why do you use a scale to weigh food?

amosmoses88 · February 2013

I use a scale, because let's be honest with ourselves here. When we look at food, do we really see 26 grams worth? Or do we see "That looks like a sensible amount."? I just bought the biggest loser Taylor food scale. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it so far. I mean, when something says 3oz portion, I have that scale to get it right. I guess if you're good at just looking and can guess the exact amount that's in it, then you don't need one. lol. But for people like me that see 2tsp when it's a cup, WE RELY ON IT. And eventually I too will get off of MFP, but not for some time...AFTER I reach my goal weight and know exactly what my body needs to maintain a healthy weight.

Controversial · February 2013

1) Everything
2) Accuracy

treagal · February 2013

I don't weigh all the time...but i like to sometimes just to remind me of what different foods actually weigh. I make my lunches on sunday nights for the week, 1 cup rice, 70-80 grams of fish and vegies. Doing this has revolutionized my eating habits. I actually know how much food I am eating, I LOVE it.

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michellekicks · February 2013

After nearly a year of measuring like a fiend I can eyeball an ounce of blue cheese like nobody's business. I may be less accurate about the 6oz wine pour though... *shrug*

jmc0806 · February 2013

Meh, I've never weighed my food

amanda_catherine · February 2013

why do you weigh yourself on a scale and not just look in the mirror?

melbatoast917 · February 2013

Because I challenge you to correctly guesstimate the weight of your chicken, fish, steak, etc. Also, by weighing your food in grams you sometimes get more than if you were to go by the secondary measurement (cup, half cup, etc.)

UpEarly · February 2013

I use it when I cook to accurately measure ingredients from a recipe. I also use it to measure servings of almost everything I eat. It takes very little extra time, and it gives me certainty about my calories.

Personally, I don't mind counting calories and weighing food for the rest of my life. I mean, I'm not so anal about the scale that I can't enjoy a meal out or eat 'unmeasured' food at a friend's house. But when I'm home, I just think it's an easy and sensible way to keep my weight on track.

All it takes is 50 extra calories above and beyond your TDEE to gain five pounds in a year. I gained about 3-5 pounds a year every year over 15 years because of slightly overeating. Measuring and counting helped me get back to where want to be, and have helped me maintain since June of 2012. I don't want to go back to my old ways.

mikkimomof3 · February 2013

It helps because it's accurate. I weigh everything. I'm pretty good at eyeballing/guessing how much something weighs now, but that only came from lots of experience using a scale.

This

jessamynwest · February 2013

would many of you on here recommend a digital scale or does it matter really?

I got the cheapest one I could from Amazon. It does ounces and grams which I think is helpful and it's got a little tray you can put stuff in it. For me the big thing (after peanut butter) was cheese. Love cheese. Wasn't good at figuring out what an ounce of cheese was. If you're trying to be serious about counting your calories, weighing it is the best way to be able to do that. Plus you learn all sorts of great math multiplying and dividing ("Okay that says 3 oz is this many cals but I ate 2 oz which means I type .66 in the box and ..."). After you do it for a while you get good at estimating. When you start you tend to be bad at estimating.

edited to add: mine's not digital. I like having a digital one to weigh myself, don't care as much for weighing my food.

monkeefun · February 2013

My idea of a serving is to eat until I feel physically ill, so the scale helps.

This. So much this. Physically ill, or until you need wheels to get around properly...The food scale absolutely helps with this. Eliminates the physically ill, and eventually you learn to measure properly and how much a serving really is (and ultimately, get fuller faster).

monkeefun · February 2013

would many of you on here recommend a digital scale or does it matter really?

I got the cheapest one I could from Amazon. It does ounces and grams which I think is helpful and it's got a little tray you can put stuff in it. For me the big thing (after peanut butter) was cheese. Love cheese. Wasn't good at figuring out what an ounce of cheese was. If you're trying to be serious about counting your calories, weighing it is the best way to be able to do that. Plus you learn all sorts of great math multiplying and dividing ("Okay that says 3 oz is this many cals but I ate 2 oz which means I type .66 in the box and ..."). After you do it for a while you get good at estimating. When you start you tend to be bad at estimating.

I actually have the Biggest Loser kitchen scale (hubby bought it for me once many moons ago as a way of keeping motivated - it now sits in storage waiting for us to have a kitchen again :-(), and it worked wonderfully. Once I got it, I don't think I ever stopped using it. Really showed how much we were eating compared to what we should be eating.

poohpoohpeapod · February 2013

It helps to teach you what the right portion is. After a while you will be able to judge. Befiore I had a scale my 4 ounces was more like 8 ounces, now I CAN eyeball it and be quite accurate. Like anything it is a tool.

Resa52 · February 2013

For us, it's because we have zero idea of what a portion size is SUPPOSE to be. In the two weeks we've been tracking and measuring, we've found that most of our meals are actually four servings PER PERSON. Knowing that this is what 4 oz of X looks like and this is what one cup of that looks like is a learned skill. Eventually we'll be able to eyeball a lot of stuff, but not at this point.

TNR32 · February 2013

I absolutly love my food scale I just bought one and am shocked at how small serving sizes are. I never learned proper portion sizes and I also don't do well by compairing it to other things like meat deck of cards is that 4 or 5 oz accutally.

Spartan_Maker · February 2013

You can't manage what you don't measure.

I like guaranteed results.

NRSPAM · February 2013

Well, I haven't read all of the posts, so I'm sure someone has already said this, but many of us are unaware of our portion sizes and what they should ACTUALLY look like. Living in America where portions are always larger than they should be, everywhere you turn, it's easy to over estimate. No, most people don't do it forever, but especially starting out, it is important. For instance, when I first started losing weight, I was really surprised at the difference between my version of a tablespoon, and a tablespoon's version of a tablespoon! Lol. Once you get the idea of what your portions should look like, and once you have lost atleast the majority of the weight you need to lose, I would say it would be ok to lose the scale and measuring utensils.