Weighing Food

[dreamingsmall 1,125]

1 minute ago, BigViffer said:

Yep, 2 kids. I don't find it to be time consuming at all. There are many BM tracking apps available for various reasons. Sit down, start the timer. Finish up, stop the timer. At the end of the year I export the data and put it into my personal matrix spreadsheet. Been doing it now for about 2 years. There are examples on my profile page in the gallery. I keep track of my major lifts, my food, and BM's.

LOL I am a single mum to two toddlers cant remember the last private poo without someone needing something lol. But it does sound really intresting, I have a tendency to get obbsessed with numbers/charts ( I have diagnosed OCD since childhood) So a normal tracking thing I can make consuming and end up , awake all night tracking something. ) But that is real dedication!

[DropWt4Life 957]

I weigh everything food wise, because I haven't gotten a handle on how much things weigh yet. I will say that I can eat 4 ounces of some things and only 3 ounces of others depending on how dense they are. I think weighing is great, but not always practical for everybody. You should 1st and foremost listen to your body though, because even 4 ounces can cause you to overeat.

For example, I had 4 ounces of mashed potatoes the day before yesterday. I ate it all. Yesterday, I had 4 ounces of pureed broccoli and tuna. I only got through 3 ounces before I stopped.

Whether you decide to weigh or not, stop eating once you are satisfied, but before you are full. I know people that have kept the weight off for 5 years or more by doing this. None of them still weigh food, but they all did in the beginning.

[blizair09 3,250]

3 hours ago, dreamingsmall said:

I was not talking about tracking in general. I was particularly asking about tracking all his bowel movments lol i cant even remmeber my poo paterns lol. I did not say I was having any issues.

edit- Though because of my history etc my surgeon and team do not feel i should track , but prefer i eat a healthy balanced diet. Though I do weigh sometimes and also see how I go as I eat more I will evaluate. But I am happy to follow my teams advice

My problem with this is that it is hard to visualize a healthy balanced diet without tracking and planning. At some point, I can see it tapering off, but I can't imagine how to begin such an endeavor without being very, very specific.

In my case, I'll likely track for the rest of my life. It would feel weird for me not to do it after all of this time.

[Torriluv87 300]

I used to track in the beginning but i really fell off. I tend to get really obsessive so i stopped Some months ago. I try to weigh out things if i remember. Mostly to see how much i am eating. I generally can't eat much more than 1.5oz of dense Protein before things start getting hairy. I feel guilty sometimes for not always weighing my food but for me weighing and documenting actually last longer than the meal so i just, slowly eat my few bites till i get the signals and stop. There's NO WAY I'm eating near the amount i was pre surgery. Especially if i stick to the basic rules.

Sent from my SM-G925T using BariatricPal mobile app

[XYZXYZXYZ1955 675]

What's interesting to me after reading this thread is that it seems clear that different methods work for different people. I had not thought a lot about weighing my food on an ongoing basis (I'm preop, surgery next Monday), but I did find a scale I had and plug it in, ready to go. But my guess at this point is that changing what I eat (going low-carb) and being forced to eat less by the sleeve initially will ensure weight loss, and weighing myself at least once a week on an ongoing, lifelong basis will help me know if I'm eating too much (or the wrong things). I readily admit that I may be wrong--and I may find that weighing food and logging is the way to go. I'm simply hoping not . . .

I'll also add that I've been buying and making food for decades--so I have a pretty good idea what three or four ounces of chicken or hamburger looks like--I buy a package, look at the weight, and then divide it up accordingly.

[Berry78 4,259]

The surprising thing postop, is that during the healing phase, and then after.. is that I'm much more likely to weigh my food to make sure I have ENOUGH, rather than minimizing. I want to know that I got my Protein in for the day. If I just grab some meat and eat it, I'm just as likely to eat 2 ounces as 3 or 4, and that means the difference between meeting my goals... and not.

I'm 5 months out, and although I'm getting pretty good at eyeballing, it's just as simple to weight it out (habits are SOO powerful!), so I just do it, and it's no problem.

Even that tiny difference when I'm scooping out cottage cheese.. I almost always need an extra half ounce put into the bowl. If you add up those half ounces over weeks and months... that would be significantly lower protein consumption than I would have THOUGHT that I was getting.

[FluffyChix 17,409]

Even though I'm pre-op, I weigh and measure (mostly weigh, cuz it's so easy peasy). I like the reassurance like others have said, that I'm getting the food I need, without making math mistakes that add up. I also find I'm in love with spread sheets lol! For instance, thanks to weighing measuring and recording on spread sheets, I know it took me exactly 33 days to get through the 260 decade and exactly the same to get through the 250 decade. LOL. Good times!

[XYZXYZXYZ1955 675]

22 hours ago, Berry78 said:

The surprising thing postop, is that during the healing phase, and then after.. is that I'm much more likely to weigh my food to make sure I have ENOUGH, rather than minimizing. I want to know that I got my Protein in for the day. If I just grab some meat and eat it, I'm just as likely to eat 2 ounces as 3 or 4, and that means the difference between meeting my goals... and not.

I'm 5 months out, and although I'm getting pretty good at eyeballing, it's just as simple to weight it out (habits are SOO powerful!), so I just do it, and it's no problem.

Even that tiny difference when I'm scooping out cottage cheese.. I almost always need an extra half ounce put into the bowl. If you add up those half ounces over weeks and months... that would be significantly lower Protein consumption than I would have THOUGHT that I was getting.

Now this is why I'm here--to learn things I didn't know and find ways to deal with this new world that I hadn't thought about. It never occurred to me to think of weighing food to make sure I met my protein goals, and that makes perfect sense to me.

Thank you!!

[Berry78 4,259]

You are quite welcome!

I have been home from Mexico (surgery) for 5 months now. That's about 150 days. There has only been 1 day so far that I ate everything for the day before 7pm, and was still hungry. The other 149 days have had me pushing to get everything in, and most of the time, failing. It's the veggies I usually leave till last, so at least I get my Protein, if not my greens.

(And I have a plan for when my daily consumption is no longer a struggle. Unlimited non-starchy veggies.)

I had a higher BMI (48), and my surgeon said, right before I was wheeled into surgery, "You'll feel the restriction". So I assumed he made my sleeve a bit smaller than average.. but, then, he may say that to everyone! Lol! From what I see on here, it seems my restriction is pretty average, so I'm happy.

[FluffyChix 17,409]

@Berry78 Congrats on your great success! So a question? Do you mean that you plan out your day to get all your Protein in, eat it first, then look to see what else you have to eat in your plan for the day and eat that? Or are you saying, you eat each meal, protein first and if still hungry, then eat veggies? TIA!!!

[Berry78 4,259]

I have a list of foods in my kitchen that I check off as I eat them:

4oz cottage cheese

fruit or sweet potato (15g carbs)

1 egg

3.5oz starchy beans

1oz nuts

4oz meat or fish

4oz veggies

1 cup milk

1-2 cups coconut water

I eat just one thing at a time, since it's easier than getting a spoonful of this or that. I can fit the one egg and Beans in at the same time, but everything else fills me up by its self (even the ounce of nuts).

I mix up when I eat the different things, just depends on what I feel like at the time.

Yesterday I made up a list of fruits with quantities for 15g carbs. It's actually very interesting. I can have 10oz of blackberries (hint, that is an enormous pile!), or .5 oz raisins. Most fruits are around 3-4oz.

[FluffyChix 17,409]

@Berry78 That's ingenious! First time I'm seeing anything like this plan. Love the idea of your list of 15g carbs! I used to keep a list of 50cal low carb "snacks" for emergency use only. LOL. I saw a spreadsheet on Protein (on another board) that was pretty brilliant too. Thanks so much for this idea and for sharing how you make things work!!!

[Sullie06 1,013]

I haven't weighed my food since I was newly post op. If I'm unsure of an exact measurement I will measure out a portion size but I rarely do that. Mostly I just listen to by body and stop eating before I feel full.

I do however track everything I eat in an app so Im still held accountable for what I put into my mouth.

[BigViffer 3,544]

4 hours ago, Sullie06 said:

I haven't weighed my food since I was newly post op. If I'm unsure of an exact measurement I will measure out a portion size but I rarely do that. Mostly I just listen to by body and stop eating before I feel full.

I do however track everything I eat in an app so Im still held accountable for what I put into my mouth.

How do you measure a portion size and log it in an app if you don't weigh it? A portion of ground turkey one day could be 2 ounces but 4 the next meal. There is about a 12 gram difference in Protein there.

Not picking on you, just curious.