# Rule of Thumb for the weight of a filling meal?

Gold Member

## Summary:

What's the weight of an average full meal for a man?

## Main Question or Discussion Point

Hi,
Just doing some informal research: what is the average weight of a full meal ( meaning it allows you to feel full after eating it) for a man /woman? Internet doesn't say much ; only found two posts both suggesting around 1lb . Anyone else know?
Edit: My goal is to decide whether the price of a hot food buffet (selling by weight) is worthwhile. If 1lb is enough on avg. then I compare to the price per lb. Of course I use some tricks like not getting anything with bones in it since I will not eat the bone.

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gleem
Ygggdrasil
Gold Member
Completely theoretical calculations:
Assume a 2,000 kcal/day diet with 30% of calories from fat.
Proteins and carbohydrates have ~ 4 kcal/g, fats have 9 kcal/g.
This gives a daily food consumption of ~67g of fats + 350g of protein/carbohydrate = 417g ~ 0.9 lb

Limitations: Not all of the weight of the food we consume is digested (e.g. healthy diets should contain 20-40g of dietary fiber), so the 0.9 lb of food per day is a lower limit.

gleem
Actually the weight of the food is higher because the water content has not been taken into account in the protein and carb sources.

Gold Member
Actually the weight of the food is higher because the water content has not been taken into account in the protein and carb sources.
Can you help me figure out how to dehydrate the food before it's weighed :) ( it's sold by weight).

rbelli1
Gold Member
Summary: What's the weight of an average full meal for a man?

My goal is to decide whether the price of a hot food buffet (selling by weight) is worthwhile.
If the only goal is frugality then certainly not.
Examples:
Wegmans $10/lb Whole foods$6-$8 depending on day Tops$6.48/lb

BoB

gleem
Can you help me figure out how to dehydrate the food before it's weighed :) ( it's sold by weight
I don't know of any portable battery operated dehydrators.

Cooking removes some water from meat and especially fish. Meat is about 70% water and fish about 80%
Cooking carbs can add a good amount of water e.g. rice or pasta
Cooking veges can remove some water.

Our eating out philosophy is; Order only what you cannot or do not want to cook at home.

Evo
Mentor
Can you help me figure out how to dehydrate the food before it's weighed :) ( it's sold by weight).
The only thing that comes to mind about foods drying out at buffets is waiting until the food has been sitting under the heat lamps a long time and is dried out, I usually try to avoid these, but sounds like that's what you want.

Any liquids on the plate, pour them back into the pan. Proteins are very filling and take a while to digest.

Generally speaking, carbohydrates tend to spend the least amount of time in the stomach, while protein stays in the stomach longer, and fats the longest.
http://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=2180
So fried proteins would be good (chicken fried steak). Skip the salads, veggies, anything with a high water content, as these will pass out of your stomach quickly and leave you hungry very soon and will weigh a lot. Not a healthy diet, but you didn't ask what's healthy.

mfb
Mentor
I don't know of any portable battery operated dehydrators.
Shouldn't be too difficult to make (just need a heat source and time) but I doubt the buffet operators will approve.
Order only what you cannot or do not want to cook at home.
So many choices then!

TeethWhitener