food scales?

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luv4u859
luv4u859 Posts: 11 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am getting really serious about my weight loss now. I know that weight loss is 80% diet and 20% fitness. I wouldn't say I eat terrible but I do eat to much and way over the serving size. I have tried many things, putting food away before I sit down to eat, drinking water before lunch or dinner, snacking through out the day. So now I am thinking about buying a food scale so that I can weigh my food when it comes time to cook and eat.

Anyone has good experience with one in paticular? Or just one in general? Did it help with portion control?
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Replies

  • TheRealParisLove
    TheRealParisLove Posts: 1,907 Member
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    I have a postal scale that I used for calculating packages back when I had an eBay store. It is big enough to support a dinner plate, so I can place my food on the plate, then hit Tare/zero and add the next item for perfect measurements. It isn't super sensitive to really light items like cheerios or popcorn, so I will use measuring cups to figure out portion sizes of really light foods.

    Here is a newer version (mine is battery operated only):
    http://www.amazon.com/UltraShip-Digital-Postal-Shipping-Kitchen/dp/B000FSWB9K
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    I have one of the cheaper digital scales from walmart ($20 or $30...can't remember exactly). It has the tare (zero out) function and options for:
    ounces
    pounds
    grams
  • Workinonit123
    Workinonit123 Posts: 38 Member
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    I bought mine at the dollar store. It works great and it's accurate. Kinda hard to read. Just trying to say you don't really need to spend a lot, but it might be easier if you do.
  • ron2e
    ron2e Posts: 606
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    I use food scales all the time when I'm at home and think it is an essential part of portion control. No idea what they are, my wife bought them some time back!
  • KellyyT
    KellyyT Posts: 41 Member
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    i got mine off groupon, so if you check pretty regularly, they usually have one for sale. i saw one last week, i think. i got a cuisinart one for around $15 and i love that thing!
  • sar1386
    sar1386 Posts: 39 Member
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    I have a regular electronic food scale, it's definitely something I use everyday and it battery operated so it can travel with me as well. I've had it about 4-5 years and its like brand new and very light, definitely would recommend getting one like mine (great for the travel portability as well). They are only about £20/$30 for my brand one (SALTER) but cheaper ones start at around £5/$8! Feel free to add me:) hope this helps
  • lcfairbairn74
    lcfairbairn74 Posts: 412 Member
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    I also have an electronic Salter food scale and I love it! I weigh everything religiously now, after not weighing my food for 2 weeks (after all, I had measured everything for 9 months, I decided I knew what my portion sizes looked like, right? WRONG! I was 25-50% out on some items!). I would recommend a one with the option to measure liquids too, as I find that feature particularly useful!
  • CherylP67
    CherylP67 Posts: 772 Member
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    I bought mine on clearance at Meijer for $13. It's Taylor brand. It has tare, and weighs metric or standard. I couldn't live without it, it's a huge part of my success. Look at walmart dot com and Amazon, it seems like they always have them on sale.
  • trisH_7183
    trisH_7183 Posts: 1,486 Member
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    My scale from Walmart is the "Biggest Loser"...don't remember the base brand.They make several ...only thing different is the name.I only weigh certain things,but they help a lot,especially if you just estimate everything.Go to Walmart on line,look for food scales.
  • MyJourney1960
    MyJourney1960 Posts: 1,133 Member
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    I am getting really serious about my weight loss now. I know that weight loss is 80% diet and 20% fitness. I wouldn't say I eat terrible but I do eat to much and way over the serving size. I have tried many things, putting food away before I sit down to eat, drinking water before lunch or dinner, snacking through out the day. So now I am thinking about buying a food scale so that I can weigh my food when it comes time to cook and eat.

    Anyone has good experience with one in paticular? Or just one in general? Did it help with portion control?
    I use mine religiously. I learned a lot from it - even simple things like "small banana", turned out that what *I* thought was small was really 1.5 times small. And it helps me also with my chicken that i take to work because I make big batch , shred/slice, and freeze and have no idea how much a portion is.

    Of course it's not magic - you have to still put away your food when you've taken your portion, etc but it was an eye opener for me.
  • lioness0806
    lioness0806 Posts: 115 Member
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    I have a digital food scale with the tare feature. I bought it at Bed, Bath, and Beyond awhile back. What I love most about it is I can place a dish on it and zero it out for perfect measurements. Thus, getting a good calorie count when the food is entered into my diary.
  • WalkingMermaid_
    WalkingMermaid_ Posts: 205 Member
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    I would confidently say that my food scale is responsible for my success so far. I had no idea how large my portions were previously. It is truly enlightening! It is a MUST HAVE :smile:
  • Bootjockey
    Bootjockey Posts: 208 Member
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    In my experience, the best thing is to just have a "tare" scale...which just means that you can zero it out when you put the plate/bowl on it, so that you're not weighing the bowl/plate too. Put the plate on, zero the scale, put 4oz of meat on. Zero it out, put 6oz of vegetables on, etc.

    Other than that, it's really up to you...that's the one tip I have.

    Weight loss is 100% commitment. Not to say you have to be perfect, but, it's not about 80/20, 90/10, etc, it's just plain 100% commitment to living a healthier life.

    Best of luck to you!

    -David / BootJockey
    -257 pounds
  • Phrick
    Phrick Posts: 2,765 Member
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    I use my scale daily, in fact many many times a day. It's the best thing that happened to my weight loss journey, short of actually STARTING the journey to begin with :laugh:

    Mine is an EatSmart Precision Pro, i got it off Amazon for $25 with free shipping (http://tinyurl.com/mx7x55y). It has a Tare feature, and settings for grams, kilograms, ounces and pounds. 11 pound capacity. Love, love, love it.
  • mlogantra76
    mlogantra76 Posts: 334 Member
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    You have gotten some great advice. I too use mine a lot! I've had mine for years (I think it I got it for $20 at walmart). I even brought it on vacation with me when I was staying in a cottage. It really keeps me honest. I grab a piece of chicken breast and I already journaled 4 ounces. I put it on the scale and it weighs 5 and a half. I either adjust my journal or I cut a piece off:)
  • toutmonpossible
    toutmonpossible Posts: 1,580 Member
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    I bought an EatSmart Pro Digital Kitchen Scale from Amazon for about $25. It was highly rated and works well.
  • FrankieTrailBlazer
    FrankieTrailBlazer Posts: 124 Member
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    I use a food scale. It will help you get accustomed with the amount of various foods you eat so that eventually it will become second nature to you and you wont need it anymore.

    It is my opinion that It is a necessary tool.
  • MyJourney1960
    MyJourney1960 Posts: 1,133 Member
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    want to add that mine has the tara thing also, as well as a clock and kitchen timer (not that i needed those, but they were built in). I think it's in grams/kilos, not sure if it also has oz/lb.
  • SmallMimi
    SmallMimi Posts: 541 Member
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    Couldn't do this without my digital scale to weigh my food. My perception of a serving is way off and with the scale I KNOW how much I am eating and have better control.
  • grimm1974
    grimm1974 Posts: 337 Member
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    Pretty much any food scale will do. I prefer a digital scale so I can easily switch from grams to lb-ozs. Walmart has several for under $25. The first one I owned was the Biggest Loser scale. It was simple to use and easy to read. There really isn't any need to get too fancy with the scale.

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