food scales...necessary or obsessive

When I am making pizza-dillas I always use the scale for the cheese and meats....other wise in my mind a 4 oz serving of cheese will melt on a 10 inch pizza 1/2 inch thick. If I am making soup from scratch I weigh and write it down...that way if the concoction is really good, I can make it again. When I make my rice-veggie mix I definitely weigh the rice because I am diabetic and rice is carb heavy but so much better for you than doughnuts.

to answer the topic question, "yes." *cackles*

when I first got mine, I was OBSESSED! I weighed my fruits, veggies, meats, nuts, EVERYTHING. it was fun, and really helped open my eyes to how much of stuff is how many calories. I'm getting better at eyeballing measurements (I know EXACTLY what half a cup of chopped broccoli looks like!), but I still double check with the measuring cup. this helps ensure that I'm not cheating myself on my calories.

it helped a lot with my peanuts and almonds, etc. I had initially read the label as "40 peanuts = 1 serving" so I was doing 20 peanuts to get a half serving. well, it turns out 20 peanuts is more like .3 of a serving, not .5. so, lesson learned there. GIMME DAT PROTEIN!

they're fun and educational. I got mine for about $20 at the wal-mart.

When you are eating out of a can, or box, single egg etc., those numbers are already tallied for you. I use mine because I can't tell by looking how much an avocado weighs, or how many ounces of meat in a serving until I weigh it. If you are trying to lose weight & hit a plateau it really helps. It is easy to compare what I would like to eat to what is an actual portion by using the scale.

Love my food scale, but doesn't seem necessary for you.

Related question (well sort of): I just recently realized that meat after cooking (especially grilling) weighs much less than the packaged raw meat. If I am cooking the meat I am having & it has nutrition info on the packaging for the raw meat, I use that, but if not I use the MFP data base - should I use the scale measurement before or after cooking?? thanks!

Love my food scale, but doesn't seem necessary for you.

Related question (well sort of): I just recently realized that meat after cooking (especially grilling) weighs much less than the packaged raw meat. If I am cooking the meat I am having & it has nutrition info on the packaging for the raw meat, I use that, but if not I use the MFP data base - should I use the scale measurement before or after cooking?? thanks!

If you measured out the meat raw, use the uncooked calorie count. If you're measuring it out cooked, use the cooked calories. The only problem with that is the database might not take your method into consideration added oils, fats skimmed off, water added, spices with calories, etc.

I think a food scale is a necessity to help with portion control. You'd be suprised what 4oz of meat really looks like compared to what you think it is. Meat is pretty much the only thing I weigh, but it's still a good thing to have around.

As for grief, I get it all the time from my girlfriend. She thinks I'm obsessed because I weigh and measure things. It always makes for a good argument! I don't give a crap personally because I'm doing it for me not her. But I'm sure some people might not like it.

Necessary! Was overestimated a lot.

I cook a lot and can't live without my scale. I also prefer the grams over ounces for most things. If you primarily buy prepackaged food it's probably not necessary. I do think they are very useful to learn portion control for those who have issues in that area.

It's a helpful tool to use to teach portion control.
It's a helpful tool to use if you need to increase the accuracy of your intake estimations.
It's a helpful tool to use if you are not getting the results you are expecting.

If you are making reasonable progress without it, it is not necessary.

I weigh almost everything. It was a shock to see how a slice of bread varies by weight so much compared to just using the "1 slice = 110 cals" on the package. It worked in my favor and a slice and a half on the food scale equaled the amount of grams that the package was quoting for 110 cals.

I also was shocked to see how small 2 TBSP is. I used to just eyeball how much peanut butter, almond butter, etc. I was using. Measuring it out in grams shows you really what it should look like.

I live with my SO, and he's thin and doesn't really watch what he eats, but I do all of the cooking, so he's got no problem with me using the food scale. He commented this morning about how small I looked when I woke up this morning so he's definitely seeing how helpful it is for me. I weighed out my dry pasta last night too, and boiled it in a separate pot from the much larger serving of pasta that he ate for dinner. It also gives me peace of mind when I get out of work and see that I still have a whopping 650 cals left for dinner, and I am 100% sure that the count is accurate, because I weigh everything I eat throughout the day, so I'm more confident using those 650 cals and not second guessing if I really can have a slice of cheese on my veggie burger, or what have you.

I like the scale I have, and when I measure out condiments or soft foods, I have these glass 1-cup prep bowls that I tare out on the scale, fill with the smaller quantity of the food (like almond butter for example), and then I use just what's in the prep bowl that I've weighed. I do this every morning for my almond butter or PB on my toasted english muffin.

There are some things in the grocery store that have under serving size "1/4 of package" or some such nonsense. I definitely use it for that. I have used it for avocadoes, cheese, ketchup, bbq sauce, crackers, nuts, hummus. If I am ever in doubt, out comes my scale. I promise I don't bring it out with me, though, that's just crazy.

OBSESSIVE!!!!

I weigh everything that needs weighing. If it is pre packaged then no, the work is done for you. I used to just grate as much cheese as I thought was enough onto my jacket potato and spoon on the beans, that is until I figured out how many cals it had so now I weigh each ingredient to be precise. If I cook a cottage pie I will again weigh absolutely every ingredient down to the last carrot then eat a quarter and feel totally comfortable knowing the amount of calories I am putting in.

My husband thought I was a little obsessive at first until he saw my body change then he asked me do the same for him. I would recommend getting yourself a set of scales, weigh what needs to be weighed and don't worry about what anybody thinks and when you get the bod you want you can be proud of yourself and indulge in the compliments that hubby will give you. Good Luck

I have one, but I only use it for weighing meat (chicken, fish, steak, etc.) I don't weigh *everything* I eat, and I'm damn well not taking it with me to restaurants. Personally, I find it useful, but if it were to break, I wouldn't break my legs running out to get a new one. I lost nearly 70 pounds without one.

I don't bother weighing veggies and the like, but I do weigh calorie dense foods like nuts, avocado, peanut butter, etc. I also weigh out meat. I don't worry about going out to eat and bringing my scale or anything...that's obsessive...but simply weighing food and ingredients, etc...well, I worked in the restaurant industry for awhile and it's fairly common.

I'm actually much better at "eyeballing" things now...sometimes I just play around and I'll grab a handful of something and say, "that look like about 30g...yup...31 g, close enough."