Food scales?

JumpinJill

So I see this come up a lot in posts where people are saying that they have hit a plateau or are having a difficult time losing weight. So I was wondering is there any types of food scales that people would like to recommend? I see some have flat tops, some look like you just drop the food into a cup thingy and of course there are some big price differences between the models as well.

Also, did this really help anyone with their calorie counting? I mean, I see how it could, but most of the food I eat is packaged or I just put it into a dry measuring cup or I count the items out, like pretzels 1 serving = 17 pretzels so I eat 17 and then I get out 1 tablespoon of dip measured and log that. For vegetables I buy the green giant packages and divide it into 2 servings, 4 carrots here, 4 carrots there, etc and then I read the label and log ½ of the package in my food diary. So does a scale make a difference or is it really only for those that eat a lot of meats/fruits where knowing the size of the piece is needed?

Any help is appreciated. It has taken me 3-4 months and I have only lost 5 pounds. I seem to be good at maintaining! So I am hoping this will help me see where I am going wrong. Most of the posts I read seem to point back to food being a main issue. Thanks.

Kevalicious99

You would be amazed at how in-accurate measuring in any other way is.

I found that I was way off when I wasn't weighing things.

I would highly recommend a scale .. and they do not have to be that expensive. But I would make sure you get a "zero" feature that will zero out the weight for things like bowls .. and for adding multiple ingredients.

I have a flat scale .. and it works very very well.

danielleburwell97060

Yes I highly recommend. I bought a flat top one at walmart for like 13 dollars and it's perfect. Definitely need a zero feature.

gigglesinthesun

I used to do it your way and log about 1100 calories a day, freaking out quietly that I might not eat enough. Started using a food scale and turns out I was actually eating about 1350, which was what I was supposed to be eating. Funnily enough the high calorie items like cheese and oil I have always weighed/measured, it was the vegetables for salads and stirfrys that got me (I am vegetarian) :-)

angelzprophecy

this is the scale i use

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003MSZBSI/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

its a pretty good scale. saves a lot of space. it uses li-ion batteries, which are pretty expensive though and dont last as long as aaa though. so you might want to get one that uses aaa if space/storage isnt an issue

i would say that if youre not using a scale then your accuracy will be off where as if you use a scale, you can be like 95% certain your numbers are accurate. dieting takes a fair amount of fine tuning and using a scale will let you do things like decrease your calories by 100 every week so that you can progressively lose weight.

and measuring your food by weight is the easiest way of measuring something tbh. i measure by weight over volume everytime i can since it is so easy.
the things i measure out are my meats (esp when preparing sandwiches), egg whites, cereal, oats and fruits. rice, quinoa

briandahawaiian

Great post!

JumpinJill

Thanks everyone for the responses! I am hoping to get one later this week so thanks for the tips and suggestions!