is a digital scale a must have to be successful

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btoff52
btoff52 Posts: 27 Member
in Motivation and Support
have most of you that have loss our goal need and use a digtal scale daily thur out your journey

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  • riotatme23
    riotatme23 Posts: 56 Member
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    I'm just starting, but I don't even own a scale.

    My parent's have one at their house a few blocks from me and I plan on weighing in every 2 weeks or so over there. As long as you stick to your daily goals you should progress at a steady rate whether you step on it or not.

    I didn't need a scale to tell me I got big--my jeans did the job just fine. They should be able to tell me if I'm getting smaller too.
  • AquaticQuests
    AquaticQuests Posts: 945 Member
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    Never had a food weighing scale!
    Would just approximate and always made sure I tried to overestimate the food calories and underestimate the exercise calories to make up for any errors!
    Worked for me!
    Had an analogue body weight scale! It.was accurate enough to indicate the general trend which is really what matters!
  • JennFraley8501
    JennFraley8501 Posts: 12 Member
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    I am a daily "weigher". It helps me know what I can and can't do as far as eating and exercising. I hear a lot of people say put the scale away. Yeah, well I tried that and it wasn't for me. I like to know where I am on a daily basis! It's all up to the individual of course. I've lost 81lbs so far so it can't be to bad :)
  • eyeliketurtles
    eyeliketurtles Posts: 6 Member
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    I don't think it is 100% necessary to have one but I do think it is incredibly helpful. I just bought one yesterday after a month of calorie counting without it and I think it was one of the smartest things I could have done to buy one. I estimated the calories in my fish tacos last night and then calculated it exactly using my food scale and I was off by around 100 cals. I know it doesn't seem like a big deal but if you're off 100 calories a day for a week, that's 700 calories you ate that you didn't realize! I always overestimate food and underestimate exercise calories but I didn't realize how far off I actually was. Plus I think a few weeks of weighing my food will help me better estimate calories when I go out to eat- how many oz of fish or veggies are on my plate.

    I saw this video a few weeks ago and it helped me understand the importance of weighing food- especially high-calorie food:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY
  • coaoalo
    coaoalo Posts: 104 Member
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    It's not essential (for everyone) but it makes calorie counting a whole lot easier. Even without considering the increased accuracy you get from digital scales (as opposed to "oh, that's about 40g" with analogue scales) its just so much easier. Put your plate down on the scales and zero it after you add each food. That's all the weighing you need. And I homecook pretty much everything, so it's a lot of counting sometimes.
  • ukaryote
    ukaryote Posts: 874 Member
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    A digital scale is absolutely necessary to be successful brewing your own beer!

    Oh wait, we were discussing food. In that case ...

    A digital scale is absolutely NOT necessary for losing or gaining fat or muscle. Check out the success story forum. Hardly a mention of scales.

    However, tracking your intake as best you can, and doing it regularly, is very, very helpful towards success. Why not take a peek at he "Ultimate Accountability" group?
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    It's not necessary as long as you give yourself a decent margin of error or don't eat back your exercise calories. Personally, I like eating as much food as I can, so a scale has been invaluable, and I can have ice cream guilt free... which I probably wouldn't do on a regular basis if I wasn't 100% sure of my food intake.
  • gcbma
    gcbma Posts: 112 Member
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    Like a food scale? Or a personal weight scale?

    Food scale helped me a lot. But, I think a personal scale would be very beneficial, as you lose, your calorie allotment will change.
  • Icandoityayme
    Icandoityayme Posts: 312 Member
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    I don't use a digital scale for food. I got a cheapie one from Walmart for like 5 or 10 bucks and been using that. I am losing weight just fine.
  • DanuCorreiado
    DanuCorreiado Posts: 1 Member
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    I don't think a digital scale verses an analog is necessary. Any scale that lets you track is good. I have the Aria so it automatically transfers my weight info to the computer. That is fun because it makes graphs for for you in Fitbit and links to MFP. The crazy thing about digital scales is when you go up 0.3 pounds.

    On an analog it wouldn't be noticeable
  • stephe1987
    stephe1987 Posts: 406 Member
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    Use smaller bowls for cereal and snacks, smaller plates for food. If you reduce your portion size and log what you eat (even if it's not 100% accurate every time) you should be fine. But if you get stuck then I'd recommend using a scale for sure because it usually means you're eating more than you think so the scale can help you adjust portions accordingly.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    Never used one while losing.

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