Weighing food

OK, I admit it: I think weighing my food is the most boring and tedious thing since watching paint dry, but this morning I had an epiphany that changed the way I look at weighing my food from now on.  Like many people, I thought if I ate sensible portions of healthy food, the calories would take care of themselves.  Boy was I wrong.

As part of my journaling challenge for the week, I found I was forgetting to write things down until the late afternoon.  As a result, I would have to estimate the amounts.  I felt a bit guilty about that, thinking I was underestimating, so this morning I decided to dust off my kitchen scale and see how far off I was.  Boy was I off.  Way off!  Today for example, I measured out a 381 calorie breakfast, which was about half of what I would have eaten had I not measured, and I would have estimated it was less than normal...which means I was consuming around 3 times the amount of calories I thought I was without measuring.  Hmmmmm....interesting.  I see my kitchen scales getting a lot of use over the next few months, at least until I learn portion sizes.

And because I love equating the changes I make to pounds, here is your math for the day:
Breakfast
Before:  est. 1143
Now:  381
Difference: 762
1 year calorie saving: 278,130/3500* = 79.5 pounds WOW!

*3500 calories = 1 pound