Do you use a food scale?

cactuswax
cactuswax Posts: 77 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Curious who out there uses a food scale, and if it's made an impact on your eating or weight loss? Has it been essential for you?

Update: Can anyone recommend a good one if so? :)
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Replies

  • 1ZenGirl
    1ZenGirl Posts: 432 Member
    Yes I do, I weigh everything. Food scale, measuring cups, measuring spoons.

    ETA: I think it has made a major impact for me. Eyeballing my portion sizes is what got me very fat to begin with. I feel i'm being much more honest with myself when I weigh and measure.
  • OtchCake82
    OtchCake82 Posts: 22
    I use one! The food scale is an aboslute MUST for me! I would feel totally lost without it. I know for sure my food measurements are more accurate using the food scale vs. a measuring cup :)
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,097 Member
    I have a food scale, and I weigh almost everything I eat at home (except for some liquids that I measure by volume, and packaged foods where I'm eating the entire item at one sitting, like a granola bar or a frozen veggie side).

    I think it has been absolutely essential for my success thus far. I think I do a reasonably good job of eyeballing when I eat food away form home, just from years of cooking and baking for myself, but weighing everything at home has improved that skill. It also gives me concrete numbers so that when I have a treat, I can see how much of an impact it has, and how much adjusting I need to do to make up for it -- or even realize that it's not that big a deal, and it fits into my goals reasonably well.
  • fleetzz
    fleetzz Posts: 962 Member
    Essential. Much needed. Cannot live without. Required.
  • ashleymmannisto
    ashleymmannisto Posts: 62 Member
    I love mine! I just started up, and I can really see how much I am eating. My guessing, wasn't the greatest. I like KNOWING for 100% sure how much I ate in calories for the day. There is no, well maybe it was smaller so I still have calories left...I KNEW what I ate, and how much. I don't do well with doubt.
  • westendcurls
    westendcurls Posts: 252 Member
    Yes and huge!!!
  • berny1001
    berny1001 Posts: 5 Member
    Its a must have item :happy:
  • spiffychick85
    spiffychick85 Posts: 311 Member
    yes, yes, and yes! I akways believed I didn't need one until I got one...and it has been a game changer for sure. It may take me a few extra minutes to plate my food but I love it!
  • rennacoco
    rennacoco Posts: 25
    i have only been counting calories for a week and bought a food scale a few days ago. it is incredibly helpful. for example, i made a baked potato before i got the scale and logged it as 110 calories (this was the number on the bag of potatoes). i chose one of the medium-sized potatoes. after getting the scale, i discovered that the small potatoes were 110 calories and that some of the larger ones were DOUBLE this. i would say that a food scale is pretty important, at least until you get used to correct portions.
  • retirehappy
    retirehappy Posts: 3,519 Member
    Yes, portion control is essential for me. Measuring lets me do that. I can have anything I want as long as it fits my macros, so a digital scale that does grams and ozs. makes all the difference to me. I have two scales measuring cups & spoons galore. I even have some serving spoons that are used by restaurants, 1/8th cup, 1/4th cup and a half cup. Only when I eat out is everything not measured and I am so used to seeing the size serves I should be eating, I can eyeball eating out pretty well. I share my eat out food a lot too to keep my portions lower and I have a bag that looks like a purse that I take home left overs in my containers that are reuseable, no doggie bags for me.

    Works for me.
  • pamperedhen
    pamperedhen Posts: 446 Member
    A MUST have!!! :drinker:
  • Stripeness
    Stripeness Posts: 511 Member
    Sure do! It's been really interesting - some foods like salad greens I'd been measuring out too little w/measuring cups, while mayo surprised me by being a much more generous portion when weighed vs. measuring spoon!

    Less hassle: it is easier for me to throw things onto the scale than to use measuring cups/spoons. By FAR. And it's less stressful to know exactly how much of what I'm eating, b/c of how messed up my relationship to food had gotten. So it's been essential to being really on track (10 lbs in ~4 wks).

    That said...some people really do have a well-calibrated eyeball, especially those in the EU who cook by weight routinely. And there are people who find measuring cups/spoons to be less of a hassle than a scale.

    There's a whole lot of YMMV, and folks who've been successful at losing without scales. If you're NOT using a scale, and you ARE meeting your goals, great! If you're not meeting your goals, it's a good idea to improve your measuring system.
  • donnat238
    donnat238 Posts: 309 Member
    Yes - it really helps me with my portion control.
  • chelstakencharge
    chelstakencharge Posts: 1,021 Member
    It's a must have!
  • cakebatter07
    cakebatter07 Posts: 814 Member
    Yup. I love my food scale. It helps me track accurately which is hard to do so if you are just eyeballing or estimating things. Without a food scale you could go over hundreds of calories each day just because you estimated too low, which could be hindering your weight loss. I highly recommend using one.

    You can check out my profile pics to have a look at my food scale. I got it from Target for $24.99 and it weighs in both grams and ounces. :smile:
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,336 Member
    Yes. Best tool I have.
  • samuelsson
    samuelsson Posts: 74 Member
    YES.

    I cannot stress too strongly the importance of a good and accurate digital kitchen scale. In my case, I have both a small digital kitchen scale AND a larger analog scale (a smaller version of those ones they USED to have in the produce sections of grocery stores). I use the digital scale for every single meal. Period. If I'm weighing a large, heavy portion of an ingredient, like meat or vegetables, I'll use the analog food scale.

    I absolutely would not be able to be as accurate with my logging without the scale. Eyeballing foods is NOT effective, and using volume measurements (measuring spoons, cups, or liquid measuring cups) has a wide margin of error.

    WEIGH EVERYTHING!
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    Absolutely! A must have item.

    Any digital kitchen scale with the tare feature that does both grams and ounces should do the job - don't need anything expensive.
  • gypsyone96
    gypsyone96 Posts: 61 Member
    Yes! I can't live without my scale! Without it, I wouldn't know how much I was eating (wouldn't know what to put into my MFP diary)
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Definitely, yes.
  • whiteheaddg
    whiteheaddg Posts: 325 Member
    Have used one daily going on two years. There was a lot of pushback from the wife for a while after I reached my weight goal (about a year in), but now it is just accepted. EVERYTHING gets weighed or measured unless I'm consuming the entirety of what is on a packaging label (protein bar, lauging cow cheese wedge, 1/2 gallon of ice cream, etc.)

    The hard part is really making it part of your routine. Like anything, it will become a habit after a period - a healthy one.

    I bought my digitial scale for ~$20 at a bed, bath, & beyond. Not fancy at all, but does imperial/metric and has a zeroize button. All you need.

    Also, if you're a baker, weighing your ingredients is much faster/cleaner than measuring.
  • GlitterrMagpie
    GlitterrMagpie Posts: 302 Member
    Yes definitely. I had been giving myself far too big portion sizes for things like potatoes, pasta & rice. It was quite an eye opener seeing what a serving size actually was!!
  • laursoar
    laursoar Posts: 131 Member
    Yes! I have no doubt that it makes a difference as I wouldn't be able to measure nearly as accurately or quickly without it. I tend to prepare the majority of my meals and snacks at home too and that preparation relies on the food scale.

    I bought one of the $20 digital food scales from Target. It's been working like a gem for me since September.
  • missjones513
    missjones513 Posts: 345 Member
    Yes, they are very useful. I like the Cuisinart one I got from Bed, Bath and Beyond
  • cactuswax
    cactuswax Posts: 77 Member
    you guys are great... thank you! I'll have to pick one up this week and give it a try :)
  • Maggie_Pie1
    Maggie_Pie1 Posts: 322 Member
    I think they are important for calorie dense foods, where eye-balling it can mean a difference of 100 calories or more. Like Cheese, for example. Or nuts. But for things like vegetables, where if I'm off an ounce or two, it's not a big deal, I don't bother.
  • janatarnhem
    janatarnhem Posts: 669 Member
    Yes! My eyes over estimate! Salter do great electronic scales for around £20!
  • AngieZumba
    AngieZumba Posts: 4 Member
    ABSOLUTELY, it's a MUST in my opinion; at least for cereals, grains, and meats. you'd be surprised at the results! It absolutely helped me diet and stay on track.
    I have the BIGGEST LOSER scale.
  • GradatimFerociter
    GradatimFerociter Posts: 296 Member
    No, but I would use one if I had one.

    It's on the (long) list.
  • FaylinaMeir
    FaylinaMeir Posts: 661 Member
    I do use a scale but its not helpful on this website from what I've found? maybe I'm doing something wrong but 90% of the time the foods I go to enter (even like fruit and veg) don't have grams as a choice of measurement.

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