There are a lot of foods where it seems unreasonable to measure with a cup. Is using a food scale the same? With meat, 4 Fluid ounces and 4 ounces on a scale comes out to the same amount but it seems like this wouldn't always hold true.

Any thoughts?

i do not measure much at all ... in fact, i have only measured my Cereal - one time - from now on i just 'eye ball' it.

this is not a diet for me ... i would fail miserably if this was a diet

No need to measure, unless it's required by your surgeon. Your stomach & band really will tell you when you're done. If you need help with portions, just estimate. Or to be safe, go with what you know is a single serving, and don't feel obligated to eat more.

I eat to the inner circle of a side plate (ie for toast/bread etc) that's how i try and gage the amount of what I am eating...it works for me!

becky

I don't measure anything. I just eat until I am satisfied. As time goes on, I can tell exactly how much I will be able to eat depending on the time of day. For instance, mornings are a bit slow, lunch is a little better but it can still take me an hour to eat a wrap, but by dinner I am pretty open. Weird!

I don't measure, I just kind of eye-ball it. Meat? About the size of a deck of cards. Everything else I use one scoop. I have a certain serving spoon that I use. One scoop is about 1 cup. AND I use a smaller plate. That way if I use that plate, I can only put so much on it. Then I eat slowly and let my body tell me when I'm full. Has worked so far!:clap2:

I measure some things because I am really bad at estimating. But once I've measured something a couple of times, it's easier to eye-ball it. I also like to buy things that are already in single size portions like cheese and popcorn.

There are a lot of foods where it seems unreasonable to measure with a cup. Is using a food scale the same? With meat, 4 Fluid ounces and 4 ounces on a scale comes out to the same amount but it seems like this wouldn't always hold true.

Fluid ounces (measuring cup) and solid ounces (scale) aren't the same thing. They're a completely different unit of measure. I think (pulling from high school science, so I could definitely be off) that the only thing that has the exact same fluid and solid measure is Water -- i.e. 8 fluid ounces of water does indeed weigh 8 ounces on a scale. But if the thing you're measuring is denser than water, 8 solid ounces is going to take up less space than 1 cup (imagine meat). Likewise it the item is less dense than water, 8 solid ounces will take up much more than a cup (imagine coolwhip).

When diet references say eat "3 oz" of Protein, for example, they're talking about solid (scale) ounces because solids are measured in solid ounces not in fluid ounces.

That said, my pouch can't handle more than about 1 or 1.5 cups of any food at a given time (i.e. 8 or 12 fluid ounces, even if we're measuring solids).

Contrary to what some do, I do measure a lot of my food. Not everything, but a lot. For example, this morning I ate cottage cheese for Breakfast. If I spooned it out without measuring it, I'd probably eat a cup. A serving is 1/2 cup and I'm satisfied on 1/2 cup, so I measure it out. if I want more, I get more, but that way I'm accountable to myself. I find weighing and measuring things to really help my weight loss because for me, my body is almost perfectly "calories in calories out." If I track my calories, I lose weight.

Find what works for you with measuring or not.

I don't measure anything either. I just eat until my band says I have had enough and then I quit.

I don't measure either. I thought about it but decided that I didn't want to think of this as a diet as I tend to fail at "diets" I take a small amount and if I'm still hungry, I'll take a bit more. It probably ends up at around the correct amount of food.

Currently I measure my food with a backhoe. Oh, wait a minute, you meant after the lap band is put in. Sorry, I'll have to get back to you on that after 1/16 :welldone2:

I just buy by my hunger. When I full I (usually) stop eating. I think at the beginning it's great to measure and we do need to reprogram ourselves about portion size by perhaps measuring. But there comes a point where we have to trust our bodies and our bands.

I measured everything with a gram scale and recorded it in my food diary - it is the only accurate way to count calories if that is what you are trying to do. If you don't care about calories then there really isn't any need to measure anything - just eat until you get your soft stop. For me i'm anal, didn't have good restriction for a good 8 months, and wanted to get to a healthy weight the scientific way and use my band for maintence - no guessing games about what I "probably" ate for me.

It totally depends on the type of person you are... everybody is different and there is no one right way. If you are struggling to lose i'd suggest counting calories with a gram scale to see where your eating is letting you down and then only get the adjustment if your excess calories are coming form something an adjustment would help with (eg. if your drinking the calories then an adjustment won't help at all, but if your eating copious quantiites of food for hunger then get the adjustment etc.).

I do not measure exactly, but eyeball it very closely. I bought the Gladware, the smallest round ones...they are exactly 8oz. So I know very closely if I am eating 1 cup or 1.2 cup. They are great because they are portable and reheatable...so I take them to work. I make for example chicken, stewed so I can add different flavorings each time if I want... No skin, no bone.... sea salt, a few spices, chicken broth....boil until chicken is very tender. Then I cut into small pieces and divide servings into the little containers...put them in fridge or freezer... ready anytime! and I know how much I am eating....same goes for anyother food I eat. I also sometimes buy Gerber baby food fruit in the little plastic containers and recycle those for my little portions of carbs, or fruit or veggies...I think they are between 3-4oz...

I wanted to bump this up to see if anyone knows the "correct" portions we are suppose to eat as bandsters. I remember something about 1 cup total, but want to see what others have been told.

I was told 1/2 cup....forever and always.

I am rarely "full" with 1/2 cup. I am satisified though. But if I didn't measure, I would probably eat 3X what I'm supposed to.

I don't think I am capable of knowing what "full" is....if I were...would I have ever gotten myself into this position in the first place?

Doubtful.