy - have been weaning for a month.


Thanks
K

ThinMe, I am not on the plan that you are on but one thing I do is buy pre-portioned packages of fish and chicken. I can find them in the meat or freezer section for chicken, tilapia, salmon, flounder, etc. They are typically pre-portioned from anywhere from 4oz to 6oz.

I know you said that you don't want to get a food scale but I would HIGHLY suggest you get one. Good digital food scales can be had for $20. It makes the WORLD of difference, trust me. It is almost impossible for the human eye to discern proper weights/portion sizes, even if you are a veteran at it. I had a regular scale for 3 years and I use it daily. I just recently "upgraded" to a digital scale that cost me $20 and I love it. So think about making that an addition to your kitchen.

Otherwise, good luck and if you can't find any one on your specific plan just hop in with support groups of another plan. At the end of the day we are all trying to achieve the same things.

thank you so much for your response..

I think you are right. I am going to buy one when I go food shopping tomorrow.

VERY silly question for you - do you measure the items BEFORE or AFTER they are cooked

It's not a silly question at all! I typically weigh or measure everything before it is cooked. However, I also use a food logging website and I can input either the cooked or uncooked weight. Keep in mind uncooked food tends to hold more water so 4 oz of uncooked chicken will have less calories than 4 oz of cooked chicken.

That last part about calories confused me

When you cook meat, you lose weight in water that evaporates during the cooking process. So if you start out with 6 oz of raw chicken, when you cook it it might be only 4 oz when you're done. So, 6 oz of cooked chicken would have more calories than 6 oz raw (because the cooked chicken probably started out at 8 or 9 oz).

SO then it has less calories once it is cooked because it weighs less? BTW I think your avatar is adorable.

Hi ThinME,

I'm just curious to how you're doing on the Flat Belly Diet. I have bought the book and looking for a change of life. Do you like it?

Yes, THIN ~ I always add 1-2 oz to my meat becuz I know that it will weigh less when it is cooked. My calorie counter book counts the meat when it is cooked. Fish has a lot of water in it, so you could start out with 6 oz and end up with only 3-4 oz after it's cooked.

So, when I am having beef or pork -- I may measure 5 oz uncooked to get 4 oz cooked. For poultry, I measure 6 oz to get 4 oz cooked; and for fish, I usually measure 7 oz to get 4 oz cooked, as fish has the most water in it and is much lower in calories too.

If you want to make it simpler, you could just weigh the meat right after it's cooked, then serve it. Honestly, most of the time, I eyeball it; using my fist or a deck of cards as my guide for my meat. I eat more meat on my plan so I don't really worry about it if I am out an ounce; I just add another 50 cals for that. Plus, I always leave about 50-100 calorie leeway on my plan for those things.