Food scale...Do you weigh your portions?

akyraj2006

I do weigh my food. I used to guess at things before i purchased my scale and honestly, i was guessing to high as to how much something was, in turn i wasn't eating all of my calories. over my Christmas holiday, i went searching for a good food scale, and the ones i found were ok but some were very costly. i started to look on ebay for some scales and i actually found a great scale and i only paid $20 for it and i love it!! i weigh everything on it!! and it is not just your basic scale, it is also a postal scale. it weighs anything up to 55lbs and it starts weighing at 0.1 of and ounce. it also has a tare feature (it will subtract the weight of the container you are weighing the food in, so that you will only get the real weight of the food).... here is the link to one just like mine. i think it is a huge investment, especially if you like to make sure everything you are doing is right or as close to right as it can be...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Saga-New-55-lb-x-0-1-oz-Digital-Shipping-Postage-Postal-scale-75-35-W-AC-Weight-/160670265686?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2568b1b156#ht_2210wt_1396

lisadlocks

I weigh pretty much everything. Doing so keeps me honest. I have found that I can always cheat just a little and add a little bit more here and there when I don't. I actually miss it when I eat out because who can be sure? Everything is so supersized. I have a scale that measures grams, ounces and pounds. I didn't want to spend the 20 dollars but I used to spend more than that a week on fast food. Everytime I quibble about how much something costs, I think about how much the extra weight, belly fat and subsequent ill health has cost me. I am WORTH a scale.So ironic, purchasing a food scale is a Non Scale Victory! Woooo Hoooo! :laugh:

TourThePast

I weigh everything that isn't pre-packaged.

Measuring in cups is simply not accurate enough, except for liquids and granular things like sugar.

My recommendation is to get a flat digital scale, the sort that you can put a bowl or plate on, then reset to zero. That makes it simple to weigh all the components of a meal, without adding to the washing up.

chachita7

I weigh everything and measure everything, it helps me keep servings accurate.

TamsinEllis

I don't weigh my portions, I weigh my ingredients if I'm cooking something (like pasta or chicken pie) since then I know exactly what's in my meal, but I don't tend to weigh my portions since a) most things come with recommended portion size (eg half a bag of noodles - 300cal) and sure maybe I take more or less then half the bag, but whenever I next have noodles I have the other half, even if it isn't an exact half the point is I'm eating exactly the same amount over a few days (fresh egg noodles don't store well haha) as I would if I had weighed what I was eating. Like someone else said half a pack of chicken, where there's 10 breasts is going to be 5 breasts, sure some will weigh less whilst others weigh more but on average you're still eating half. I don't eat stuff like cereal, maybe if I did I would weigh, but I just tend to try and end the day with 100-200 exercise calories uneaten so any error I made guessing what I'm eating is (hopefully) countered.
I think if I was having problems loosing weight and it wasn't down to something obvious (such as drastic under eating) then I would begin to weigh what I eat, but for now it doesn't bother me.

SlinkyPinkyBunsOfSteel

I weigh whenever it's needed. If I buy a container of chicken, and it's 377g (I've not plucked that number from nothing, that's the right one for my chicken), I will take approximately half and accept that it's 188.5g, but for anything like fruit and veg, cereal etc where it's harder to guess that number, I definitely always weigh. I wouldn't pour out a quarter of a 400g bag of frozen veg and assume I'd got 100g, because it's much harder to get that quarter right than pulling five pieces of chicken out of a container of ten.

I'm exactly the same.

crucian007

I just bought a scale from Walmart for about $8, so far so good. I've been guessing on protein and non-bar code things since I started

NoMoreThickyMickey

I have recently gotten adamant about measuring my portions. I thought I could just "wing it" and I was surprised when I was serving myself twice the actual portion size. Like someone else asked how can you be truly accurate in counting calories when you are not using the correct numbers.

It doesn't take long and I get a sense of satisfaction from being full off of correct portions.

countrygirl812

Yes, it makes a difference. If you have went all your life without weighing or measuring anything, you will probably be shocked to find out what an actual serving size of a particular food is. I weigh/measure EVERYTHING.

michelle225

I'm another one who weighs everything. I don't trust myself to estimate that I'm pouring out the right amount of cereal. Plus it's a lot easier and than using measuring cups and it cuts down on things to wash. I also second the person who mentioned weighing bread. I buy sourdough bread at Trader Joe's and the slices are actually often 20-30% less than a serving size so I like to know what I'm getting. Single serving packaged things though like an egg or a Healthy Choice frozen meal are the only things I don't measure.

When I make recipes at home, I weigh all the ingredients as I'm putting them in so I know the total calories in the meal and then weigh the final product since some may have evaporated from cooking and divide that weight by the number of servings to make sure I'm still being accurate with how much I'm eating.

Make sure you get one with a large enough surface to hold your plate, a high upper weight threshold (for measuring full recipes like I mentioned above) and the ability to zero it out so you can zero it when you put your plate on.

leafygreensforme

I can't thank you all enough for your posts...I'm super motivated to get a food scale and start weighing...

xcrushx28

I can't thank you all enough for your posts...I'm super motivated to get a food scale and start weighing...

Great decision!

therealangd

I measure cup or measure spoon almost everything. Just because when I started I used my measuring cups as spoons, so now it's habit. I don't measure veggies. I can eat as much of those as I want. I will weigh meat sometimes just to reinforce my eyeball. If it's some new meat, I will weigh to get a sense of portion size. We buy a huge pork tenderloin and cut it into chops. I will measure one and eyeball the rest.

I don't need to measure my intake and expenditures down to the very calorie. I didn't get fat because two slices of bread was 2.3 servings. I got fat because my toast was dripping with margarine.

getfitjourney

I do weigh everything I eat. i have a weight watchers digital scale in the kitchen that has earned its keep. You can find digital skills in stores very easily these days. they are very helpful expecially since you can weigh the ounces or grams. I prefer to measure in grams since that is what I find on the nutritional facts of most things I eat. I find measuring keeps the guess away. This helps to keep me righ on target with the recommended totals on my fitness pal. *Karen*

Dtho5159

I weigh nearly everything.. That food scale was the best $18 I ever spent. Im even going to Walmart next week and getting another one to keep on hand because I rely on my scale for almost every meal.

RAFValentina

Yes and Yes. No under or overestimations.

Flissbo

The battery in my scales just ran out and I am lost without it! So yes, I weigh pretty much everything unless it says on the box

SueGremlin

Yup. I weigh meats, mostly, since they don't have a label. You can estimate, sure, but it's too easy to underestimate how much a cutlet weighs and consume 10 oz rather than 5. Big difference!
I got a really cute scale that I use allllll the time.
I have this one in pistachio!
http://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Mechanical-Kitchen-Precision-Measuring/dp/B006WBKTLQ/ref=sr_1_58?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1327242125&sr=1-58

stormieweather

I weigh and measure carbs and proteins, but estimate veggies. I was wayyyyyyy off before I started doing this, by the way. Enough to seriously dent my presumed deficit.

rcheesley

I only weigh things when I am not using the entire quantity of a packet or an obvious measurable quantity - e.g. 1 kiev, 2 oatcakes etc. and I don't have a good idea of how much I'm using. I have to say this is very rare.

I don't find it particularly helpful for my own sanity if I am constantly faffing about trying to weigh every item I want to eat - I barely have enough time to prepare food! I simply enter the portion size on the phone app and for things like pasta/rice/quinoa I would just use the same amount that I always use, which I know the approximate weight for.

I then look at how this has affected my calorie allowance and adjust what I eat in the rest of the day accordingly. May not work for everyone but it works fine for me!

Ruth

Meggles63

I guess I'm the only one who doesn't, lol. I read the packages and guesstimate. I'm the type who would go completely OCD if I did measure, so I just go with it. Lost 19 lbs., so I guess I'm ok!

jfluchere

You should to learn how much 4 oz actually is for awhile, then can eye ball it.

songbyrdsweet

Yes, I LOVE my food scale! At this point I am great at eyeballing (eyeballed an ounce of beef jerky, and weighed it at 1.1oz) but I still think it's fun to weigh it.

MelissaL582

I bought a scale 3 months after my started my journey and it was a great buy. I was eating a lot less than what I was logging in. I weigh my meat after it's cooked, chips and a few other things.

karenwill2

I weigh/measure everything (pretty much). I hit a plateau and even gained for months back and forth, back and forth. Since I started weighing/measuring, I feel so much more confident. Overestimating had me eating too little calories, underestimating made me gain weight. Now I am losing at a steady rate again. And I am also varying my calorie intake daily.

ctinkler

I weigh things I don't know. For things I eat regularly I know how much xyz of abc looks like, but every now and again just do a double-check to make sure I'm not imagining that my 15g of Philadelphia cream cheese (for example) isn't the half a tub I'd like to put on my warbuton's thin

MissFit0101

I use my food scale to weigh everything, and I use measuring cups to measure everything. It absolutely has made a difference!

Shelby814

I weigh & measure EVERYTHING or it doesn't go in my mouth, except if on a rare occasion I eat out at a restaurant. However, I typically go online ahead of time so I can plan ahead. I also plan my menu out the night before for the next day & pack breakfast, 4 snacks & a lunch. It is work, but it works for me.

loki3981

I weigh things like cheese, meats, and pastas. For veggies and fruit I go by the cup/size depending on the vegetable. I love my food scale.

Jeannemum

I tend to weigh calorie high foods, but not salad veg (lettuce etc) I just weighed 100g potato. Have you any idea how little there is? :grumble: