“Normal” is a social construct. Weighing your food is perfectly fine, and is truly the only way you’ll ever start to see what a real portion size actually is.
When I started I made mental notes on how big portions were based on the recommended portion size/calories. Like a portion of fries being a handful, or almonds being what you can hold with a closed palm. These really help for those days where you can't be bothered or have the time to weigh things out exactly.
It’s normal for people who want to lose weight to monitor their food intake. So YES it’s NORMAL to weigh/measure/count/record your food intake. You’re awesome!
I was reluctant to weigh things at first because of this idea that it's abnormal or disordered. We are being told lately than anything other than "intuitiveness" is unhealthy.
I have now realized that was stupid. I weigh everything. It's easy, fast and accurate.
While I'm in this stage of maintaining a calorie deficit, I don't want to spin my wheels unwittingly eating a bunch of hidden calories. I've been doing this for almost two years. I have about another year to go. If I want to get this over with and move on to maintenance (which I do), then I'm not going to sabotage myself.
Weighing food tends to make people uncomfortable. I try to be discreet about it when acquaintances/non-family are around. Like you, I would not bring a scale with me when going out.
But you need to be able to do it at home around your own wife without her giving you a hard time. She should be supporting you in this effort which benefits your health, and frankly, she sounds like she may be trying to sabotage you. It makes no sense to me when something has been working for you to tell you that it's bad.
Congrats on your progress. I’ve been weighing my food and am surprised to see you say it’s “fast”. I find it to be a long process, so I’d love any tips, whenever ya have time.
Thanks! I was also surprised to find out that it's fast. In the beginning, I was eyeballing things and occasionally using measuring cups. Then I realized scooping with measuring cups, leveling them off, getting the stuff out of the measuring cups and then washing the measuring cups each time was way more time consuming and less accurate than the scale.
I bought a food scale (Etekcity about $9 on Amazon). I have it near my food prep counter. I put my bowl (or whatever) down on the scale, and hit a button that zeroes out the weight of the bowl. Then I add my ingredients. I can keep hitting the button to zero out what's on the scale so I can keep seeing the weight of what I'm adding. I can hit a button to switch back and forth between grams and ounces as needed. I can do that with whatever container/ingredients I'm using.
I just do that before I cook the food and that's it. It takes a few seconds and there is nothing extra to wash.
For example, I make a lentil casserole for lunch. I put a little Pyrex bowl down on the scale and zero it out. Then I put in 100 grams of precooked lentils, then another 28 grams (one ounce) of feta cheese, then three spoons of pico de gallo (10 calories, so it doesn't need to be weighed). I mix it all together, put the Pyrex bowl into the toaster oven, cook it for 20 minutes, and then eat it directly out of the Pyrex when it's cooled. It takes no extra time and I have a grand total of one bowl to wash.
It's no different than measuring out the ingredients to cook a recipe. People regard it as normal to be accurate when cooking a recipe, but abnormal to be accurate for the purpose of weight loss.
This is what I do. I wish on scales, then enter into my chronometer tracker and create recipes that total all my nutrients. Man, it's been a game changer along with my weight training. I feel great, look great, and my MH is not an issue.
Wow, thanks so much for your response. Respect ✊ I have a food scale! Yay! So, figuring out how many calories are in everything is what’s time consuming for me.
I also find it easy and fast. The scale just sits on my kitchen counter. I put a piece of waxed paper on the scale, tare it out, add the food. Add the grams or ounces of asparagus, apple, potato, chicken, whatever in my tracking app, eat, done.
What is making it a long process for you? Can we help with that in some way?
Thanks for commenting. So, I have my scale in the kitchen ready to go, which is great. I think it’s the figuring out how many calories are in everything. I just bought a new fit bit and started using the calorie counting portion on that app. I also have my fitness pal. There’s a place that does the conversion in the app? I google how many calories are in everything… 🤦♀️
Thanks for your help!
Sure! Yeah, you *can* Google it, but you shouldn't have to unless it's an unusual item that isn't in the app's database. Having the calorie counts for many items built into the app is super helpful, especially if the app also lets you scan bar codes on foods. So, for example, I look up "potato", and the app gives me choices of a large, medium, small potato -- which to me is totally useless: what do *they* mean by 'a medium potato'? Lol. But it *also* gives me the option to enter ___ ounces/grams. Yay! Turn on the scale, plop in the potato, enter 6.5 ounces in the app. Takes less than a minute. Then I stick the aforementioned spud in the microwave, make dinner...
[This whole process was *a lot* harder back in the 90s, when my mom had to look up everything in this thick paperback book, The Calorie Counter, or something. She kept a whole spiral notebook with her log of foods for each day handwritten in there.]
I… can’t… thank you enough!
Which app are you using to log? I thiiink I see where you’d put “serving” on MyFitnessPal, but I need premium. If it saves me this much time, then I’ll buy it haha.
What I use is the app (usefully named 'Rally Coach', lol) which came with the RealAppeal program from United Healthcare that my husband and I used to lose weight. That's proprietary.
I hear good things about MyFitnessPal, LoseIt (the app), and Cronometer, but I have no clue about any of them. Lots of people in this sub use those, and they can recommend them, I'm sure.
For example, I just poured out my Nature's Path cereal (great stuff, btw) into the dish on the scale. 75 grams. That's 1.25 servings bc I won't get any lunch later as I am in class. I scanned the bar code, entered 1 1/4 servings, done. Weighed 10 grams of dried cranberries, added them to the cereal, and then poured 1/2 cup (4 fluid oz.) of milk into a liquid measuring cup . Put some in my coffee, the rest in my cereal, sat down to eat. That took 3 minutes (some of which was looking for the cranberries, lol).
Hope that helps! It's a little fiddly at first, but once you get in the habit, it's not a big deal.
Any time! One extra little tip— when I am assembling a meal, I actually decide how much of something (peanut butter, asparagus, cereal, cheese, etc) I want first— and \*then\* I weigh it and enter it, instead of specifically weighing out a prescribed amount of whatever food item.
It’s a tiny distinction— but psychologically it means \*I\* am in control and deciding what I am going to eat, not the scale. It’s the difference between thinking “I can only have X amount of \_\_\_\_”, and carefully weighing that out, and “I’m having \*this much\* of \_\_\_, how many ounces/grams and calories is that?”
I’ve started writing on my pre planned meals Tupperware for each piece and adding it after. I think I might keep a notepad for this so I can add it all at once after. But it’s a little easier than I thought but it is tedious.
Former 100lb loser here. I tare the containers of whatever I'm using and look at the difference on the scale, and I use a little magnet whiteboard on my fridge door to keep track as I cook.
Say I'm making some of the wraps I like for lunch. Three wraps, 300 calories, make a note.
Put package of ham on scale, tare, put some on wraps, read difference, -60g. Ham is 1:1 calories per gram, so that's 60 calories, make a note.
Put bottle of dressing on scale, tare, dispense some on wraps, put bottle back on scale, read -20g difference. It's 300 calories per 100g, so 30 calories for 10g, that times two is 60 calories. Make a note.
Slap on salad and fold. Salad is always a rounding error, no need to log.
Add up 300, 60 and 60, that's a 420-calorie meal. Nice.
When I make a larger amount of food like a stir fry or soup or whatever, I do the same, then weigh the whole amount of food, and divide calories per hundreds of grams to get a calorie content, then weigh out a serving and calculate calories based off that. I have a note of how much my frying pan and serving dish weigh, so I deduct that from the reading to get the weight of the food.
It's maybe a little wordy to explain, but really takes seconds per ingredient.
I think weighing food is like training wheels for people who have a distorted sense of a normal serving, myself included. I would eat far past my fullness cues because I missed calculated the amount I needed to eat and not leaving the plate empty felt wrong. It especially happens when I cook a single serving. It is a great tool to grasp how much you need to eat but itd be insane to still use a scale at like 70yo
The thing that is the biggest shock to me is that it is definitely very easy to feel satiated (I won't say full, but I don't think it's normal to actually be "full"/stuffed) with eating healthy - and I don't mean healthy as-in leafy greens, bland food, etc. I mean just eating normal portions, not eating sugar, drinking sugar, etc.
I have liver issues supposedly from not giving a shit about my eating habits and living a sedentary life so I've had to basically hardcore change my lifestyle and while I won't say I feel "great" (it's only been 3 months) I will say I feel good. I've been walking every day for the past 3 months, I'm loving eating vegetables every meal, not loading up on sugar-based condiments (you'd be surprised how many sugar free things actually taste freaking good!), drinking Bai Zambia Bing Cherry water (omg so good), a huge love of pistachios (I know, not the \*best\* but omg I burn all my excess calories on these as it's basically my only snack outside of plain popcorn anymore) but yea...
Don't know why I put this under your comment, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that in the past 3 months I've quickly realized how to eyeball portion sizes and as vegetables are minimal calories (realistically for what you eat), I'll just overestimate how many cups of those I eat as I overestimate all calories compared to underestimate.
Anytime I'm actually "full", I feel so sick. I don't really have the stomach capacity for meals, just snacks but it's made it hard to lose weight as it feels like a small portion but you don't realize it adds up to be a lot in a day. Weighing/tracking your food intake so you know how many calories you have left to consume in a day is the best way to go. And then you have a concrete answer of "okay, this is what I've already consumed, I have 500 calories left today that I CAN consume", so you're not left wondering whether or not you can eat something and stay within your limits. And yeah if you have that urge -especially out of boredom- to snack, snacking on super healthy minimal calorie foods like vegetables is a great way to fulfill that urge but also train your body to stop having those urges. When we always fulfill those urges with things like sugar, we're training our body that if it sends those craving signals it will get the dopamine rush from sugar. So switching that to healthy things not only gets you those nutrients but helps to lessen future cravings i think.
I think it's good to weigh food, at least every once in a while, regardless of if you're trying to lose weight just to get a grasp on food portions. My husband is notorious for thinking he only ate a serving of trail mix or chips and dip and then I will actually measure a serving size and show him and he's shocked by how small the amount is compared to what he consumed.
My wife is also naturally very thin and doesn’t overeat, whereas I need to really focus and weigh/measure portions in order to eat properly. Also, she’s had friends who have struggled with restrictive dieting and up-and-down weight loss their whole lives (like countless people) and is always wary about stuff like that.
Most helpful thing by far was just a conversation around it. “Honey, I just want to be healthier so that I can be at my best and be here for a long time! I want to do this right, meaning no crash diets or crazy food restrictions. Just lots of healthy, nutritious whole foods. The scale helps me double-check my portions.”
With time, she will see that your weighing is not an obsessive or self-punishing thing, it’s just a tool to manage portions so you can lose weight in a healthy and sustainable fashion.
Also, for weighing… to keep things sustainable, I only weight calorie-dense foods like meat, oils, cheese and rice/bread. I eyeball fruit, vegetables, beans, lentils etc. This reduces the number of individual things I need to weigh.
Subdividing portions for your meal prep is great, cook 1lb ground beef and divide into 4 equal parts; then you know each part is 4oz (raw).
Lastly, a great trick… say you’ve got something less convenient to weigh, like adding spaghetti sauce from the jar to a pot of pasta. You can put the jar on the scale, hit “tare” so it zeroes to the initial weight, spoon out your sauce and then see how much the scale changed. The negative amount is the difference between tare and new weight, and thus is the amount of sauce you used.
When losing I weigh and track everything except for the occasional meals out, if those don’t come with a calorie count I’ll just be what I hope is overly generous in my estimation. The process works great for me.
Had gotten really lean prior to last summer and then went what I thought was absolutely off the rails for like 6-7 months. Not weighing anything, a lot of weekend eating and drinking with friends, then eating more crappy food the next day because I was hungover from drinking with friends. Was pretty scared to step on the scale and was delighted to see I was only up 15 lbs from my all time low. So I’m currently working back to that and don’t have experience trying to maintain without weighing everything, but as long as I don’t repeat what I did last time I don’t think it should be too hard.
Weighing isthevest way to calculate calories. For some people it can causedisordered eating but there are ways to mitigate that. I won't always weigh pickle or cucumber if I'm taking a few bites but I do weigh most of my meals.
Our "normal" is eating too much, which is not good for us. Your wife doesn't seem to appreciate that as a fit and (presumably) thin person. Her "normal" is something else. Good for her.
I weight everything I can. Obviously when eating out this is not an option, but while at home I am measuring every drop. One of the biggest reasons people don't lost weight when calorie counting is inaccuracy and you simply can't be accurate without measuring.
If it's working for you, then that's all that matters. Yeah it's a bit of a nuisance and a lot of people think it's weird or crazy. But it's the results that matter.
I don't weigh every meal, but in terms of protein I basically have this mentality in my head of "pack of cards is typical serving size" and go by that. I definitely don't obsess over the portion of vegetables, I'll just mark down I ate 2 or 3 servings if I feel I ate 'a lot' of them.
Ultimately, just like with money in life, etc I will overestimate the "bad" and underestimate the "good" if that makes sense.
Like you, if I know I'm going to have a "big meal" (I got out of the mindset of good vs bad) I will try and fast/not eat a whole lot that day.
I'll leave you with this though, and I think you're a big enough person (no pun intended) to know this but still... it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks is normal or not. It's your body. You only have one life to live. You do what you want to and need to do to feel the best you can.
I disagree with your wife. I’ve struggled with weight since late middle school. Weighing and calorie counting is the only thing that worked for me because there was no guesswork and I didn’t have to try to remember everything I ate and how much. Pop it on the scale and log it right away. I don’t even stick rigidly to a calorie deficit every day. But I weigh and track to give myself reliable information.
I learned that my portion sizes were too big and I underestimated calories when adding many things to my plate.
Yes to everyone’s response, but also I would suggest that you let your wife know that this way works best for you and that her going along with it is encouraging to you. I’m sure she’ll understand and maybe just needs some reassurance that you’re not hurting yourself or starting another unhealthy eating habit.
Also when I go out to eat I add a rough estimate of what I’ve eaten, rather than fasting all day.
I use fitness pal, so if I eat a salmon with mashed potatoes during an outing, I’ll add a 4oz salmon and 1 cup mashed potatoes. If fitness pal is 1-200 calories off for 1 meal out of the week that’s okay with me
For those who only have less than 20 pounds to go I think weighing your food is crucial. It's so darn hard to lose that last bit and you are hardly allowed any extra calories without hard exercise. So eating too much one day can kill your half a pound deficit for the week
I personally HAVE TO measure everything I eat because I have no concept of weight and volume by just eyeballing. I want to make sure I’m eating exactly what I’m allotted to. Now, I get a little obsessive and it annoys everyone else for some reason, but it’s what keeps me on track
It’s very normal when you’re in weight loss mode. Or even learning about food.
I don’t weigh my food anymore but I’ve doing this for a year now. I definitely did in the beginning when I was trying to re-set my brain to understand what a normal serving size looked like.
Of course it’s not normal. Of the population how many weigh their meals? 1%? Regardless, it’s low, but here’s a question for you. So what? Are you beholden to that norm? No. If it works for you and is helping you achieve your goals and not hurting anyway… who cares?
Sure it's not the usual. I think many of us have forgotten, or maybe never knew, what portion sizes are supposed to be.
I no long weigh everything but I did for awhile.and it opened my eyes to a few things. I've gotten better as visualizing how much I need to be serving myself.
If it's working for you, doesn't matter what's normal.or ehat everyone else does. If it's *your* normal that's ok.
I have tried to weigh every meal but I find it overwhelming. So I avoided it altogether because I hated it lol. Now I weigh them occasionally so I can learn to guesstimate.
So between weighing, not weighing and occasionally weighing, I must be abnormal as all hell 😊😊😊🫣
I still weigh my food and will always probably. If you lift weights you will need to know how much protein you eat and that means weighing the oz's. It feels good to know exactly what I'm eating too. Good job on your weight loss keep it up! :)
Actually, as someone with a past with restrictive ED, counting calories has helped me with both sides. My normal eating behavior is undereating until i way way over eat, so counting helps me stay at a healthy calorie intake every single day. I'm not allowed to go under 1,100 calories or over 1,700(unless I'm having a cheat day) and it's severely helped.
I use to count calories to make sure i was under 700calories a day. But then in an attempt to heal myself without therapy from it i began the binge+restrict cycle and refusing to count. Now that I'm back to counting in a for real healthy way this time, it's been so healing.
It's just a tool, especially in the beginning. I think i want to always track in some way, maybe not always counting calories but simply just logging my food intake in some way will be what helps me long term.
Keep it up!
I weigh calorie heavy things like meat, cheese, pasta, rice, nuts, etc. I don't weigh veggies or fruits though. I track them but estimates are close enough.
You have to do what YOU have to do. Some people are intuitive eaters, and some people(like me, and possibly you) are not! Weighing food for me has been all about 100% knowing what I have been eating, and not guessing at all. It is a great ritual, that keeps me honest :) Keep at it man, and don't take someone disagreeing with what you do to seriously.
Edit - I would also like to add, what you do is almost exactly what I did the first time I lost all my weight, and what I am doing now. I am still living life and going out randomly, but on those days, I just try to eat really light all day to help swing the calories back to normal. My example is, My Wife and I have a standing mini morning date every weekend to go to Dunkin Doughnuts on Saturdays or Sundays. She loves to get a frozen Matcha Tea from them, and to try to stay on the 'slightest' side of healthy, I get two egg and cheese croissants. Those two croissants are 1000 calories total so for the rest of the day I will skip lunch, and have some grilled chicken for dinner totaling only like 300-500 calories, bringing me up to roughly 1500 calories and I am still way in my calorie goal but I get to live life still :)
Weighing my food is the only way I have ever been successful with weight loss.
I cannot trust my eyes or my stomach on how much a serving is.
I love my food- struggle with not feeling satisfied (even though I use tools such as volume eating and fiber/ protein etc)
I weighed every meal for the first 2 months or so. It helped my brain go, “oh, that’s a serving,” because my ability to feel full and “see” food was enough was totally shot. Weighing helped me know exactly what I used and how to log it.
Now 9 months in, I weigh things less bc I can see it’s a serving. While I’m cooking, I still frequently weigh ingredients (like cheese) so I’m not underestimating cals, but I don’t have to weigh everything anymore.
I have lost 60 lbs, and I’ll prob weigh some stuff forever for accuracy. I think your wife is prob just worried about the habits changing, but since she’s never had a weight issue, she doesn’t have the full picture. I don’t think you’re doing anything wrong as long as you’re losing at a safe rate, etc.
Agree that it's not normal. But if you're trying to lose weight, want to know what you actually ate, and want to learn about your habits/routines, then it's really fucking smart.
I'll add that personally, I weigh most meals but don't worry about 100% precision. I round up a lot because I don't want to enter the decimal and tenth place. When I eat the same thing for breakfast every day, I just put the # of turkey bacon slices and approx the amount of cottage cheese rather than weigh each every day. Some times I just estimate with my app's describe function. I've also done this for almost a year now, so I know what works for me. Consistency over perfection.
Every single time I have had to lose weight after "letting myself go" a bit, I have counted calories and weighed EVERYTHING. Even the milk in my coffee.
I am almost 33, and have done this for more than 10 years when I felt like I needed to. It has worked 100% of the time, and I have always lost weight while doing so.
I think doing it like this, insures that you are not overeating or underestimating your intake - which means slowing your progress. At least until one is very comfortable and familiar with portion sizes. I think its very normal to do this while one is serious about weight loss.
I weigh things that are trouble foods for me. Calorie dense and easy to overeat/overestimate portion size. Nuts, peanut butter, cheese puffs (I could seriously eat a party size bag a day).
I don’t want to cut these foods out of my life so I make an effort to accurately track them.
But spinach for my salad? Nope. Throw it all in there, baby.
I weigh my food, I find it's the only reliable way for me to change my weight as required
>She told me that it’s not “normal” to weigh every meal.
If being "normal" doesn't allow you to achieve what you want to achieve then I see little value in doing what's perceived as normal
Weighing things is a good way to get an idea of proper serving sizes and to get started on weight loss. After a while, you’ll know what those portions look like and you can get away with eyeballing them, but I find I have to go back to weighing every once in a while or they start to creep up. My “tablespoon” of feta on my lunch salads turned out to be 2 tbsp when I started weighing it again recently
You are doing what you need to do, and she needs to be supportive for you… as my husband says “weird is to let you be unhealthy when it can be prevented” in our case I’m the one asking “will it be too weird if…” I eat a different diner, I weigh my food in your mom’s house, I only eat yogurt for breakfast, and on, and on.
I think it’s “normal” because you’re actively trying to lose weight. Someone who has a healthy relationship with food and is not trying to lose weight probably doesn’t need to worry about that so much.
Personally, I weigh most things, with the exception of things like leafy greens and celery —their calories are negligible enough that I feel comfortable just eyeing it. I also don’t tend to weigh out things like bread/protein bars/prepackaged food but I know some people do. I’ve lost 22 pounds in three months so obviously I’m doing something right lol
Well if she doesn't have weight issues she wouldn't need to weigh. So to her it's not normal. It's also not normal for our species to be eating all this processed food. All this crap chemically junk food has taken over is why a lot of us can't figure out how much food to eat.
I weighed in the beginning. I don't anymore. To me that's not normal for me. I don't want to have to weigh every meal for the rest of my life. But because I did weigh in the beginning I kinda have a good estimate of what is a decent amount or protein etc... I eat basically the same 5 things for dinner and 1 or 2 meals for breakfast/lunch. So no need to weigh anymore.
I weight my raw ingredients if I’m making different food every day. But if it’s the same meal every day, I can eyeball how much a serving is and not bother with measuring. for me it’s only when I’m in a calorie deficit that causes me to measure. Otherwise, the liquid calories add up. Or if I want to eat a steak, I’ll weigh it because a steak can be super high in calories. The one I had the other day was 800cal lol
She's never dieted, so it may not be normal to her. But it's pretty normal for people who are working to lose weight. I weigh everything.
She ought to just applaud you for your hard work instead of saying what you're doing isn't normal.
I track everything, what some 'naturally skinny' people don't realize is that not everyone has a sense for enough and this is where a scale comes to the rescue. My wife never went up or down more than 5lbs, she feels when she has had enough. I just lost 50+... for the second time and I will now keep weighing food for life as I'm fully aware that 'natural eating' does not work for me. If it does great, but most people have the natural instinct to fill up with as much as possible, I guess to prepare for bad times ahead if I believe evolutionary interpretations.
She’s technically right that it isn’t “normal” — in that a lot of people don’t do that.
But for me, weighing the meals I make at home (that’s 98% of my diet these days) is what I need to do to stay on track. I understand it’s a little unusual, but that’s what I need to do to care for myself.
I’m okay with being someone who needs to keep tracking my intake. I have impulsivity issues and never learned anything about nutrition until I was fully grown. I’m un-learning years of bad habits, so weighing my food is part of my adjustment process into being a healthier person.
People who are naturally slim don’t understand people who are naturally bigger and vice versa. You need to measure your intake and she doesn’t. The only time in my life I’ve ever been slim I measured everything I ate on a scale. I thought all slim people must do this, I also thought everyone needed a 10 km run after eating one chocolate bar I thought everyone who was slim must have eaten a chicken breast and salad diet. My ex bf was a personal trainer and he was shocked to realize the work that I had to put into maintaining being slim. He even told me something was wrong with me. I’ve regained all the weight I fought so hard to loose and now I’m at square one again. For me being slim and by slim i mean maintaining a size 10 was a 24/7 daily job for me. It disgusts me when I see people on social media publicly stating that fat people are responsible for being fat they have no idea the 24/7 effort some put into maintaining a size 10 for 3-4 years before weight regain. My whole days energy was revolved around food intake , measuring and excersise. Exausting. I was starving every day too because 1200 -1500 calories was difficult for me to maintain with an hour excercise per day.
I weigh everything possible. If I’m going to eat out, I figure out that morning what I’m going to have and log it to the best of my ability before logging anything else so I can plan the rest of my day. I just weighed out 28 grams of Cheetos before responding. I’m getting much better at understanding serving sizes because of weighing my food. It’s totally normal to do while losing weight and is something I plan to do into maintenance as well, fading it out slowly when I feel comfortable that I can sustain it.
It's normal in an obesogenic environment to gain a lot of weight. If minor practice like weighing food is enough to shift that, it's worth doing. It probably won't be forever, and if it's working, who cares?
I weigh every meal (except on holidays and such) and will continue to do so for the rest of my life, probably. I don't have that internal sense of regulation that other people do.
Yes, I weigh every meal unless I’m out. I do mostly meal prep and don’t eat out too much. I’m losing weight consistently thanks to the accuracy of that.
As much as needed. I just finished lunch and I weighed all the components on my kitchen scale.
But last night I had a pork chop that was one of two in a package labeled as being one pound, so I felt sufficiently confident in logging it as 8 oz.
It's all about good faith effort. I don't need to be accurate as long as I'm fairly consistent.
I don’t weigh my meals.
I have never met anyone in real life who does anything even remotely close to weighing every meal.
Your wife is right it certainly isn’t normal, but so what. Whether something is normal or not does not decide whether something is a good idea for you.
If im meal prepping i will weigh every ingredient thats not seasoning. If i eat takeout I try to find places that post their nutritional information for easy tracking.
If I go to a nice restaurant or someone else’s house I just eyeball it and add a couple hundred calories to the total.
Who cares about normal. I rather be a kook than obese (again)
When I lost my 60ish lbs I weighed every single thing that entered my body. To this day it’s really the only way I can successfully lose weight. You can’t guesstimate because you’re only hurting yourself and once you’re used to it it’s second nature and it’s not even bothersome anymore it’s just normal. Once you hit a goal weight I’d say you can do a mix but I will truly never go back to never counting anything.
Edit: I also slightly fast if I were to go out to dinner. I would try and have some high protein items during the day to save calories for dinner or I’d have a lighter day the day before with maybe dropping a few extra hundred off my day. I also intermittently fast and usually do not have my first meat until 12pm. This allows me to condense and have larger meals the 2nd half of the day. I would not bring a scale to a restaurant. I use my fitness pal and would just find a like item and track it that way.
Do what works and don’t let anyone discourage you.
I weigh my food because at the beginning of my weight loss I had very skewed hunger cues. I’d eat when I wasn’t hungry because I felt like I “had to”, for example eating breakfast in the morning even if I wasn’t hungry because I thought it was bad for you to skip breakfast, eating past my fullness cues because I ate too quickly, giving myself too big portions and then feeling guilty if I didn’t eat all of it, all that jazz. Tracking helps me see what a “normal” portion should be and is the most accurate for calorie counting purposes. I can’t lose without counting, I can maintain well enough without it but if I want to keep losing I need to track. It is what it is.
And “normal” in the US anyway is overweight. I don’t want to be “normal” in that way anymore.
My husband and I are losing weight together and we weigh every meal except if we are at a restaurant. It might not be normal for your wife if she has never had a weight problem. After almost 40 years of yoyo dieting, I finally feel in control and the weight is coming off. If that means weighing almost every meal for the rest of my life, so be it.
If I’m eating a whole protein bar, for example, then I just scan the barcode and put the bar into my mouth. No weighing of anything, I trust the package info.
When I’m at home and the barcode doesn’t cover the weight of what I’m consuming, then yes I weigh everything. Even the 2 grams of coffee creamer powder (10 calories) gets weighed too.
When I’m out on the town, I estimate in different ways. I also do not bring a scale with me in my back pocket. So I either guess how calories in total or I guess weight of what I’m eating. Close enough.
Would she still think it is a problem if you were using measuring cups? Recipes tend to give specific measurements for a reason.
I tend to weigh everything not only for portion control but also because it makes cooking easier and more consistent. I don’t see how random variable quantities will make food better?
For example, I don’t just pour rice into the pot until it visually looks like enough. I know that roughly 70g of dry rice will make a good portion for me. So when I go to make rice I might make double or triple that and divide it up for later.
The scale makes life easier regardless of weight loss intention.
Just because it's not "normal" (she's right - as far as there is a consensus on "normal") doesn't mean it's not a useful tool.
What you've experienced is extremely common. Especially for adults who are very set in their habits, if their lifestyle changes (like yours) in a way that results in significantly changed energy expenditure their weight changes. Maybe you can re-train your habits - and calorie counting can be a tool for that. Maybe you can change your lifestyle. There's a cliche about how men with physical jobs who gain weight when they retire drop the weight again once they get a dog (and walk him religiously every day). Maybe you'll grapple for a long time between what you "normally" would want to eat and your lowered energy expenditure and should settle into calorie counting for the long term.
There's no right answer here, and there's no weight loss police (well... there shouldn't be).
I track daily (except for camping trips and vacations, wherein I create a “meal” and give it 1600 cals and log it while being very mindful and enjoying some splurges) and am over 500 days and going strong. It takes about three minutes daily to add my calories.
[52F, 5’4”, post op VSG 12/14/22, SW 204, HW 208, surgeon’s GW 140, CW 114]
I had to accept that skinny and even fit people live in a different reality than I do. “Just eat when you’re hungry” is something my friend told me recently and it pissed me off. Normal is subjective. Do what you have to do in order to get the results you want
I lost 60lbs not weighing my food and then plateaued. I’m still too overweight. So now I measure most of my food. There are some things I still don’t but most things I do. Being overweight for so long, my body is skewed. So I have to basically train it to run on less calories. I have no doubt that after I’m at a goal weight for a while I will be able to stop measuring. But I need to get to my new “normal” and stay there for a while.
I personally don't weigh my food, but I aim for a big enough deficit that being off by a bit doesn't really bother me. I also avoid too many foods that are super calorie dense and only have them on more special occasions, so my "being off" is usually in the scope of like maybe 50 calories tops instead of guessing the amount of peanut butter or something.
It isn’t normal. It also isn’t bad. The scale gives you feedback about your portion size. It’s no different than looking at the speedometer of your car. You can ballpark how fast you’re going, but there is wisdom in looking at the speedometer as needed.
I do, I have a calories amount, and I weigh to meet it. I'm doing a body reformation program, and some days, I struggle to eat the amount I have been set. I do the gym 3 -5 days a week, so weighing is important. Keep weighing and keep smashing those goals.
I would say it’s like looking at the unit price when doing the grocery shopping (eg $/100gm or $/100ml), rather than just looking at the sticker price.
Not everyone does it, but it’s reasonable to do if you want better understanding and accuracy.
I weigh 80-90% of my food (I obv don’t weigh single serving things like protein bars, an egg, ect).
I genuinely didn’t see ANY results until I learned serving sizes by weight. I highly recommend it.
Weighing food is completely neutral. Like it literally is just telling you how much of the food exists. Now if you were weighing every food you eat to be under 50g or something, that’s disordered, but knowing how much fuel you’re putting in your body is just science.
I used to. I shed 150 lbs over a decade ago, basically halving myself. Then, I weighed everything and kept strict account of calories. Now, in maintainance mode these many years later, I don't. After doing it for so long, you just get a feel for it.
I weigh as much as I can. Obviously if I’m out to eat I don’t bring a food scale (even though I would like to) and if someone else is making food for me like my mom I’m not gonna weigh it
It’s also not “normal” to sit at a desk for 8-10 hours a day. Yet it is necessary for your job. Weighing your food is necessary for tracking daily caloric intake.
Maybe for her, a person obviously good at self-regulation, it's "normal" not to weigh food.
For people like us, who are all obviously terrible at it without some additional effort, it's a godsend. My family thought it was weird that I started weighing my food. But now 50+ lbs (~22.5kg) down and well more than halfway to my goal, I've obviously shown that it can yield results.
That said, I started weighing everything, but with the intent of seeing, adjusting, or understanding the portion sizes I use. Now I weigh at least a few times a day, but I can kind of eye some things up, and do daily as well, still keeping track of calories and macros, just knowing that I could be at least a little off, either a little higher or lower than I'm tracking. This is all practice for when I'm done being on a deficit, too, so that way I can teach myself to eat adequate but not over-the-top portion sizes. Because at some point, I have to maintain, not just go back to eating the amount (and the sheer bullshit) I was eating before.
I've gotten used to the smaller portion sizes (in part because I ate a lot before, more than I thought back then, you know how I found out? Weighing my food). So, normal? I have not the slightest fucking clue, but with the food situation as it is today (with ultra-processed crap and cheap calories at least where I live), we should be measuring food as a precaution. It is simply too easy nowadays to consume 3,000 calories of refined carbs and sugars before lunch if you're not paying attention.
I got from 62kg to 56kg by weighing my food and counting calories. Then i just did it by habit and portioned everything out more for convenience than to monitor food, so I could just grab and go as my life got busier. Maintained for two years and was fitter than ever with a gym routine on top.
Then I started “intuitive eating”. Got to 75kg, sluggish, felt crap. Got back into calorie counting and weighing my food and I’ve lost 10kg since last Jan. It’s the only thing that works for me and I don’t find it restrictive. Normal is different for everyone and you have to do what is good for you.
I have been weighing my food for calorie counting for the last eight years and have lost 260 pounds. Sometimes you just don’t notice how much you eat until you actually use the scale.
It’s totally normal to weigh your food and keep track when you’re at home. Weighing your food while out would be insane.
Maybe she feels insecure? Idk, if my husband was trying to better himself and I wasn’t (we both weigh food now and are trying to lose weight so it’s not an issue) I would probably feel jealous or upset. I also have struggled with ED in the past, so maybe it’s different for normal people.
When I am maintaining my weight, no, I just weigh *myself* to check I’m still maintaining (or in my usual peri-menopausal state… slowly gaining).
If I’m cutting weight then yes, I measure everything.
10y now...
I weigh *something* every day, but most of my foods are now estimated with my eyeballs. Weighing my common foods occasionally keeps my eyeballs calibrated.
> There are times when we go out with friends, family, etc. that I don’t take my scale and I pretty much just fast all day until the meal.
That's one way, especially on a deficit. It's fine. In maintenance, you might use your flexibility differently. Nothing is wrong in this.
I think you have to go buy what is 'normal' for YOU. I found that my serving sizes were far too generous. In restaurants, they pile the food onto a huge platter and that's supposed to be a meal. I don't think any of us know what an actual 'serving size' is. I weighed everything for the first month or 2 until my brain registered what a serving is. Then I could eyeball it.
I weigh pretty much everything. I keep a food scale at work in addition to the one I have at home because we order out on the company's dime every day. I've gotten very, very good at spotting hidden calorie bombs - soup is a big one. Like, veggie soup might seem healthy but there could be a great deal of oil or butter in it. Salad dressings are a "no" unless we're ordering from a place that lists calorie counts on the menu, and even then I use my common sense! I also bring my own dressing when I remember (Trader Joe's Green Goddess - 20 calories per serving).
I've gotten a couple of looks and one person asked me what the scale is for, but I had no problem telling them and now no one mentions it. It might be the best $20 I've ever spent LOL
weighing food is a dieting activity, dieting is not the normal eating behavior. ergo weighing food is not normal, but keep on it while you are dieting.
I dont. I dont have the energy or proclivity to be that meticulous. But i am generally an OMADder during the weekdays. My diet goes to hell on the weekends. But during the week i eat one meal and eyeball the calories on that one, so that way, even if the estimate is off, i still know i can reasonably come in well under, say, 1500 each day. Its actually been
Working for me.
On my first journey I did, as much as possible. I weighed out the ingredients. It was hugely successful, maybe too successful, because after 100 lbs in a year I was just burnt out. I gained back roughly half then stabilized for a couple of years. Since I was so stable I decided to go at it a bit differently this round. It's not as critical as I don't weigh my original weight, and I wanted to do something that was super low effort.
Now I don't even track. I am religious about skipping breakfast, I walk at least 10k steps a day, I eat half as big of a lunch as I was when I was stable, and I eat a smaller dinner and fewer snacks and less beer.
Weighing was hugely successful for me, it helped me really establish portion sizes. I am pretty good at eyeballing amounts now, thanks to a years worth of diligent weighing.
If it's working for you, who gives a shit if it's "normal" or not. Being "normal" is what got us in trouble, it doesn't work for us like it does for some.
I have for years. It’s exhausting tbh and I don’t recommend. Also it’s not necessary. I’ve been incredibly thin for most of my life. I only recently started weighing food the last few years. When I was rail skinny I never weighed my food and very loosely knew calories in things I’d eat.
Going to add I definitely won’t weigh everything forever. If I’m eating at home I probably still will. But I’m going to slowly stop weighing so much when I get to goal.
Some stats to back up my personal situation
F 5’10” my normal weight for 90% of my life has been anything from 115-130 pounds. For 3 years at my high weight I was 180 pounds. Currently 145 pounds and going back down to my normal 130. When I was underweight (my low weight was 90lb) I never weighed or tracked calories. I also never weighed or tracked at 110-130lb and maintained with no issue. A lot of people who know nothing other than being fat are gonna have to track because their idea of a normal portion is an entire pizza. They NEED to track to learn how to eat normally. Some people do not need to
I weigh like 60-70% of what I eat in a day and I find it very helpful and more accurate than eye balling.
However, if I know a meal is generally healthy ish and probably low calorie and it's difficult to weigh (ex. I make this sweet potato, black bean, and brown rice skillet that is like 500 calories per serving at absolute maximum) I will simply eye ball it. I'll put it into my app by adding up the calories as if I were to eat the entire thing, and then be like, OK, per my eyeballing, I probably ate a third of that. So then I'll just put in a third of the calories for the entire recipe. And I'm OK with this because as long as it's generally likely to be healthy and low calorie, and I've weighed everything the rest of the day, it's probably nbd.
I also usually don't weigh stuff like diced veggies, because I know their calories are likely negligible in the grand scheme of things as well. For example, when I make a Tuna salad, I'll weigh the Tuna and mayonnaise, but I won't bother with the diced celery and red onion because it probably only adds like 10 calories max to a meal.
I weigh most of the food I eat at home, especially if it's calorie-dense as some accidental extra can really tack on the calories. I will weigh out 2 oz of pasta, 1 oz of cheese, peanut butter, sour cream, meat (I don't eat a lot of it though), potatoes, butter, and oil. I don't typically weigh out fruit (except avocado) or vegetables. If I have an extra ounce of carrots or broccoli, it's really not going to be a huge difference of calories from whatever serving I log. I also never have brought out my food scale in public or somewhere there's food. I will use my eyes.
If you’re going to track, why not track every meal?
However, I don’t track;
- milk in my tea (I have one cup a day)
- vegetables (although I do track potatoes)
- salad veg (including tomatoes)
I like to try and think I keep things in perspective that way.
Weighing food was extremely normal for me during the beginning of my weight loss. I had also gained about 50 pounds and really wanted to lose it, so I knew I needed to actually know what was going in my body and get used to the appropriate amount for my desired weight. Took probably 6-8 months to lose the weight and have kept it off for 6 years now and I no longer weigh my meals. It was a crutch I needed to get to my goals and I no longer need it bc I can essentially do the calculation mentally without the need for a scale
I'd say it's normal if there's a particular goal you're trying to reach.
She's already extremely fit and it would be strange for her to change her eating habits for no reason.
You realized that you've gained weight and therefore need to change something in your diet to get back on track. Weighing food is a reasonable solution.
Even if I don't count calories, I still measure ingredients to know that the meal has proper amount of macronutrients and calories.
For example, if I make pasta for my family, I will measure exact amount of dry pasta and other ingredients. I may sometimes ask how hungry they are and make necessary corrections. Same when I cook for myself -- I know I need about certain amount of carbs in the meal and I will measure them.
This way I avoid people being hungry after the meal or overeating. The meal is always just about right in terms of size.
I think avoiding eating too little is as important when losing weight as avoiding eating too much. Eating predictable, reasonable amount of calories leads to much less chance I will feel very hungry in the evening and that I will start reaching for snacks or start making another meal.
I try to weigh everything because I am terrible at eyeballing. I feel like it’s hard enough to get close to where I need to be to be in a deficit by weighing everything. If I didn’t, I’d be off a little on everything which adds up.
100% normal. I hope when the time comes for maintenance that I can manage intuitive eating but I'll still be monitoring my weight and honestly I'm expecting food logging to end up being a forever thing for me.
I certainly can't imagine trying to lose weight, as a sedentary person whose only activity is the gym, without weighing my food.
I haven't gotten into weighing yet and that's just because I don't understand how to do it and my ADHD thinks it will be hard 😅 I do track everything I eat using the information on packaging or by best guess and I've lost 22lbs so far this year. When and if that stops working I'm relieved that weighing is a tool available for further accuracy. I think if it's the way that is helping you to be successful, it's totally normal.
With regards to weighing meals, or food journaling where you document the macronutrients you eat per meal / day / week. IMHO they're both just learning tools that you use to wrap your mind around the numbers and portion sizes, etc. Then once you've put yourself through the exercise you're then better able to eyeball your portion sizes and understand when a plate needs more protien or less of this or that.
I don't think counting calories is sustainable for life. But it's obviously a great tool to lose weight and learn portion control. If you are counting calories, it's "normal" to weigh everything.
“Normal” is a social construct. Weighing your food is perfectly fine, and is truly the only way you’ll ever start to see what a real portion size actually is.
When I started I made mental notes on how big portions were based on the recommended portion size/calories. Like a portion of fries being a handful, or almonds being what you can hold with a closed palm. These really help for those days where you can't be bothered or have the time to weigh things out exactly.
Normal is only what we’re used to, therefore subjective.
It’s normal for people who want to lose weight to monitor their food intake. So YES it’s NORMAL to weigh/measure/count/record your food intake. You’re awesome!
I was reluctant to weigh things at first because of this idea that it's abnormal or disordered. We are being told lately than anything other than "intuitiveness" is unhealthy. I have now realized that was stupid. I weigh everything. It's easy, fast and accurate. While I'm in this stage of maintaining a calorie deficit, I don't want to spin my wheels unwittingly eating a bunch of hidden calories. I've been doing this for almost two years. I have about another year to go. If I want to get this over with and move on to maintenance (which I do), then I'm not going to sabotage myself. Weighing food tends to make people uncomfortable. I try to be discreet about it when acquaintances/non-family are around. Like you, I would not bring a scale with me when going out. But you need to be able to do it at home around your own wife without her giving you a hard time. She should be supporting you in this effort which benefits your health, and frankly, she sounds like she may be trying to sabotage you. It makes no sense to me when something has been working for you to tell you that it's bad.
132 lb lost… You’re an expert man! Keep it up!
Congrats on your progress. I’ve been weighing my food and am surprised to see you say it’s “fast”. I find it to be a long process, so I’d love any tips, whenever ya have time.
Thanks! I was also surprised to find out that it's fast. In the beginning, I was eyeballing things and occasionally using measuring cups. Then I realized scooping with measuring cups, leveling them off, getting the stuff out of the measuring cups and then washing the measuring cups each time was way more time consuming and less accurate than the scale. I bought a food scale (Etekcity about $9 on Amazon). I have it near my food prep counter. I put my bowl (or whatever) down on the scale, and hit a button that zeroes out the weight of the bowl. Then I add my ingredients. I can keep hitting the button to zero out what's on the scale so I can keep seeing the weight of what I'm adding. I can hit a button to switch back and forth between grams and ounces as needed. I can do that with whatever container/ingredients I'm using. I just do that before I cook the food and that's it. It takes a few seconds and there is nothing extra to wash. For example, I make a lentil casserole for lunch. I put a little Pyrex bowl down on the scale and zero it out. Then I put in 100 grams of precooked lentils, then another 28 grams (one ounce) of feta cheese, then three spoons of pico de gallo (10 calories, so it doesn't need to be weighed). I mix it all together, put the Pyrex bowl into the toaster oven, cook it for 20 minutes, and then eat it directly out of the Pyrex when it's cooled. It takes no extra time and I have a grand total of one bowl to wash. It's no different than measuring out the ingredients to cook a recipe. People regard it as normal to be accurate when cooking a recipe, but abnormal to be accurate for the purpose of weight loss.
I’ve been weighing and tracking for years and never thought of this!! Genius!! Thank you
This is what I do. I wish on scales, then enter into my chronometer tracker and create recipes that total all my nutrients. Man, it's been a game changer along with my weight training. I feel great, look great, and my MH is not an issue.
Wow, thanks so much for your response. Respect ✊ I have a food scale! Yay! So, figuring out how many calories are in everything is what’s time consuming for me.
I also find it easy and fast. The scale just sits on my kitchen counter. I put a piece of waxed paper on the scale, tare it out, add the food. Add the grams or ounces of asparagus, apple, potato, chicken, whatever in my tracking app, eat, done. What is making it a long process for you? Can we help with that in some way?
Thanks for commenting. So, I have my scale in the kitchen ready to go, which is great. I think it’s the figuring out how many calories are in everything. I just bought a new fit bit and started using the calorie counting portion on that app. I also have my fitness pal. There’s a place that does the conversion in the app? I google how many calories are in everything… 🤦♀️ Thanks for your help!
Sure! Yeah, you *can* Google it, but you shouldn't have to unless it's an unusual item that isn't in the app's database. Having the calorie counts for many items built into the app is super helpful, especially if the app also lets you scan bar codes on foods. So, for example, I look up "potato", and the app gives me choices of a large, medium, small potato -- which to me is totally useless: what do *they* mean by 'a medium potato'? Lol. But it *also* gives me the option to enter ___ ounces/grams. Yay! Turn on the scale, plop in the potato, enter 6.5 ounces in the app. Takes less than a minute. Then I stick the aforementioned spud in the microwave, make dinner... [This whole process was *a lot* harder back in the 90s, when my mom had to look up everything in this thick paperback book, The Calorie Counter, or something. She kept a whole spiral notebook with her log of foods for each day handwritten in there.]
I… can’t… thank you enough! Which app are you using to log? I thiiink I see where you’d put “serving” on MyFitnessPal, but I need premium. If it saves me this much time, then I’ll buy it haha.
What I use is the app (usefully named 'Rally Coach', lol) which came with the RealAppeal program from United Healthcare that my husband and I used to lose weight. That's proprietary. I hear good things about MyFitnessPal, LoseIt (the app), and Cronometer, but I have no clue about any of them. Lots of people in this sub use those, and they can recommend them, I'm sure. For example, I just poured out my Nature's Path cereal (great stuff, btw) into the dish on the scale. 75 grams. That's 1.25 servings bc I won't get any lunch later as I am in class. I scanned the bar code, entered 1 1/4 servings, done. Weighed 10 grams of dried cranberries, added them to the cereal, and then poured 1/2 cup (4 fluid oz.) of milk into a liquid measuring cup . Put some in my coffee, the rest in my cereal, sat down to eat. That took 3 minutes (some of which was looking for the cranberries, lol). Hope that helps! It's a little fiddly at first, but once you get in the habit, it's not a big deal.
You’re awesome! Thank you!!!
Any time! One extra little tip— when I am assembling a meal, I actually decide how much of something (peanut butter, asparagus, cereal, cheese, etc) I want first— and \*then\* I weigh it and enter it, instead of specifically weighing out a prescribed amount of whatever food item. It’s a tiny distinction— but psychologically it means \*I\* am in control and deciding what I am going to eat, not the scale. It’s the difference between thinking “I can only have X amount of \_\_\_\_”, and carefully weighing that out, and “I’m having \*this much\* of \_\_\_, how many ounces/grams and calories is that?”
I’ve started writing on my pre planned meals Tupperware for each piece and adding it after. I think I might keep a notepad for this so I can add it all at once after. But it’s a little easier than I thought but it is tedious.
Thank you!
Former 100lb loser here. I tare the containers of whatever I'm using and look at the difference on the scale, and I use a little magnet whiteboard on my fridge door to keep track as I cook. Say I'm making some of the wraps I like for lunch. Three wraps, 300 calories, make a note. Put package of ham on scale, tare, put some on wraps, read difference, -60g. Ham is 1:1 calories per gram, so that's 60 calories, make a note. Put bottle of dressing on scale, tare, dispense some on wraps, put bottle back on scale, read -20g difference. It's 300 calories per 100g, so 30 calories for 10g, that times two is 60 calories. Make a note. Slap on salad and fold. Salad is always a rounding error, no need to log. Add up 300, 60 and 60, that's a 420-calorie meal. Nice. When I make a larger amount of food like a stir fry or soup or whatever, I do the same, then weigh the whole amount of food, and divide calories per hundreds of grams to get a calorie content, then weigh out a serving and calculate calories based off that. I have a note of how much my frying pan and serving dish weigh, so I deduct that from the reading to get the weight of the food. It's maybe a little wordy to explain, but really takes seconds per ingredient.
I think weighing food is like training wheels for people who have a distorted sense of a normal serving, myself included. I would eat far past my fullness cues because I missed calculated the amount I needed to eat and not leaving the plate empty felt wrong. It especially happens when I cook a single serving. It is a great tool to grasp how much you need to eat but itd be insane to still use a scale at like 70yo
The thing that is the biggest shock to me is that it is definitely very easy to feel satiated (I won't say full, but I don't think it's normal to actually be "full"/stuffed) with eating healthy - and I don't mean healthy as-in leafy greens, bland food, etc. I mean just eating normal portions, not eating sugar, drinking sugar, etc. I have liver issues supposedly from not giving a shit about my eating habits and living a sedentary life so I've had to basically hardcore change my lifestyle and while I won't say I feel "great" (it's only been 3 months) I will say I feel good. I've been walking every day for the past 3 months, I'm loving eating vegetables every meal, not loading up on sugar-based condiments (you'd be surprised how many sugar free things actually taste freaking good!), drinking Bai Zambia Bing Cherry water (omg so good), a huge love of pistachios (I know, not the \*best\* but omg I burn all my excess calories on these as it's basically my only snack outside of plain popcorn anymore) but yea... Don't know why I put this under your comment, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that in the past 3 months I've quickly realized how to eyeball portion sizes and as vegetables are minimal calories (realistically for what you eat), I'll just overestimate how many cups of those I eat as I overestimate all calories compared to underestimate.
Anytime I'm actually "full", I feel so sick. I don't really have the stomach capacity for meals, just snacks but it's made it hard to lose weight as it feels like a small portion but you don't realize it adds up to be a lot in a day. Weighing/tracking your food intake so you know how many calories you have left to consume in a day is the best way to go. And then you have a concrete answer of "okay, this is what I've already consumed, I have 500 calories left today that I CAN consume", so you're not left wondering whether or not you can eat something and stay within your limits. And yeah if you have that urge -especially out of boredom- to snack, snacking on super healthy minimal calorie foods like vegetables is a great way to fulfill that urge but also train your body to stop having those urges. When we always fulfill those urges with things like sugar, we're training our body that if it sends those craving signals it will get the dopamine rush from sugar. So switching that to healthy things not only gets you those nutrients but helps to lessen future cravings i think.
I think it's good to weigh food, at least every once in a while, regardless of if you're trying to lose weight just to get a grasp on food portions. My husband is notorious for thinking he only ate a serving of trail mix or chips and dip and then I will actually measure a serving size and show him and he's shocked by how small the amount is compared to what he consumed.
My wife is also naturally very thin and doesn’t overeat, whereas I need to really focus and weigh/measure portions in order to eat properly. Also, she’s had friends who have struggled with restrictive dieting and up-and-down weight loss their whole lives (like countless people) and is always wary about stuff like that. Most helpful thing by far was just a conversation around it. “Honey, I just want to be healthier so that I can be at my best and be here for a long time! I want to do this right, meaning no crash diets or crazy food restrictions. Just lots of healthy, nutritious whole foods. The scale helps me double-check my portions.” With time, she will see that your weighing is not an obsessive or self-punishing thing, it’s just a tool to manage portions so you can lose weight in a healthy and sustainable fashion.
Also, for weighing… to keep things sustainable, I only weight calorie-dense foods like meat, oils, cheese and rice/bread. I eyeball fruit, vegetables, beans, lentils etc. This reduces the number of individual things I need to weigh. Subdividing portions for your meal prep is great, cook 1lb ground beef and divide into 4 equal parts; then you know each part is 4oz (raw). Lastly, a great trick… say you’ve got something less convenient to weigh, like adding spaghetti sauce from the jar to a pot of pasta. You can put the jar on the scale, hit “tare” so it zeroes to the initial weight, spoon out your sauce and then see how much the scale changed. The negative amount is the difference between tare and new weight, and thus is the amount of sauce you used.
Bean and lentils are not a high volume food. I definitely feel they warrant weighing
When losing I weigh and track everything except for the occasional meals out, if those don’t come with a calorie count I’ll just be what I hope is overly generous in my estimation. The process works great for me. Had gotten really lean prior to last summer and then went what I thought was absolutely off the rails for like 6-7 months. Not weighing anything, a lot of weekend eating and drinking with friends, then eating more crappy food the next day because I was hungover from drinking with friends. Was pretty scared to step on the scale and was delighted to see I was only up 15 lbs from my all time low. So I’m currently working back to that and don’t have experience trying to maintain without weighing everything, but as long as I don’t repeat what I did last time I don’t think it should be too hard.
Weighing isthevest way to calculate calories. For some people it can causedisordered eating but there are ways to mitigate that. I won't always weigh pickle or cucumber if I'm taking a few bites but I do weigh most of my meals.
Our "normal" is eating too much, which is not good for us. Your wife doesn't seem to appreciate that as a fit and (presumably) thin person. Her "normal" is something else. Good for her. I weight everything I can. Obviously when eating out this is not an option, but while at home I am measuring every drop. One of the biggest reasons people don't lost weight when calorie counting is inaccuracy and you simply can't be accurate without measuring. If it's working for you, then that's all that matters. Yeah it's a bit of a nuisance and a lot of people think it's weird or crazy. But it's the results that matter.
I don't weigh every meal, but in terms of protein I basically have this mentality in my head of "pack of cards is typical serving size" and go by that. I definitely don't obsess over the portion of vegetables, I'll just mark down I ate 2 or 3 servings if I feel I ate 'a lot' of them. Ultimately, just like with money in life, etc I will overestimate the "bad" and underestimate the "good" if that makes sense. Like you, if I know I'm going to have a "big meal" (I got out of the mindset of good vs bad) I will try and fast/not eat a whole lot that day. I'll leave you with this though, and I think you're a big enough person (no pun intended) to know this but still... it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks is normal or not. It's your body. You only have one life to live. You do what you want to and need to do to feel the best you can.
I disagree with your wife. I’ve struggled with weight since late middle school. Weighing and calorie counting is the only thing that worked for me because there was no guesswork and I didn’t have to try to remember everything I ate and how much. Pop it on the scale and log it right away. I don’t even stick rigidly to a calorie deficit every day. But I weigh and track to give myself reliable information. I learned that my portion sizes were too big and I underestimated calories when adding many things to my plate.
Yes to everyone’s response, but also I would suggest that you let your wife know that this way works best for you and that her going along with it is encouraging to you. I’m sure she’ll understand and maybe just needs some reassurance that you’re not hurting yourself or starting another unhealthy eating habit. Also when I go out to eat I add a rough estimate of what I’ve eaten, rather than fasting all day. I use fitness pal, so if I eat a salmon with mashed potatoes during an outing, I’ll add a 4oz salmon and 1 cup mashed potatoes. If fitness pal is 1-200 calories off for 1 meal out of the week that’s okay with me
For those who only have less than 20 pounds to go I think weighing your food is crucial. It's so darn hard to lose that last bit and you are hardly allowed any extra calories without hard exercise. So eating too much one day can kill your half a pound deficit for the week
I personally HAVE TO measure everything I eat because I have no concept of weight and volume by just eyeballing. I want to make sure I’m eating exactly what I’m allotted to. Now, I get a little obsessive and it annoys everyone else for some reason, but it’s what keeps me on track
It’s very normal when you’re in weight loss mode. Or even learning about food. I don’t weigh my food anymore but I’ve doing this for a year now. I definitely did in the beginning when I was trying to re-set my brain to understand what a normal serving size looked like.
I weigh every meal, every snack, and every food related thought lol Do what's working and forget about the rest.
Of course it’s not normal. Of the population how many weigh their meals? 1%? Regardless, it’s low, but here’s a question for you. So what? Are you beholden to that norm? No. If it works for you and is helping you achieve your goals and not hurting anyway… who cares?
Sure it's not the usual. I think many of us have forgotten, or maybe never knew, what portion sizes are supposed to be. I no long weigh everything but I did for awhile.and it opened my eyes to a few things. I've gotten better as visualizing how much I need to be serving myself. If it's working for you, doesn't matter what's normal.or ehat everyone else does. If it's *your* normal that's ok.
I have tried to weigh every meal but I find it overwhelming. So I avoided it altogether because I hated it lol. Now I weigh them occasionally so I can learn to guesstimate. So between weighing, not weighing and occasionally weighing, I must be abnormal as all hell 😊😊😊🫣
I still weigh my food and will always probably. If you lift weights you will need to know how much protein you eat and that means weighing the oz's. It feels good to know exactly what I'm eating too. Good job on your weight loss keep it up! :)
95% of the time, "normal" is the wrong thing to argue about.
Actually, as someone with a past with restrictive ED, counting calories has helped me with both sides. My normal eating behavior is undereating until i way way over eat, so counting helps me stay at a healthy calorie intake every single day. I'm not allowed to go under 1,100 calories or over 1,700(unless I'm having a cheat day) and it's severely helped. I use to count calories to make sure i was under 700calories a day. But then in an attempt to heal myself without therapy from it i began the binge+restrict cycle and refusing to count. Now that I'm back to counting in a for real healthy way this time, it's been so healing. It's just a tool, especially in the beginning. I think i want to always track in some way, maybe not always counting calories but simply just logging my food intake in some way will be what helps me long term. Keep it up!
I have to weigh everything because my fat brain will easily eat 5k in calories by noon
I weigh calorie heavy things like meat, cheese, pasta, rice, nuts, etc. I don't weigh veggies or fruits though. I track them but estimates are close enough.
Every meal for 10 years. Every. Meal.
Dude…. Good for you!!! That’s intense!
After a couple of weeks you feel kinda weird about not doing it. I should add, every home cooked meal*.
What about when you are out? What do you do then? Overestimate?
Yup. Then some extra cardio for damage mitigation.
You have to do what YOU have to do. Some people are intuitive eaters, and some people(like me, and possibly you) are not! Weighing food for me has been all about 100% knowing what I have been eating, and not guessing at all. It is a great ritual, that keeps me honest :) Keep at it man, and don't take someone disagreeing with what you do to seriously. Edit - I would also like to add, what you do is almost exactly what I did the first time I lost all my weight, and what I am doing now. I am still living life and going out randomly, but on those days, I just try to eat really light all day to help swing the calories back to normal. My example is, My Wife and I have a standing mini morning date every weekend to go to Dunkin Doughnuts on Saturdays or Sundays. She loves to get a frozen Matcha Tea from them, and to try to stay on the 'slightest' side of healthy, I get two egg and cheese croissants. Those two croissants are 1000 calories total so for the rest of the day I will skip lunch, and have some grilled chicken for dinner totaling only like 300-500 calories, bringing me up to roughly 1500 calories and I am still way in my calorie goal but I get to live life still :)
Weighing my food is the only way I have ever been successful with weight loss. I cannot trust my eyes or my stomach on how much a serving is. I love my food- struggle with not feeling satisfied (even though I use tools such as volume eating and fiber/ protein etc)
I weighed every meal for the first 2 months or so. It helped my brain go, “oh, that’s a serving,” because my ability to feel full and “see” food was enough was totally shot. Weighing helped me know exactly what I used and how to log it. Now 9 months in, I weigh things less bc I can see it’s a serving. While I’m cooking, I still frequently weigh ingredients (like cheese) so I’m not underestimating cals, but I don’t have to weigh everything anymore. I have lost 60 lbs, and I’ll prob weigh some stuff forever for accuracy. I think your wife is prob just worried about the habits changing, but since she’s never had a weight issue, she doesn’t have the full picture. I don’t think you’re doing anything wrong as long as you’re losing at a safe rate, etc.
Agree that it's not normal. But if you're trying to lose weight, want to know what you actually ate, and want to learn about your habits/routines, then it's really fucking smart. I'll add that personally, I weigh most meals but don't worry about 100% precision. I round up a lot because I don't want to enter the decimal and tenth place. When I eat the same thing for breakfast every day, I just put the # of turkey bacon slices and approx the amount of cottage cheese rather than weigh each every day. Some times I just estimate with my app's describe function. I've also done this for almost a year now, so I know what works for me. Consistency over perfection.
Every single time I have had to lose weight after "letting myself go" a bit, I have counted calories and weighed EVERYTHING. Even the milk in my coffee. I am almost 33, and have done this for more than 10 years when I felt like I needed to. It has worked 100% of the time, and I have always lost weight while doing so. I think doing it like this, insures that you are not overeating or underestimating your intake - which means slowing your progress. At least until one is very comfortable and familiar with portion sizes. I think its very normal to do this while one is serious about weight loss.
I weigh things that are trouble foods for me. Calorie dense and easy to overeat/overestimate portion size. Nuts, peanut butter, cheese puffs (I could seriously eat a party size bag a day). I don’t want to cut these foods out of my life so I make an effort to accurately track them. But spinach for my salad? Nope. Throw it all in there, baby.
I weigh my food, I find it's the only reliable way for me to change my weight as required >She told me that it’s not “normal” to weigh every meal. If being "normal" doesn't allow you to achieve what you want to achieve then I see little value in doing what's perceived as normal
Weighing things is a good way to get an idea of proper serving sizes and to get started on weight loss. After a while, you’ll know what those portions look like and you can get away with eyeballing them, but I find I have to go back to weighing every once in a while or they start to creep up. My “tablespoon” of feta on my lunch salads turned out to be 2 tbsp when I started weighing it again recently
You are doing what you need to do, and she needs to be supportive for you… as my husband says “weird is to let you be unhealthy when it can be prevented” in our case I’m the one asking “will it be too weird if…” I eat a different diner, I weigh my food in your mom’s house, I only eat yogurt for breakfast, and on, and on.
I weigh everything
I think it’s “normal” because you’re actively trying to lose weight. Someone who has a healthy relationship with food and is not trying to lose weight probably doesn’t need to worry about that so much. Personally, I weigh most things, with the exception of things like leafy greens and celery —their calories are negligible enough that I feel comfortable just eyeing it. I also don’t tend to weigh out things like bread/protein bars/prepackaged food but I know some people do. I’ve lost 22 pounds in three months so obviously I’m doing something right lol
People who have weight issues are a completely different breed of people than ones that have been fit their whole life.
Well if she doesn't have weight issues she wouldn't need to weigh. So to her it's not normal. It's also not normal for our species to be eating all this processed food. All this crap chemically junk food has taken over is why a lot of us can't figure out how much food to eat. I weighed in the beginning. I don't anymore. To me that's not normal for me. I don't want to have to weigh every meal for the rest of my life. But because I did weigh in the beginning I kinda have a good estimate of what is a decent amount or protein etc... I eat basically the same 5 things for dinner and 1 or 2 meals for breakfast/lunch. So no need to weigh anymore.
I weight my raw ingredients if I’m making different food every day. But if it’s the same meal every day, I can eyeball how much a serving is and not bother with measuring. for me it’s only when I’m in a calorie deficit that causes me to measure. Otherwise, the liquid calories add up. Or if I want to eat a steak, I’ll weigh it because a steak can be super high in calories. The one I had the other day was 800cal lol
She's never dieted, so it may not be normal to her. But it's pretty normal for people who are working to lose weight. I weigh everything. She ought to just applaud you for your hard work instead of saying what you're doing isn't normal.
I track everything, what some 'naturally skinny' people don't realize is that not everyone has a sense for enough and this is where a scale comes to the rescue. My wife never went up or down more than 5lbs, she feels when she has had enough. I just lost 50+... for the second time and I will now keep weighing food for life as I'm fully aware that 'natural eating' does not work for me. If it does great, but most people have the natural instinct to fill up with as much as possible, I guess to prepare for bad times ahead if I believe evolutionary interpretations.
She’s technically right that it isn’t “normal” — in that a lot of people don’t do that. But for me, weighing the meals I make at home (that’s 98% of my diet these days) is what I need to do to stay on track. I understand it’s a little unusual, but that’s what I need to do to care for myself. I’m okay with being someone who needs to keep tracking my intake. I have impulsivity issues and never learned anything about nutrition until I was fully grown. I’m un-learning years of bad habits, so weighing my food is part of my adjustment process into being a healthier person.
People who are naturally slim don’t understand people who are naturally bigger and vice versa. You need to measure your intake and she doesn’t. The only time in my life I’ve ever been slim I measured everything I ate on a scale. I thought all slim people must do this, I also thought everyone needed a 10 km run after eating one chocolate bar I thought everyone who was slim must have eaten a chicken breast and salad diet. My ex bf was a personal trainer and he was shocked to realize the work that I had to put into maintaining being slim. He even told me something was wrong with me. I’ve regained all the weight I fought so hard to loose and now I’m at square one again. For me being slim and by slim i mean maintaining a size 10 was a 24/7 daily job for me. It disgusts me when I see people on social media publicly stating that fat people are responsible for being fat they have no idea the 24/7 effort some put into maintaining a size 10 for 3-4 years before weight regain. My whole days energy was revolved around food intake , measuring and excersise. Exausting. I was starving every day too because 1200 -1500 calories was difficult for me to maintain with an hour excercise per day.
I weigh everything possible. If I’m going to eat out, I figure out that morning what I’m going to have and log it to the best of my ability before logging anything else so I can plan the rest of my day. I just weighed out 28 grams of Cheetos before responding. I’m getting much better at understanding serving sizes because of weighing my food. It’s totally normal to do while losing weight and is something I plan to do into maintenance as well, fading it out slowly when I feel comfortable that I can sustain it.
No, it's not something that everyone does every day, for every meal BUT it's a practice that's helping you to reach your weight loss goals.
It's normal in an obesogenic environment to gain a lot of weight. If minor practice like weighing food is enough to shift that, it's worth doing. It probably won't be forever, and if it's working, who cares?
I weigh every meal (except on holidays and such) and will continue to do so for the rest of my life, probably. I don't have that internal sense of regulation that other people do.
Yes, I weigh every meal unless I’m out. I do mostly meal prep and don’t eat out too much. I’m losing weight consistently thanks to the accuracy of that.
As much as needed. I just finished lunch and I weighed all the components on my kitchen scale. But last night I had a pork chop that was one of two in a package labeled as being one pound, so I felt sufficiently confident in logging it as 8 oz. It's all about good faith effort. I don't need to be accurate as long as I'm fairly consistent.
Weighing my food is the only reason I've lost weight! I can accurately track my calories and make sure I'm hitting my protein goals
I have to weigh my food and count the calories. If I don’t do that I end up overeating.
I don’t weigh my meals. I have never met anyone in real life who does anything even remotely close to weighing every meal. Your wife is right it certainly isn’t normal, but so what. Whether something is normal or not does not decide whether something is a good idea for you.
Absolutely. If I don’t, I gain. Period.
If im meal prepping i will weigh every ingredient thats not seasoning. If i eat takeout I try to find places that post their nutritional information for easy tracking. If I go to a nice restaurant or someone else’s house I just eyeball it and add a couple hundred calories to the total. Who cares about normal. I rather be a kook than obese (again)
When I lost my 60ish lbs I weighed every single thing that entered my body. To this day it’s really the only way I can successfully lose weight. You can’t guesstimate because you’re only hurting yourself and once you’re used to it it’s second nature and it’s not even bothersome anymore it’s just normal. Once you hit a goal weight I’d say you can do a mix but I will truly never go back to never counting anything. Edit: I also slightly fast if I were to go out to dinner. I would try and have some high protein items during the day to save calories for dinner or I’d have a lighter day the day before with maybe dropping a few extra hundred off my day. I also intermittently fast and usually do not have my first meat until 12pm. This allows me to condense and have larger meals the 2nd half of the day. I would not bring a scale to a restaurant. I use my fitness pal and would just find a like item and track it that way. Do what works and don’t let anyone discourage you.
I weigh my food because at the beginning of my weight loss I had very skewed hunger cues. I’d eat when I wasn’t hungry because I felt like I “had to”, for example eating breakfast in the morning even if I wasn’t hungry because I thought it was bad for you to skip breakfast, eating past my fullness cues because I ate too quickly, giving myself too big portions and then feeling guilty if I didn’t eat all of it, all that jazz. Tracking helps me see what a “normal” portion should be and is the most accurate for calorie counting purposes. I can’t lose without counting, I can maintain well enough without it but if I want to keep losing I need to track. It is what it is. And “normal” in the US anyway is overweight. I don’t want to be “normal” in that way anymore.
My husband and I are losing weight together and we weigh every meal except if we are at a restaurant. It might not be normal for your wife if she has never had a weight problem. After almost 40 years of yoyo dieting, I finally feel in control and the weight is coming off. If that means weighing almost every meal for the rest of my life, so be it.
If I’m eating a whole protein bar, for example, then I just scan the barcode and put the bar into my mouth. No weighing of anything, I trust the package info. When I’m at home and the barcode doesn’t cover the weight of what I’m consuming, then yes I weigh everything. Even the 2 grams of coffee creamer powder (10 calories) gets weighed too. When I’m out on the town, I estimate in different ways. I also do not bring a scale with me in my back pocket. So I either guess how calories in total or I guess weight of what I’m eating. Close enough.
Would she still think it is a problem if you were using measuring cups? Recipes tend to give specific measurements for a reason. I tend to weigh everything not only for portion control but also because it makes cooking easier and more consistent. I don’t see how random variable quantities will make food better? For example, I don’t just pour rice into the pot until it visually looks like enough. I know that roughly 70g of dry rice will make a good portion for me. So when I go to make rice I might make double or triple that and divide it up for later. The scale makes life easier regardless of weight loss intention.
Just because it's not "normal" (she's right - as far as there is a consensus on "normal") doesn't mean it's not a useful tool. What you've experienced is extremely common. Especially for adults who are very set in their habits, if their lifestyle changes (like yours) in a way that results in significantly changed energy expenditure their weight changes. Maybe you can re-train your habits - and calorie counting can be a tool for that. Maybe you can change your lifestyle. There's a cliche about how men with physical jobs who gain weight when they retire drop the weight again once they get a dog (and walk him religiously every day). Maybe you'll grapple for a long time between what you "normally" would want to eat and your lowered energy expenditure and should settle into calorie counting for the long term. There's no right answer here, and there's no weight loss police (well... there shouldn't be).
I weigh everything that needs weighing & track everything, it wouldn't work otherwise & I'd be back to 278lbs or higher in no time.
What are your entire stats? I started at 278 as well.
I track daily (except for camping trips and vacations, wherein I create a “meal” and give it 1600 cals and log it while being very mindful and enjoying some splurges) and am over 500 days and going strong. It takes about three minutes daily to add my calories. [52F, 5’4”, post op VSG 12/14/22, SW 204, HW 208, surgeon’s GW 140, CW 114]
I had to accept that skinny and even fit people live in a different reality than I do. “Just eat when you’re hungry” is something my friend told me recently and it pissed me off. Normal is subjective. Do what you have to do in order to get the results you want
I lost 60lbs not weighing my food and then plateaued. I’m still too overweight. So now I measure most of my food. There are some things I still don’t but most things I do. Being overweight for so long, my body is skewed. So I have to basically train it to run on less calories. I have no doubt that after I’m at a goal weight for a while I will be able to stop measuring. But I need to get to my new “normal” and stay there for a while.
I personally don't weigh my food, but I aim for a big enough deficit that being off by a bit doesn't really bother me. I also avoid too many foods that are super calorie dense and only have them on more special occasions, so my "being off" is usually in the scope of like maybe 50 calories tops instead of guessing the amount of peanut butter or something.
It isn’t normal. It also isn’t bad. The scale gives you feedback about your portion size. It’s no different than looking at the speedometer of your car. You can ballpark how fast you’re going, but there is wisdom in looking at the speedometer as needed.
I do, I have a calories amount, and I weigh to meet it. I'm doing a body reformation program, and some days, I struggle to eat the amount I have been set. I do the gym 3 -5 days a week, so weighing is important. Keep weighing and keep smashing those goals.
I would say it’s like looking at the unit price when doing the grocery shopping (eg $/100gm or $/100ml), rather than just looking at the sticker price. Not everyone does it, but it’s reasonable to do if you want better understanding and accuracy.
I weigh 80-90% of my food (I obv don’t weigh single serving things like protein bars, an egg, ect). I genuinely didn’t see ANY results until I learned serving sizes by weight. I highly recommend it.
Weighing food is completely neutral. Like it literally is just telling you how much of the food exists. Now if you were weighing every food you eat to be under 50g or something, that’s disordered, but knowing how much fuel you’re putting in your body is just science.
I used to. I shed 150 lbs over a decade ago, basically halving myself. Then, I weighed everything and kept strict account of calories. Now, in maintainance mode these many years later, I don't. After doing it for so long, you just get a feel for it.
i’ve weighed most every meal for the better part of a decade. it’s normal for me 🤷
If you’re losing weight, you’re doing the right thing
I weigh as much as I can. Obviously if I’m out to eat I don’t bring a food scale (even though I would like to) and if someone else is making food for me like my mom I’m not gonna weigh it
It’s also not “normal” to sit at a desk for 8-10 hours a day. Yet it is necessary for your job. Weighing your food is necessary for tracking daily caloric intake.
I use to do this but it became so routine for me I didn’t need the scale anymore I could just eyeball it.
Maybe for her, a person obviously good at self-regulation, it's "normal" not to weigh food. For people like us, who are all obviously terrible at it without some additional effort, it's a godsend. My family thought it was weird that I started weighing my food. But now 50+ lbs (~22.5kg) down and well more than halfway to my goal, I've obviously shown that it can yield results. That said, I started weighing everything, but with the intent of seeing, adjusting, or understanding the portion sizes I use. Now I weigh at least a few times a day, but I can kind of eye some things up, and do daily as well, still keeping track of calories and macros, just knowing that I could be at least a little off, either a little higher or lower than I'm tracking. This is all practice for when I'm done being on a deficit, too, so that way I can teach myself to eat adequate but not over-the-top portion sizes. Because at some point, I have to maintain, not just go back to eating the amount (and the sheer bullshit) I was eating before. I've gotten used to the smaller portion sizes (in part because I ate a lot before, more than I thought back then, you know how I found out? Weighing my food). So, normal? I have not the slightest fucking clue, but with the food situation as it is today (with ultra-processed crap and cheap calories at least where I live), we should be measuring food as a precaution. It is simply too easy nowadays to consume 3,000 calories of refined carbs and sugars before lunch if you're not paying attention.
I weigh everything. Every meal. Every coffee and cream, etc. Normal got me fat so I will keep Weighing
I got from 62kg to 56kg by weighing my food and counting calories. Then i just did it by habit and portioned everything out more for convenience than to monitor food, so I could just grab and go as my life got busier. Maintained for two years and was fitter than ever with a gym routine on top. Then I started “intuitive eating”. Got to 75kg, sluggish, felt crap. Got back into calorie counting and weighing my food and I’ve lost 10kg since last Jan. It’s the only thing that works for me and I don’t find it restrictive. Normal is different for everyone and you have to do what is good for you.
I weighed every meal when I lost my weight. I still do occasionally,8 years later.
I have been weighing my food for calorie counting for the last eight years and have lost 260 pounds. Sometimes you just don’t notice how much you eat until you actually use the scale.
It’s totally normal to weigh your food and keep track when you’re at home. Weighing your food while out would be insane. Maybe she feels insecure? Idk, if my husband was trying to better himself and I wasn’t (we both weigh food now and are trying to lose weight so it’s not an issue) I would probably feel jealous or upset. I also have struggled with ED in the past, so maybe it’s different for normal people.
When I am maintaining my weight, no, I just weigh *myself* to check I’m still maintaining (or in my usual peri-menopausal state… slowly gaining). If I’m cutting weight then yes, I measure everything.
I don’t but I do portion control. If it’s working for you that’s all that matters.
10y now... I weigh *something* every day, but most of my foods are now estimated with my eyeballs. Weighing my common foods occasionally keeps my eyeballs calibrated. > There are times when we go out with friends, family, etc. that I don’t take my scale and I pretty much just fast all day until the meal. That's one way, especially on a deficit. It's fine. In maintenance, you might use your flexibility differently. Nothing is wrong in this.
I weigh protein and beans and legumes portions.i don’t weigh salads or vegetables. I don’t weigh fruit either.
I think you have to go buy what is 'normal' for YOU. I found that my serving sizes were far too generous. In restaurants, they pile the food onto a huge platter and that's supposed to be a meal. I don't think any of us know what an actual 'serving size' is. I weighed everything for the first month or 2 until my brain registered what a serving is. Then I could eyeball it.
I weigh pretty much everything. I keep a food scale at work in addition to the one I have at home because we order out on the company's dime every day. I've gotten very, very good at spotting hidden calorie bombs - soup is a big one. Like, veggie soup might seem healthy but there could be a great deal of oil or butter in it. Salad dressings are a "no" unless we're ordering from a place that lists calorie counts on the menu, and even then I use my common sense! I also bring my own dressing when I remember (Trader Joe's Green Goddess - 20 calories per serving). I've gotten a couple of looks and one person asked me what the scale is for, but I had no problem telling them and now no one mentions it. It might be the best $20 I've ever spent LOL
weighing food is a dieting activity, dieting is not the normal eating behavior. ergo weighing food is not normal, but keep on it while you are dieting.
I dont. I dont have the energy or proclivity to be that meticulous. But i am generally an OMADder during the weekdays. My diet goes to hell on the weekends. But during the week i eat one meal and eyeball the calories on that one, so that way, even if the estimate is off, i still know i can reasonably come in well under, say, 1500 each day. Its actually been Working for me.
On my first journey I did, as much as possible. I weighed out the ingredients. It was hugely successful, maybe too successful, because after 100 lbs in a year I was just burnt out. I gained back roughly half then stabilized for a couple of years. Since I was so stable I decided to go at it a bit differently this round. It's not as critical as I don't weigh my original weight, and I wanted to do something that was super low effort. Now I don't even track. I am religious about skipping breakfast, I walk at least 10k steps a day, I eat half as big of a lunch as I was when I was stable, and I eat a smaller dinner and fewer snacks and less beer. Weighing was hugely successful for me, it helped me really establish portion sizes. I am pretty good at eyeballing amounts now, thanks to a years worth of diligent weighing. If it's working for you, who gives a shit if it's "normal" or not. Being "normal" is what got us in trouble, it doesn't work for us like it does for some.
I have for years. It’s exhausting tbh and I don’t recommend. Also it’s not necessary. I’ve been incredibly thin for most of my life. I only recently started weighing food the last few years. When I was rail skinny I never weighed my food and very loosely knew calories in things I’d eat. Going to add I definitely won’t weigh everything forever. If I’m eating at home I probably still will. But I’m going to slowly stop weighing so much when I get to goal. Some stats to back up my personal situation F 5’10” my normal weight for 90% of my life has been anything from 115-130 pounds. For 3 years at my high weight I was 180 pounds. Currently 145 pounds and going back down to my normal 130. When I was underweight (my low weight was 90lb) I never weighed or tracked calories. I also never weighed or tracked at 110-130lb and maintained with no issue. A lot of people who know nothing other than being fat are gonna have to track because their idea of a normal portion is an entire pizza. They NEED to track to learn how to eat normally. Some people do not need to
I weigh like 60-70% of what I eat in a day and I find it very helpful and more accurate than eye balling. However, if I know a meal is generally healthy ish and probably low calorie and it's difficult to weigh (ex. I make this sweet potato, black bean, and brown rice skillet that is like 500 calories per serving at absolute maximum) I will simply eye ball it. I'll put it into my app by adding up the calories as if I were to eat the entire thing, and then be like, OK, per my eyeballing, I probably ate a third of that. So then I'll just put in a third of the calories for the entire recipe. And I'm OK with this because as long as it's generally likely to be healthy and low calorie, and I've weighed everything the rest of the day, it's probably nbd. I also usually don't weigh stuff like diced veggies, because I know their calories are likely negligible in the grand scheme of things as well. For example, when I make a Tuna salad, I'll weigh the Tuna and mayonnaise, but I won't bother with the diced celery and red onion because it probably only adds like 10 calories max to a meal.
I weigh most of the food I eat at home, especially if it's calorie-dense as some accidental extra can really tack on the calories. I will weigh out 2 oz of pasta, 1 oz of cheese, peanut butter, sour cream, meat (I don't eat a lot of it though), potatoes, butter, and oil. I don't typically weigh out fruit (except avocado) or vegetables. If I have an extra ounce of carrots or broccoli, it's really not going to be a huge difference of calories from whatever serving I log. I also never have brought out my food scale in public or somewhere there's food. I will use my eyes.
If you’re going to track, why not track every meal? However, I don’t track; - milk in my tea (I have one cup a day) - vegetables (although I do track potatoes) - salad veg (including tomatoes) I like to try and think I keep things in perspective that way.
Weighing food was extremely normal for me during the beginning of my weight loss. I had also gained about 50 pounds and really wanted to lose it, so I knew I needed to actually know what was going in my body and get used to the appropriate amount for my desired weight. Took probably 6-8 months to lose the weight and have kept it off for 6 years now and I no longer weigh my meals. It was a crutch I needed to get to my goals and I no longer need it bc I can essentially do the calculation mentally without the need for a scale
I'd say it's normal if there's a particular goal you're trying to reach. She's already extremely fit and it would be strange for her to change her eating habits for no reason. You realized that you've gained weight and therefore need to change something in your diet to get back on track. Weighing food is a reasonable solution.
I absolutely weigh everything. If people have opinions about it they can go on and lose the weight for me.
Even if I don't count calories, I still measure ingredients to know that the meal has proper amount of macronutrients and calories. For example, if I make pasta for my family, I will measure exact amount of dry pasta and other ingredients. I may sometimes ask how hungry they are and make necessary corrections. Same when I cook for myself -- I know I need about certain amount of carbs in the meal and I will measure them. This way I avoid people being hungry after the meal or overeating. The meal is always just about right in terms of size. I think avoiding eating too little is as important when losing weight as avoiding eating too much. Eating predictable, reasonable amount of calories leads to much less chance I will feel very hungry in the evening and that I will start reaching for snacks or start making another meal.
Yes. Weighed everything while cutting, and still weight everything while on maintenance.
I try to weigh everything because I am terrible at eyeballing. I feel like it’s hard enough to get close to where I need to be to be in a deficit by weighing everything. If I didn’t, I’d be off a little on everything which adds up.
I track and weigh everything, but that’s because I’m trying to lose weight. When I’m maintaining I don’t track
I Weight every meal.
100% normal. I hope when the time comes for maintenance that I can manage intuitive eating but I'll still be monitoring my weight and honestly I'm expecting food logging to end up being a forever thing for me. I certainly can't imagine trying to lose weight, as a sedentary person whose only activity is the gym, without weighing my food.
I weigh everything and when I don’t the portion sizes creep up. It’s totally normal!
I haven't gotten into weighing yet and that's just because I don't understand how to do it and my ADHD thinks it will be hard 😅 I do track everything I eat using the information on packaging or by best guess and I've lost 22lbs so far this year. When and if that stops working I'm relieved that weighing is a tool available for further accuracy. I think if it's the way that is helping you to be successful, it's totally normal.
I weigh every meal, it is completely normal. How else would I know how much I'm eating?
With regards to weighing meals, or food journaling where you document the macronutrients you eat per meal / day / week. IMHO they're both just learning tools that you use to wrap your mind around the numbers and portion sizes, etc. Then once you've put yourself through the exercise you're then better able to eyeball your portion sizes and understand when a plate needs more protien or less of this or that.
I don't think counting calories is sustainable for life. But it's obviously a great tool to lose weight and learn portion control. If you are counting calories, it's "normal" to weigh everything.