Clear answer on measuring!!
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Stac3781
Notorious Member
Joined: 29 Jul 2004
Posts: 130
Tue Aug 24, 2004 5: 58 pm    Post subject: Clear answer on measuring!!
Okay, so I got a few different answers on how everyone weighs their food and I just am really curious now what the correct way is.
I know it ' s not a big deal when weighing lettuce, etc... but what about vegetables. Is everyone just using a liquid measurement for a cup size or a spoon out of a set?
I used to use a scale and was told that was wrong, and I was eating too much if I was eating 8 ounces.. however - when put into a bowl - both the scale and cup measurement seem the same!
What ' s the answer to this... out of curiousity more than concern ( for the first time coming from me! ) [ / icon_eek. gif]
Teuthis
Senior Member
Joined: 23 Apr 2003
Posts: 3397
Locality: Georgia
Tue Aug 24, 2004 6: 09 pm    Post subject: Vegetables
Don ' t be too gigantic with measuring vegetables. People get carried away with such things.
First, in my opinion, vegetables in most amounts, aren ' t going to hurt you at all. Broccoli, asparagus, brussels sprouts, spinach, chard, salad greens, green beans, summer squash, zuccini, are all very low in calories. You can eat a lot of them and they can ' t really hurt anything.
As to measuring them during Induction, a fist sized portion is about a cup. During Induction, as now, when I was hungry I just had a bigger portion of broccoli or something like that as opposed to a bigger steak, or more cheese.
Once you induce to give up the really high carb foods, like bread, potatoes, rice, etc, most other foods, i. e., vegetables, are not real threats to your weight loss efforts. What will eventually become a threat to your weight loss is overeating meat, cheese, nuts, butter. When Dr. Atkins said that we may " liberally " partake of them, he countered that by saying that we should not gorge on anything either. All of that light talk means " reason. Eat the Atkins - acceptable foods in limits and you will lose weight.
Keep up the good work and keep us updated on your success!
Good Luck! [ / icon_smile. gif]
Batyaboo
Senior Member
Joined: 03 Jul 2004
Posts: 612
Spot: Israel
Tue Aug 24, 2004 7: 01 pm    Post subject: measuring
I set with Teuthis about mind BUT I disagree about eating more broccoli to fill up. Broccoli doesn ' t fill up my belly. I would fix upon for more steak when hungry. Steak also has alot less carbs and during induction we really do have to count those carbs.
As to measuring - I use a liquid measuring cup for lettuce. But after a few times I was able to flash on the veggies I eat.
So, in my tractable opinion it IS important to measure veggies during induction ( especially tomato and peppers and onions ) but after induction it worried me alot less.
Hope this helps
Heidi
Senior Member
Joined: 28 Dec 2003
Posts: 354
Footing: Missouri
Tue Aug 24, 2004 9: 09 pm    Post subject:
To measure vegetables, use a dry or liquid measuring cup ( either way, it shouldn ' t matter ), but don ' t use a scale. Different vegetables have varying water content, so a cup of lettuce weighs less than a cup of tomatoes.
For measuring liquids, you can use dry or liquid measuring cups or a scale. 1 cup = 8 oz. This only applies to liquids, that I know of.
For packaged foods, the serving size may be in locality measurements ( 1 / 4 cup, etc. ) or in weight ( 1 ounce ). For city measurements, use measuring cups. For weight measurements, use a scale.
Meat, poultry is generally measured by weight. I much go off the carton. If a bag of chicken breasts is 2 pounds and there are five breasts in the bag, you can divide it out to approximate the number of ounces of each piece of chicken. A rough opinion is that a 3 oz. piece of cooked protein is about the size of a deck of cards.
Teuthis ' advocacy of a fist being about the serving size of one cup of vegetables is a good judgment. Your [ / icon_thumright. gif] is about the size of an ounce of cheese ( I think [ / icon_confused. gif] )
I ' m no Julia Child ( damsel died recently by the way [ / icon_cry. gif] ), but this is my understanding. Sorry if it was too basic.
Stac3781
Celebrated Member
Joined: 29 Jul 2004
Posts: 130
Tue Aug 24, 2004 9: 18 pm    Post subject:
Well considering the only meat I eat is chicken and / or hotdogs ( with bacon but that doesn ' t matter ), the only thing I ever over - do it on is vegetables.
I buy them frozen though, so when putting them in a cup, I do so frozen and when they cook - I ' m left with a lot less than a fistful of a vegetable. It ' s barely anything.
What do you do if you ' re using frozen zucchini? I don ' t want to over - do it, but certainly underestimating because it ' s frozen does me no good, because I ' m left hungry.
As for the lettuce, it ' s a bit much tearing it up and then putting it in the liquid measuring cup, however, when I did so, and put 3 of those on the weight scale - it came out to the exact same 8 ounces I eat from the scale. What ' s the difference how I weigh it if it comes out the same?
I assume I ' m safe either way as I pretty much eat the same amount of veggies each day and have been losing, but I was just curious what the difference is since it came out to be the same.
Heidi
Senior Member
Joined: 28 Dec 2003
Posts: 354
Location: Missouri
Tue Aug 24, 2004 9: 32 pm    Post subject:
I ' m no cooking expert, but ONE cup of lettuce is NOT eight ounces. THREE cups of lettuce isn ' t even eight ounces. And I ' m sure you are not including the weight of your container holding the lettuce when you are calculating the weight your lettuce.
I think measuring food in general is helpful when you are tabulating calories and making sure you are eating reasonable portions, but quit wasting your time weighing lettuce. Your ENTIRE ration of lettuce for the day is less than 20 calories and only 1 carb, according to fitday.
Stac3781
Established Member
Joined: 29 Jul 2004
Posts: 130
Tue Aug 24, 2004 9: 37 pm    Post subject:
I push the scale back to 0 after I put the container back on the scale. I ' m thinking that perhaps it ' s because of the liquid cup measurement I used. It was a larger plastic one with the numbers on the outside - not a " spoon - type " one from a set. That ' s probably where the problem lies.
I was thinking I was nuts... I obviously knew 8 ounces wasn ' t three cups... but I couldn ' t figure out where the difference was.
I think I ' m still going to use my scale just because it ' s easier and considering that on the days I eat lettuce, I don ' t eat anything but 3 eggs in the morning - I ' m not obsessing over it.
I don ' t see how it ' s not hard to sit and shred lettuce into a liquid measuring cup. When I look at what I see from the scale - it ' s about 3 - 4 fistfulls, or the size of a baseball as he says as well.
Since you can ' t overdo it on lettuce and it ' s the only veggie I eat that day... and my only other carbs are from the eggs - I won ' t worry. I ' m done with obsessing... if extra lettuce and extra veggies are my biggest problem on this WOE so be it. I don ' t think that can prevent me from losing weight correct?
Heidi
Senior Member
Joined: 28 Dec 2003
Posts: 354
Location: Missouri
Tue Aug 24, 2004 9: 43 pm    Post subject:
No, eating too much lettuce is not going to cause you to gain weight. It may, however, cause you to turn into a rabbit. If that is the case, at least you will be a skinny rabbit. [ / icon_lol. gif]
Stac3781
Established Member
Joined: 29 Jul 2004
Posts: 130
Tue Aug 24, 2004 9: 48 pm    Post subject:
Hahahaha - this is true. I ' m eating more veggies now than I ever did in my lifetime. Of course I really only like zucchini so between that and lettuce - I wasn ' t sweating the weighing / measuring issue that I haven ' t quite figured out. I told myself that if I lost 20 pounds using the scale - I ' m obviously not going to obsess over the cups.
My goal is to obsess less so I ' m sticking with my scale!!! [ / icon_biggrin. gif]