Food Scale for Newbies

ZhivagosGirl

I'm considering getting a food scale but I must admit I feel I'm at a loss as to understanding how to use it. LOL - not that it weighs and gives me a number but how that number translates into calories.

Say I weigh potato chips and I get 2.2 oz or a steak and it's 8 oz. Then what? If I have to rely on any sort of calculating on my part I may be sunk.

Or am I measuring to get to one portion according to the nutritional information on the packaging? That kinda sounds like it's own special nightmare.

Any insight would be appreciated. TIA
Lara

quiksylver296

Just enter the weight into your MFP diary and it will spit out the caloric value for you.

ZhivagosGirl

Huzzah - thank you.

GottaBurnEmAll

Firstly, you want to measure things in grams, not ounces.

When you look things up in the data base, you want to look up entries that have information listed by grams, not cups. Use those entries after verifying them against package (or USDA database) data.

I know this sounds like a lot of work, but once you've used a correct entry, it stays in your frequent foods list, and you don't need to go through this every time. It's really not as time consuming at is sounds.

Here's a link to the USDA data base. It's helpful for things like produce and meats.

https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list

ZhivagosGirl

Thanks for the info.

Any tips are appreciated.

toxikon

Food scales are a great investment. Once you get used to using it, you'll find yourself using it all the time. I love using it for baking with my Kitchenaide - I dirty far fewer dishes.

Food scales have a "tare" function - meaning you can place a bowl on it, press "tare", and the weight will show zero. So you can add your ingredients, one by one (taring between each) to get the weight of each item all in the same bowl. It's very handy.

You'll quickly find that most entries in the MFP database have a "100g" option. I like to use that. So if I weigh out 72g of eggs, I will find the "egg" entry in the database and input .72 for the 100g serving size. So it will show up as 72g in my diary.

Hope that makes sense.

PS - I bought my scale on Amazon for around $20. It's lasted well over 5 years with regular usage. I believe the brandname was Ozeri.

diannethegeek

You might find these posts helpful on the subject:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1290491/how-and-why-to-use-a-digital-food-scale/p1

GlassAngyl

I just use a cheap 3$ analog scale that weighs in oz. But I'm awesome in math so measurements and calculations take but a few seconds for me. I have no idea how to calculate in grams. Im not from that generation. My kids were taught both methods in school and my son just blurts out the conversions for me.

Ready2Rock206

How are you calculating calories now? Or are you not? If so you're eating an amount of something and logging it. The scale would tell you the correct amount you're eating. So so now you're logging a handful of chips but calling it 1/4 cup and logging that amount. With a scale it would tell you you're really eating 226 grams of chips (or whatever) and so you'd have a more accurate measurement and you'd log that the same way you were logging but with accuracy.

CricketClover

Here is my food scale PSA: make sure when you buy one to get one that auto shuts off, and one that takes AAA or AA batteries. I bought one on Amazon a year ago and it takes stupid hard to find coin batteries that cost almost as much as a new scale (have already replaced them twice). It also had a very sensitive on button and anytime it got bumped in the kitchen it would turn on and stay on until I saw it was on, sometimes 12 hours...making the stupid hard to find battery drain. The scale itself is a good one and has excellent reviews on Amazon and I noticed today that it says "Auto Shut Off", so maybe a new model now does that (don't really want to call out the brand in case they have changed).

Anyway, I ordered a new one from Amazon and had to wait the two long days for it to come in (got here a few hours ago). I felt so lost without it, didn't even know how to make oatmeal without it! I was used to 40g oats and 8 fl oz of water.

JeromeBarry1

GlassAngyl wrote: »

I just use a cheap 3$ analog scale that weighs in oz. But I'm awesome in math so measurements and calculations take but a few seconds for me. I have no idea how to calculate in grams. Im not from that generation. My kids were taught both methods in school and my son just blurts out the conversions for me.

Grams are ounces divided by 28, which is cool because 1/4 oz is 7 grams. If you're awesome at math you can spit out conversions fast, otherwise use www.convertunits.com.

AnnPT77

Additional tip for weighing things like cheese or peanut butter, that you dip some out of a container or cut a piece off a bigger chunk:

Put the whole container or chunk on the scale, tare (zero) it. Take the amount you want out of the container, or cut your piece off the chunk and take the piece off the scale.

The scale should now display a negative amount. Let's pretend it's -23 grams. That means the portion you're going to eat weighed 23g. Log that, as described in posts above.

ZhivagosGirl

Wow - thanks everyone for all the PSAs and tips. As for measuring now, I use measuring cups/spoons.

lynn_glenmont

ZhivagosGirl wrote: »

I'm considering getting a food scale but I must admit I feel I'm at a loss as to understanding how to use it. LOL - not that it weighs and gives me a number but how that number translates into calories.

Say I weigh potato chips and I get 2.2 oz or a steak and it's 8 oz. Then what? If I have to rely on any sort of calculating on my part I may be sunk.

Or am I measuring to get to one portion according to the nutritional information on the packaging? That kinda sounds like it's own special nightmare.

Any insight would be appreciated. TIA
Lara

So, say you do weigh potato chips and you get 2.2 oz. and say the serving size on the package is 160 calories for 1 oz. Pull up the calculator app on your phone, tablet, or PC (whatever you're using to log) and divide your actual portion (2.2 oz.) by the serving size (1 oz.) (answer in this case is 2.2) and, after finding a correct database entry for your chips, you log 2.2 servings of chips.

Say you weigh a steak and it's 8 oz. Hopefully you weighed it raw, but in any case find an entry that matches the cut and its condition when you weighed it (raw or cooked). Check the entry against the USDA nutrient database (ndb.nal.usda.gov). Pull up your calculator app and divide 8 oz. by the serving size (in ounces) for the database entry you've selected. Let's say the serving size is 3 oz. 8/3 = 2.67, so you log 2.67 servings of a 3 oz. serving.

Better yet, use entries with 100 g serving sizes when you can, weigh your food in grams, and just move the decimal point over two places when you enter your servings. That 8 oz steak is about 227 g, so you would log 2.27 servings of a 100 g serving. You won't even need the calculator app.

GlassAngyl

@JeromeBarry1 40624778 wrote:

GlassAngyl wrote: »

I just use a cheap 3$ analog scale that weighs in oz. But I'm awesome in math so measurements and calculations take but a few seconds for me. I have no idea how to calculate in grams. Im not from that generation. My kids were taught both methods in school and my son just blurts out the conversions for me.

Grams are ounces divided by 28, which is cool because 1/4 oz is 7 grams. If you're awesome at math you can spit out conversions fast, otherwise use www.convertunits.com.

Excellent in math. That's very helpful to know.. I'll be able to convert now. Thank you.