Help with food scale.

Options
beatyfamily1
beatyfamily1 Posts: 257 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I got a food scale because everyone is saying you need to measure your food in grams. When I went to log my food almost nothing has a grams option. Apparently you can't convert grams in to calories unless you multiply by the percentage of each macro nutrient, at least that's my understanding of it. If that's the case I feel like I just wasted money on the food scale when I could have just used my other scale that weighs in ounces. I'm more confused now than before about using a food scale. Did I misunderstand how to use the food scale? What am I doing wrong?

Replies

  • macgurlnet
    macgurlnet Posts: 1,946 Member
    Options
    There are gram entries if you look through the options that come up - generally at least 1 entry will have grams. This hasn't been true of a handful of things that I eat, and I don't always feel like editing existing entries with the gram information.

    What I do instead is this:

    Weigh my item. Check packaging for specified weight. Then, do the math to figure out how many servings I weighed out.

    Say a protein bar's package says it's 39g. I weigh mine (outside of the packaging) and it's 42g. That's 1.08 servings.

    If I can't find an entry that lets me enter grams and I don't feel like editing an existing one, I just find one with accurate information for the package weight (39g), then do the math and enter that for the number of servings.

    Does that help?

    ~Lyssa
  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
    Options
    If you have the box and it's a solid item, it has a gram listing beside the volume listing.

    For instance, it will say a serving is 1/2 cup (28 g) when it gives the serving size. That tells you that the info listed is for 28 grams.

    If you weigh your food and it is 17 grams, 17 divided by 28 is 0.61 so you type in that you are eating 0.61 servings.
  • beatyfamily1
    beatyfamily1 Posts: 257 Member
    Options
    Thank you. I searched for the ingredients again and different options do have grams. I guess it takes some practice. Now I can see how much I'm actually eating. Thanks for the help everyone.
  • beachgal0626
    beachgal0626 Posts: 1,910 Member
    Options
    Your food scale might also have an option to weigh by ounces -- I just got a scale and didn't realize for a bit that a button you push on the back of the scale converts between ounces and grams.
  • cecsav1
    cecsav1 Posts: 714 Member
    Options
    My frozen fruit and veggies are always listed as volume rather than mass. Ticks me off.
  • paulandrachelk
    paulandrachelk Posts: 280 Member
    Options
    And I think everything is in grams because I work in ozs

Categories