What? You Do NOT have a food scale?
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When I started eating keto in maintenance, it was clear to me I needed to use a scale to not only limit "portion" of all my fat laden food but also limit/be more accurate with my vegetable intake which I previously ate freely.
I'm not obsessive with it but I weight more things than not. There's easily 400 calories in a little clump of nuthin' on keto. I count calories as well as macros. I use a scale. I'm a lousy guesser when it comes to something that looks oh so delicious and I'm hungry.
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I weigh most things, too... especially nuts. I have found that it makes me more mindful of what I put in my mouth and my head will also tell my stomach that it's satisfied when I have eaten the prescribed portion. The kitchen scale works for me!
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I have used one fore years, long before all this "tracking" business was cool. I initially got one for cooking. Because it is faster, uses less dishes, and is much more accurate than measuring cups. Especially when baking. Only over the past few years have I used one for keeping up with my portion sizes. Again for ease and accuracy mostly. Sure we can be off a little here and there but somethings are just too easy to go over on. I would rather weigh it and know than eyeball it and wonder why I put on weight and then have to adjust what I think is a normal serving.1
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20 years of CICO and 4 years of Keto, I still use a scale every day. And I record all of my food. I'm a math geek and everything adding up nicely makes me happy - but more than that I'm not confident (despite knowing roughly what portion sizes look like) that I can accurately guestimate my way to 1500 calories every day eating high fat foods (where a small variation in size can = a large variation in calories).
Most common cause of low carb failure is not tracking. If you're losing weight just winging it then great, but if you are one of those people who says "I'm doing everything right but I'm not losing" and you are putting things in your diary like "1 serve" or "1 cup" or "1 sausage" or "1 slice" I'd bet you're underestimating your intake.4 -
No I don't have a food scale. No I'm not buying one. I have consistently lost almost thirty pounds without it, and I don't need anymore focus on food. Cups and spoons work for me.2
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Used mine again this morning....Measured the grams in my cheese and sure enough I used the full 1/4 cup serving and I probably would have estimated that I only used half that amount. To each their own for sure....but it works for me!3
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Use mine every day. I'm good at guesstimating some things, but others not so much...hello cheese1
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I have an old spring scale that I use on occasion. I don't use it a lot. Mainly when my portions seems to be creeping up. Darn nuts.2
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I'm an eyeball person. If I am losing then good. If I'm not losing then I start eating smaller portions or adding in a little more movement. I just read an article the other day about how our body absorbs different amounts of calories depending on different things, so even if you measure and log meticulously it doesn't mean that is the amount of calories your body is taking in. I will see if I can find the link.
Edit: here is the link. http://www.precisionnutrition.com/problem-with-calorie-counting-calories-in2 -
I frequently use a food scale because I need to be precise about carb intake for medical reasons. But I've lost far more weight not using a scale than using one.
Aside from diabetes - I would never use one. I'm very good at estimating closely enough for a 1200 -1500 calorie diet and good at estimating for 20 net grams of carbs or fewer. Obviously there's a lot less room for error at the 20 gram level than at the 1200-1500 calorie level. Using a scale allows me to maximize the carbs - rather than playing it safe with a low ball estimate. My blood glucose has been under control since 3 days after diagnosis, and my identical weight loss rate before and after using a scale confirms that I'm as accurate at estimating as I thought I was.
I just lopped off an odd-shaped hunk of cheese - intending to get around an ounce (28 grams - a 1" cube, if it hadn't been odd-shaped). It weighed in at 30.3. That's pretty typical for my accuracy. Nuts I'm generally within a gram (out of a 28 gram serving).
I primarily use an AWS SC-2kg scale. Small enough to take with me when I travel, and solid recommendations for accuracy. It hasn't set of an air-raid siren . . . yet, anyway.2 -
I just read an article the other day about how our body absorbs different amounts of calories depending on different things, so even if you measure and log meticulously it doesn't mean that is the amount of calories your body is taking in.
That may be true, but that's why consistentcy over time is more important than accuracy in the moment. Whether it's weighing stuff to the gram, using palm/fist, weighing either raw or cooked, counting oil which is left in the pan, etc., as long as one does it the same way consistently, the direction the scale moves will let one know whether to adjust their calorie allotment up or down.
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