I'm having trouble measuring food, how do you eye-ball how many ounces something is?

I never know how many ounces of something I ate to log in. Like today for example for lunch I ate half of those mini containers each of macaroni salad and cole slaw since its drenched in mayonaise. How many ounces is this? How do you measure ounces for other food without going to extreme measures. I know an ounce of chicken is a deck of cards or the size of your palm but I'm not sure about anything else. Also what does a cup look like? Please post any imput or information. Thanks guys.

3 ounces of chicken or other meat product is about the size of a deck of cards/ your palm. As for the mini containers I really don't know I've never seen anything like that. It should have said on the package that it was X ounces and then since you ate about half you would say ok its (I dunno 4) 4 oz and I ate half so thats 2 oz I'll log in 2 (or 2.5 if you think you may have eaten a teeny bit more than half).

I weigh or measure everything I eat. Its really the only way to do it to get an idea of portion size. Like for me 1oz of almonds is a small handful (I can close my hand around it and have like an almond or two poking out by my pinkie) but you could have bigger hands.

The best way is to weigh your food, the second best way is to use measuring cups if you don't have a scale. After a little while of weighing and measuring you may get a handle on how big 1 cup of peas looks vs 1 cup of broccoli, but you  may not.

I've been weighing my food steadily for a year now. I've recently starting counting my calories along with that (I weighed so I knew what a portion was), and it may take an extra minute to weigh your food its not that big a deal. Usually if I don't weigh my food I have to get up 3 or 4 times to get something anyway.

Edit: I just found this Maybe this will help you.

Food: 1 Serving -1 Serving Item of Equivalent Size
Fruit: 1 Medium - 1 Baseball
Fruit juice: 6 fluid oz.-  Juice glass
Vegetables: 1/2 cup - Bulb part of a light bulb
Bagel: 1/2 small - 1/2 of a packaged English muffin
Bread: toast 1 slice - Slice from standard loaf
Cold Breakfast Cereal: 1 cup (8 oz) - Standard teacup
Pasta or rice: 1/2 cup cooked - Cupped palm
Meat, chicken, fish: 3 oz. - Palm of a woman’s hand
Beans (kidney, pinto, etc.): 1/2 cup (4 oz) -  Bulb part of a light bulb
Eggs: 1 (replaces 1 oz. meat) - 1 Large egg
Peanut butter: 2 tablespoons - Size of 1 whole walnut shell
Cheese: 1 ounce (oz) - 2 dominos
Milk, yogurt: 1 cup - Standard yogurt container

Soy milk: 1 cup
Standard yogurt container

Chips, snack foods: 1 ounce
(about 1/2 cup)

FATS


Butter: 1 teaspoon (tsp.)
1 pat

Salad dressing: 1 tablespoon (T or tbs)
1/2 walnut shell full
Sugar: 1 teaspoon

1 packet

Cream Cheese: 1 tablespoon
1 packet

Whipping Cream (Light): 1 tablespoon
Size of 1 marshmallow

Half and Half : 1 tablespoon
1/2 walnut shell full
Most beverage glasses are 12 oz. or greater in size.

You can't eyeball portions accurately without practice.   Get yourself some scales, cups and measuring spoons and, from now on, measure everything you eat.  A fun exercise is to put what you think is 2oz uncooke rice in a container and then check-weigh it to see how close you were. Quite quickly you'll get used to how big the right-size portion looks in the pan, in the bowl, on the plate etc.  Then you have a fighting chance

BTW... even when you can judge portion-sizes you can't accurately judge calorie-counts if you rely on others (such as restaurants) to make your food for you.  If every tablespoon of mayonnaise adds 90cals it makes a difference if the macaroni salad contained two or three tablespoons rather than one.  For that reason, try to prepare your own food as often as possible.

this is a tricky one - the person above seems to have given you a good run down of the sizes for things. but on a personal note, for the timebeing anyhow- i am weghing things. I don't want to, but i'm an over eater, i don't eat badly, but whatever i eat, i eat  A LOT!! of!

i was eating about 8oz pasta to myself on a nighttime!! now i weigh my 2 oz to make sure i'm not overeating. its the only thing that will help me. but if weighing is not in your gameplan - then do what the poster said about guessing, then weighing to check. not eveytime of course, but just to see how much you are over estimating.

you could weigh things, and take a photo - this way you could keep a visual reference handy in the kitchen. ??

good luck X

Original Post by teresta:

3 ounces of chicken or other meat product is about the size of a deck of cards/ your palm. As for the mini containers I really don't know I've never seen anything like that. It should have said on the package that it was X ounces and then since you ate about half you would say ok its (I dunno 4) 4 oz and I ate half so thats 2 oz I'll log in 2 (or 2.5 if you think you may have eaten a teeny bit more than half).

 

I weigh or measure everything I eat. Its really the only way to do it to get an idea of portion size. Like for me 1oz of almonds is a small handful (I can close my hand around it and have like an almond or two poking out by my pinkie) but you could have bigger hands.

 

The best way is to weigh your food, the second best way is to use measuring cups if you don't have a scale. After a little while of weighing and measuring you may get a handle on how big 1 cup of peas looks vs 1 cup of broccoli, but you  may not.

 

I've been weighing my food steadily for a year now. I've recently starting counting my calories along with that (I weighed so I knew what a portion was), and it may take an extra minute to weigh your food its not that big a deal. Usually if I don't weigh my food I have to get up 3 or 4 times to get something anyway.

 

Edit: I just found this Maybe this will help you.

Food: 1 Serving -1 Serving Item of Equivalent Size
Fruit: 1 Medium - 1 Baseball
Fruit juice: 6 fluid oz.-  Juice glass
Vegetables: 1/2 cup - Bulb part of a light bulb
Bagel: 1/2 small - 1/2 of a packaged English muffin
Bread: toast 1 slice - Slice from standard loaf
Cold Breakfast Cereal: 1 cup (8 oz) - Standard teacup
Pasta or rice: 1/2 cup cooked - Cupped palm
Meat, chicken, fish: 3 oz. - Palm of a woman’s hand
Beans (kidney, pinto, etc.): 1/2 cup (4 oz) -  Bulb part of a light bulb
Eggs: 1 (replaces 1 oz. meat) - 1 Large egg
Peanut butter: 2 tablespoons - Size of 1 whole walnut shell
Cheese: 1 ounce (oz) - 2 dominos
Milk, yogurt: 1 cup - Standard yogurt container

Soy milk: 1 cup
Standard yogurt container

Chips, snack foods: 1 ounce
(about 1/2 cup)

FATS


Butter: 1 teaspoon (tsp.)
1 pat

Salad dressing: 1 tablespoon (T or tbs)
1/2 walnut shell full
Sugar: 1 teaspoon

1 packet

Cream Cheese: 1 tablespoon
1 packet

Whipping Cream (Light): 1 tablespoon
Size of 1 marshmallow

Half and Half : 1 tablespoon
1/2 walnut shell full
Most beverage glasses are 12 oz. or greater in size.

^ Helps me too...

I bought a good digital kitchen scale, and I weigh EVERYTHING.  If I can't count it (like crackers, for example, which can be counted) or measure it in cups or spoons, it doesn't go in my mouth.  I won't eat at a restaurant if I can't find the website and nutrition values online.