Food scales... Is it a pain in your *kitten*???

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getting_fit86
getting_fit86 Posts: 128 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Just wondering for those of you who do have a food scale, do you find it a pain in the butt to have to use all of the time?? Currently I am using the good old measuring cup method most of the time. Even for fruits and veggies. For meat, I use the deck of cards rule for 4oz. I know that food scales take the guess work out of food measuring... but I find it annoying to pull out the measuring cup for some things! Is it a worth while investment for me?? Note - I have 13lbs to lose.

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  • cdjs77
    cdjs77 Posts: 176 Member
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    Since you don't have a lot of weight to lose, and therefore probably not a lot of wiggle room with your calorie deficit, I would say get a food scale, it will make your calorie count so much more accurate. You can find one for about $10, so they aren't too expensive.

    I don't find it any more inconvenient than using measuring cups. I also found that I was often really off when "eyeballing" measurements, once I started actually weighing stuff. For solid things, measuring cups can also be pretty inaccurate. For example, one cup of flour really depends on how you pack it and can really vary in the amount of grams that are actually in there. The same goes for things like nuts, fruit, etc. Also, cup measurements depend on how finely things are chopped. You'll have a lot less in one cup if it's big chunks vs. finely chopped. You may also find that the "# of pieces" serving size on some foods is not always the same as the weight listed (it might read something like "Serving Size: 20 pieces (36 g)"). If you weight out the weight (36 g in my example) instead of just counting out the number of pieces (20 in my example), you'll get a much more accurate calorie count.
  • HeatherYevette
    HeatherYevette Posts: 56 Member
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    I would say yes, it's a worthy investment. Not just for the dieting but for cooking as well. You get much more accurate results baking etc. by using weighed ingredients.

    Once you get used to using it, it will become easier. Also, be sure to get a scale that you can 'tare' the weight to zero with something on it, like a bowl.

    It's nice to put a bowl on it, set to zero ... add eggs, set to zero... add other omelette ingredients ... etc and always know that you're getting to start from zero.

    :)
  • PriceK01
    PriceK01 Posts: 834 Member
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    Not only is it way more accurate than a measuring cup, it's easier and makes less dishes since you can weigh on the dish you use to eat.
  • KenosFeoh
    KenosFeoh Posts: 1,837 Member
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    OP has already deactivated her account.

    As for the food scales, we have a love/hate relationship. I tell myself that the scales is my friend, but sometimes (most times) I just want to eat what I want when I'm hungry and stop eating when I've had enough. Unfortunately, I ended up weighing 207 when I did that, and I'm only 5'6.5" with a small frame.
  • sw0301
    sw0301 Posts: 46 Member
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    LOVE my food scale! It amazed me the things I was under-estimating and then the things I was over-estimating. I was eating about half the protein I thought I was. I pretty much weigh everything now & don't find it a hassle at all. I get satisfaction out of knowing my #'s are accurate! :)
  • whatjesseats
    whatjesseats Posts: 228 Member
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    A cheap one will be a pain. My first food scale was this little plastic analog thing and I hated using it. I recently upgraded to a digital scale and I'm in love! It's very easy to use and I'm kicking myself for not buying one much, much sooner.
  • PriceK01
    PriceK01 Posts: 834 Member
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    OP has already deactivated her account.

    That was fast!

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