Food scale...pros and cons?

abbyoncloud9

I am considering getting a food scale. Any recommendations? And, did anyone find that using a scale made them more obsessed with food? That is one of the things I'm trying to avoid.

BekahC1980

Get one that measures in grams and either has a raised plate or big surface to put a plate

BekahC1980

I only became obsessed with using one when I saw how good my blood sugars were getting by eating fewer carbd

MommyL2015

I don't have any recommendations (I use an old postage scale! lol) but no, it didn't make me more obsessed with food, just more aware of how much I eat. Which is a very good thing, IMO.

Asher_Ethan

MommyL2015 wrote: »

I don't have any recommendations (I use an old postage scale! lol) but no, it didn't make me more obsessed with food, just more aware of how much I eat. Which is a very good thing, IMO.

Hahaha postage scale. That's funny, but hey it works!

I wouldn't say I became obsessed with food, but my friends that come over now and see how I weigh everything would probably say otherwise.

Francl27

Love my scale. Doesn't make me more obsessed with food than when I was shoving food down my throat all day, frankly.

Unknown

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kshama2001

Love it. Don't count the extra millisecond I might spend getting a weight to come out exact as a con.

Unknown

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RebeccaNaegle

I love having a digital scale so you can monitor intake better and more accurately! Get one you can tare out as you add things to your bowl/plate etc.

Kalici

RebeccaParmenter wrote: »

I love having a digital scale so you can monitor intake better and more accurately! Get one you can tare out as you add things to your bowl/plate etc.

I second everything here, in particular the tare feature. I did not understand how great it was. Now I'd be completely annoyed having to go back to one that didn't have it. Tare makes everything so much quicker and easier.

Need2Exerc1se

I think most of them are good. Unless you are looking for a special feature, just get a cheap one that can hold a bowl and plate (though not at the same time).

I don't weigh my food any more. It wasn't so much an obsession with food because of the scale as just a general dislike of the extra steps in my cooking process. I found it cumbersome.

Michael190lbs

I use a scale for certain things I just wish I could be more accurate with table spoon of peanut butter..

mike_bold

There are no cons. You absolutely should be using one if you want to log accurately. Digital with tare function is super handy.

ManiacalLaugh

- Get one that has a TARE function. It zeros it out, even if you have something with weight on it. This helps you not have to do math to figure out the weight of the plate you have your food on. This also helps when you're building a plate with multiple dishes on it and don't want to have to juggle your china just to get an accurate reading.

- Make sure the surface you put it on is flat and clean - also check the bottom of the scale. A little, dried-out grain of rice threw me off by almost double for a whole week.

- Don't overpay. Even the cheapest digital scales have multiple weight functions (grams, ml, oz., etc), and TARE, so you shouldn't need to break the bank.

As for your question about obsessiveness - it does a little. But the point of a food scale is to learn real portion control and gain perspective on how much you're eating. Some people rely on them all of the time, and are content to use them to help them maintain their lifestyle forever. I've even heard from people who take their scales to restaurants.

Personally, I prefer to use them in spells. I'll weigh and log meticulously, and then when I feel that I've got a good handle on portions, I'll stop. If my weight starts popping up again (or stalls), I'll pull out the scale and begin weighing and logging again for a little while. I don't mind the idea of using it for this purpose for the rest of my life... as it allows me long breaks from the scale and logging.

LaceyBirds

Kalici wrote: »

RebeccaParmenter wrote: »

I love having a digital scale so you can monitor intake better and more accurately! Get one you can tare out as you add things to your bowl/plate etc.

I second everything here, in particular the tare feature. I did not understand how great it was. Now I'd be completely annoyed having to go back to one that didn't have it. Tare makes everything so much quicker and easier.

Me too.

In case you don't know what the "tare" feature is (I didn't), it is a button that you push to reset the scale back to "0". So as you add food to your plate, for a sandwich as an example, you add the plate, push the "tare" button which resets the weight back to "0," add the bread and record the weight, push the tare button, add the mayo, etc.

At first it might seem obsessive or a pain, but as you get used to using it, it becomes second nature. I have stopped using measuring spoons and cups and weigh most things, except for things that I have weighed often and know that they are always close to what it says on the ingredient list. The scale saves a lot of washing those measuring spoons/cups.

Here's mine - I've had it for four months now, I think, use it daily and often weigh coins to check if it is still accurate and it is doing great. I think it is very attractive sitting on my counter: amazon.com/Ozeri-Epicurean-Removable-Weighing-Platform/dp/B005WLPVUG/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1442871616&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=Ozeri+The+Epicurean+LED+Kitchen+Scale+with+Removable+Glass+Weighing+Platform+silver

I also bought these and keep one attached to my range hood - I got tired of wasting paper since I use the scale every day: amazon.com/Quartet-ReWritables-Dry-Erase-Assorted-79201/dp/B003KGBGOA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1442871868&sr=8-3&keywords=quartet+rewritables

jmpaterno

I love mine. If anything, I've become less obsessed with food after getting it. Having the food scale has allowed me to reintroduce a lot of foods into my diet that I wasn't eating before. Pre-food scale, my thinking was that if I couldn't be 100 percent sure I was logging correctly, I'd better eat "healthy" stereotypically diet foods, which kinda made me miserable and was unsustainable. Now I feel like I can really eat whatever I want (if it fits my calories) because I feel a lot more confident that I'm logging and counting pretty darn accurately. I even ate pasta (four ounces exactly!) last week, and it was super satisfying, Does that make sense? Long story short, I like it, maybe for weird reasons.

abbyoncloud9

Thanks everyone, I ordered one from amazon with good reviews. It should be here soon. My dietician recommended getting one because so many food packages are inaccurate. I agree that once I see what real portions are supposed to look like for a while, it gets easier to eyeball. BUT...I have to come back to being strict on a regular basis to avoid starting to compromise with portions.

mxchana

I love my EatSmart Pro Digital Kitchen Scale ... 20 bucks on Amazon. It has the tare function, weighs in ounces, grams, kg and lbs. Weighing portions has been a cornerstone of my success.

Michael190lbs, you can weigh peanut butter by weighing whatever you're putting it on first, tare that, then weigh 16 grams per tblsp. I guess if you eat it by itself, you just have to weigh the spoon first.

andrikosDE

The only con is the inability to go back in the past and buying it earlier.

andrikosDE

mxchana wrote: »

Michael190lbs, you can weigh peanut butter by weighing whatever you're putting it on first, tare that, then weigh 16 grams per tblsp. I guess if you eat it by itself, you just have to weigh the spoon first.

Or:
Put PB jar on scale. Tare.
Spoon out desired PB
Weigh PB jar.

The difference in grams is what you ate.

"Tablespoons" mean nothing.

Michael190lbs

Thanks I meant it as a joke-

RogerToo

abbyoncloud9 wrote: »

I am considering getting a food scale. Any recommendations? And, did anyone find that using a scale made them more obsessed with food? That is one of the things I'm trying to avoid.

Hi
I use a Cuisinart Digital. It measures Grams and Ounces. Grams are more accurate IMO.
I put the empty plate on it, Turn it on, it zeros and then I add the food. I like that I can divide the bag of frozen Vegetables in to 170 gram portions and thus microwave accurately every time.

I use it every day. I do not find it makes me Obsess over food either.

Good Luck
Roger