New SWer - Measuring?!!!

[Rorah]

:sigh:

Hello all. I just started SW last week, had a 1/2 lb gain in my first week due to a combination of not really understanding "synning" and all the Hex stuff and also a visit from my mum last weekend where we went out every night for food and wine - I really didn't know how to deal with it and so just carried on as normal, I must have put away at least 100 syns on food and wine every night for 3 nights :wave_cry:

Anyway, that's all in the past and I've been really good this week, spent a fortune on 'superfrees' in Sainsbury's and Aldi (fortunately I'm veggie and ADORE fruits and vegetables), and kept a foodlog of everything.

My problem is, MEASURING! Who on earth can be bothered to measure everything out on scales or spoons - does anyone even HAVE scales that will accurately measure 28g of Leerdammer, or 25g of reduced fat butter?

Do people actually weigh out 35g of Branflakes, for their HexB? Or is it more likely that people buy those mini cereal boxes you get in hotels (talk about expensive!!) so that the portion is already weighed and measured?

And mashed potato with milk etc added is synned at 1.5 syns per 100g. Really, people weigh their mash?! Surely before you've got round to washing your scales you need them again?!?

Hence I'm sticking to free foods and stuff that's already packaged into correctly-sized portions for now, like mini BabyBel and low-fat cereal bars. I was just wondering how on earth other people deal with this?

 

[Purplebint]

I do have digital scales, they cost about a tenner from Sainsburys I think but you can get similar priced ones from lots of places.

Weighing your healthy extras and syns is pretty important, it's very easy to over or underestimate that 28g and unknowingly throw yourself off plan.

The mashed potato (in your example) is free, it's just the milk and/or butter that needs to be synned and a measuring jug or some spoons will help you do that. A lot of people just use quark or fromage frais to make the whole of the mash free though

I think if you're going to commit to doing slimming world properly and food optimising as best as you can, then some digital scales and a set of measuring spoons would be a good investment

 

[Emmamb]

Id be lost without my scales and spoons-agree with the above comment that's it's important. Although not needed for most foods anyway so I don't see it as a hassle x

 

[alwyn]

With mash, if I want milk, I generally take it out of my HexA allowance as it's usually milk that I have.

But yes, if you don't weigh and measure your Hexs, you're not doing it right!

 

[Minimesally]

[FONT=&quot]If you guess you will gain
[/FONT]

 

[vanilla_cupcake]

Correct me if i'm wrong but your post sounds as if you really couldn't be bothered!

If people want to follow SW and see results then yes you do need to measure and weigh foods that need it like cheese, milk, cereals, HE's etc

I measure everything and if i'm putting sauce on my dinner I sit my plate on top of the weighing scales and weigh out 15g of sauce etc.....no-one can correctly guess 15g of sauce or the correct amount of milk, bread etc!

 

[kingleds]

Correct me if i'm wrong but your post sounds as if you really couldn't be bothered!

If people want to follow SW and see results then yes you do need to measure and weigh foods that need it like cheese, milk, cereals, HE's etc

I measure everything and if i'm putting sauce on my dinner I sit my plate on top of the weighing scales and weigh out 15g of sauce etc.....no-one can correctly guess 15g of sauce or the correct amount of milk, bread etc!

What she said.....almost word for word. Am glad I'm not the only one who weighs my plate

I absolutely weigh anything that needs weighing & everything that needs measuring. Especially cereals etc

 

[Anna Banana]

I use my HEX by using things I don't need to measure - like 2 alpen light bars or 2 weetabix or 5 crackerbreads or 3 minibaby bels etc. I do have scales and use them when I do need them, but as a busy working mum I don't have time to measure so buy the things that don't need measuring.

Anna x

 

[Mrs-B]

It is important to measure and weigh certain items but I haven't had to weigh much.
That's for the tip about putting your plate on scales then adding sauce, hadn't thought of that and that's much easier!

 

[Rorah]

Thanks for all the comments and advice!

Vanilla cupcake, you're absolutely right, I really could not be bothered! Most of my meals consist of 80-90% superfrees anyway with a bit of normal free food to go with it (Quorn roast, for example).

It sounds almost as though you're criticising - it's not as though I'm not arsed about following the Plan 100% - I absolutely am and for the last week have logged absolutely everything and not over-synned once. It's just that I couldn't imagine anyone having the time/patience for all that weighing... I know I haven't! I guess it's probably best I stick to my superfrees plus only pre-packaged stuff...

 

[tallsarah]

I weigh stuff that needs weighing, found it easier to do it in batches. So I will weigh several portions of cereal, cheese etc and put them in sandwich bags, that way when I am in a hurry I can just grab a bag and not have to worry.

 

[ermintrude]

I dont really see what the problem is? Very little actually needs weighing or measuring, (try Weight Watchers if you think SW weighs too much! ) only HExes & syns and most of those are pretty easy to judge from the labelling on the packaging. If your Feta weighs 200g obviously a quarter of it weighs 50g ie 1 HEX. If youre making a chicken curry or spag bol or whatever the weight is on the packet so you know exactly how many HEXes/syns the pack will serve and can portion up and syn accordingly. Im making lamb tagine tonight and need 200g of lamb mince - so I will just cut the 400 pack in half and chuck it in. No weighing required.

Most stuff is pre-measured anyway, 2 slices of wholemeal bread from a small loaf, 6 crispbreads, 3 mini Babybel lights.

Things like butter the syns are given for a teaspoon or tablespoon so again no weighing is required, just get a teaspoon of it and level off with a knife. Cheese is often easily divisible if you know what the weight of the pack is. For occasional small amounts I dont see the big deal in weighing it tbh?

does anyone even HAVE scales that will accurately measure 28g of Leerdammer, or 25g of reduced fat butter

Digital scales you can get for a fiver, tenner max and yes they are extremely accurate, to the last gram.

mashed potato with milk etc added is synned at 1.5 syns per 100g. Really, people weigh their mash?! Surely before you've got round to washing your scales you need them again?!?

Why in the world would you need to weigh mash??? The potato is free, only milk/butter would need to be synned neither of which you would need scales for, just a teaspoon or measuring jug - but your milk would come from your HEX and are you likely to use butter? if so as above, a measuring spoon takes 2 seconds!

Even if you're synning the potato cos youre on a red day you would surely weigh *the potato at the beginning* - not the mash at the end!
And even if for any bizarre reason you really did need to do so you surely put the bowl, pan, plate or whatever youre putting it in on the scales and THEN add the potato, so still no washing up required.

Im a bit at a loss as to what the problem is tbh? There is LITTLE that needs weighing/measuring on SW compared to the alternatives

 

[ermintrude]

Thanks for all the comments and advice!

Vanilla cupcake, you're absolutely right, I really could not be bothered! Most of my meals consist of 80-90% superfrees anyway with a bit of normal free food to go with it (Quorn roast, for example).

So what exatlyu is it that youve been needing to weigh? Just cereal once a day? Or what?

 

[Rorah]

So what exatlyu is it that youve been needing to weigh? Just cereal once a day? Or what?

Er, well, cereal, any cheese that is not pre-packed, sauces, dressings, basically anything that isn't free and isn't pre-packaged, right?

Sorry I appear to have got some backs up... didn't mean to :break_diet:

 

[AnnaFaraday]

I have a digital scale I bought from Tesco for around a fiver years ago. It is very accurate and no trouble at all to use - you can switch from ounces to grams by pressing a button.

I put a plate, bowl, or whatever, on the scale, then press the button which resets the amount to zero.

I know that if I guess how much something weighs, I will probably end up having far too much!

 

[AnnaFaraday]

Er, well, cereal, any cheese that is not pre-packed, sauces, dressings, basically anything that isn't free and isn't pre-packaged, right?

Sorry I appear to have got some backs up... didn't mean to :break_diet:

I don't think it is a question of getting people's backs up, I think that people genuinely don't see what the problem is. Weighing and measuring takes seconds and becomes so automatic that I don't even think about it.

 

[ILoveCake]

Weighed my cereal once and the same for my cheese. I know what the amount looks like so its easy now. Milk is easier to measure out.

It may take 2 weeks to get your head around the diet but when you do it's the easiest plan in the world.

The results are worth the effort please don't be disheartened.

 

[kingleds]

I tend to spend a bit of time weighing out stuff I use a lot. So for example, when I get a new box of cereal, I will measure out the whole box into 35g bags, then I don't need to get the scales out each morning. Some people will grate a whole block of cheese & measure it out into 30/45g bgs as well.

I'm afraid it's just one of those things about being on a healthy eating plan you just have to accept. Some people can get away with eating rubbish & will stay thin, we just aren't those people. Digital scales are really cheap (in fact they probably pay of themselves in a couple of weeks cos you eat less of the stuff you need to weigh!) & are definitely worth an investment if you want to stick to the plan. I promise what seems like a bit of a faff now will just be second nature in a few months.

 

[ermintrude]

Cereal once you have done it a few times you will know where on your standard bowl it comes up to. Draw a line on your bowl if it helps.

Cheese I dont think a big deal to weigh and again you will get used to how much your 'own' slicing size is. Id also be surprised if you used enough cheese often enough to have to weigh it very frequently but maybe you like cheese a lot.

What sauces and dressings do you use? Dressings are usually per teaspoon or tablespoon so again no weighing.
Sauces such as ketchup, mustard etc the same.
Sauces in a dry packet that you make up with water (eg peppercorn sauce) you know the syns for the whole packet by the calories in it so if you use a half, a third or whatever you know what syns you've had. Again, no scales required (a measuring jug would be the max and I personally wouldnt even bother with that, I know what 'half' looks like).
If you mean pasta sauces or whatever then youd be way better off making your own anyway
What other sauces are there you use? If you let us know maybe we can help.

Basically anything that isn't free and isn't pre-packaged, right?

Im not totally sure I get you. Im wondering if youre making things and THEN thinking youve got to measure them to see how much youre having before you eat them? Whereas the general idea is to measure any non-free ingredients before you put them in (most of which still wont need weighing) then you know what the whole dish counts as. If you eat half then youve eaten half the syns. If its tough to know then ladle it out - if there are 8 ladles and you had 4 of them you know you had half.=, if you had 3 ladles then divide buy 8 & times by 3.

Sorry I appear to have got some backs up... didn't mean to

Well, personally you sounded a bit shouty and angry that SW was rubbish on this front But then I have the same effect on everyone else usually Some bits of SW might be slightly tricky but it has to be said weighing and measuring are well down the list compared to alternatives such as WW! Its not the end of the world if you eat 31g instead of 30g of cheese, nobody's scales are accurate enough to know the difference anyway and it would be something ludicrously irrelevant, like, 5 calories or something, it really doesnt matter to that level of accuracy, its just a number (You need *A* number to aim at, otherwise whats the different between 10grams and a kilo? ) Its important to not go too over on things like cereals, butter, cheese etc as they have a lot of syns/calories in, so *if you go over it too much/often* it *could* become a problem. (Be glad you didnt start last year when it was 28g :8855: )

Anyway, we're nice really, sorry if I sounded a bit stroppy, I often am Youll get the hang if the sizes of x grams pretty quickly and tbh I expect you'll pretty son stop using lots of stuff that needs measuring anyway and make your own.

 

[Rara Lara]

Personally i don't weigh anything, i am just really careful with how much i have.
I rarely have cheese now, when i do i just guess, as i don't have it enough for it to be a problem.
Cereal i eat in my daughter's cereal bowl so its not a lot i have. I have now converted to mostly green tea so don't have so much milk as i used to now,
I don't eat bread anymore. I eat the alpen light bars or sw bars instead.
I do extra easy so don't have to weight anything there either.
I am always eating fruit and veg, so i get my 3rd of a plate easily, in fact its usually over half plate filled with superfree!!!
So personally i do not weigh anything, it is my choice not to, and unless i slow down in weight loss then i won't weigh, as i am doing this diet for life and i have not got the time to weigh things.
For people who want to weigh and do things 100% then thats great, im glad you can do it as it helps.