Food scales

monkeefun
monkeefun Posts: 271 Member
edited September 25 in Food and Nutrition
Just out of curiosity, who here uses a food scale? I usually just estimate how much of what I'm eating, but I'm considering running out and getting one (math is NOT my strong point so estimating sucks! :) ). Anyone have any preferences in brands or anything? How useful are they around the kitchen?

Replies

  • nab22
    nab22 Posts: 168
    I estimate too so I'd like to hear some answers to this...
  • wyze
    wyze Posts: 248
    i use a very basic food scale. its the eatsmart precision pro. its a nice little food scale that comes with a calorie count book so you can calculate what your eating accurately. you will be surprised to see just how off your calculation is
  • NoExcuseTina
    NoExcuseTina Posts: 506 Member
    I was estimating till I plateaued...then 03/20th I bought a Biggest Loser scale and LOVE IT

    I weigh everything!!!!! I was not guessing very well with the peanut butter...lol
  • jewelzz
    jewelzz Posts: 326 Member
    BED BATH AND BEYOND HAS GREAT ONES
  • nancymmorris
    nancymmorris Posts: 310
    Mine is on my counter. Use it for everything!! It is from pampered chef but I am sure there are a lot of great ones available at the store!! I wouldn't do this with out one.
  • HoneymoonSlimDown
    HoneymoonSlimDown Posts: 20
    I have a food scale that measures grams and ounces and I LOVE IT! I measure everything! I am kind of a perfectionist though and I like to know that my calories counts are as close the the real thing as they can be. It also keeps me from "taking just a little extra" because the number on the screen tell me that it's too much.

    If you do get a scale I would tell you to get a digital one. They really just make things so much easier!
  • jae6704
    jae6704 Posts: 458 Member
    I love my scale, just a basic one that wasnt more than 30. I use it for all my meat and high calorie food.
  • Lipvanmeier26
    Lipvanmeier26 Posts: 46
    I weigh and measure everything. I have two scales one non-digital and one digital just to double check. They are both from weight watchers but there are plenty of inexpensive ones out there...
  • AndreaWyland
    AndreaWyland Posts: 142 Member
    I def use one! Got it at freddies no idea how much or what brand, no namer:) but it sure does the job. Eyeballing leaves too much room for error. Even things I used to measure with a cup I use the scale now and I see where I was over measuring some things. I dont intend to use one for forever but until I get to my goal weight and maintain and get a grasp on how to eyeball I use mine daily.
  • ladychi306
    ladychi306 Posts: 273 Member
    I got me a digital one from Walmart for 20.00. It has oz, lbs and grams on it. Works for me great!!!!
  • Moonbeamlissie
    Moonbeamlissie Posts: 504 Member
    I bought a very basic one at Target. I think it was under 10 bucks. Since I had no idea what a for real serving was I needed one pretty bad.
  • KidP
    KidP Posts: 247 Member
    Food scale all the way. Your estimating is likely to be either over or under which means your calorie counting will be off. It's a really helpful tool. I use one to weigh things like cheese, pasta, etc, but also for weighing out full recipes, entering the ingredients here & then weighing out portions of full recipes. Get one that allows you to do "negative weight" (i.e. weigh an empty plate & calibrate the scale to 0, then put your food in the plate & weigh it all).
  • silveryflutterby
    silveryflutterby Posts: 335
    I weigh EVERYTHING. You will be amazed by how much your estimates can be off. Especially if you estimate generously...I recently purchased a new one because mine only weighed ounces/pounds and a lot of things are listed in grams and it was a pain having to convert everything. So I got the cheapest one at Walmart that does both ounces/pounds and grams/kilograms. I like it MUCH better. I don't think brand matters too much. Mine was $20 and has worked well so far. I just recommend that you get one with grams also. I bet you would see a difference in your weight loss if you counted calories more accurately. :) I also have a HRM so I have a more accurate count of how many calories I burn as well!! Good luck!
  • singer201
    singer201 Posts: 563 Member
    I have a vintage Pelouze "ice cream" scale like this one, that I found at a thrift store. Measures in ounces up to 2 lbs., works great.
    Almost any well-made small food scale will help you with your portions.

    http://www.etsy.com/listing/69992714/vintage-pelouze-ice-cream-scale
  • usmcpatience
    usmcpatience Posts: 168
    I estimate sometimes, but when I first started MFP, I went and bought the cheapest food scale I could. I think I paid like four dollars for it. It has helped my estimating! I was able to first measure, and now I can tell about how much something is without it! I highly recommend using one for a while. Maybe someone will let you borrow theirs!
  • Tzavush
    Tzavush Posts: 389 Member
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY
    Someone posted this on another thread.
    I had been in the habit of eyeballing and using the standard "guesstimations"...
    but I will be headign to my parents home to reclaim my food scale after seeing the big discrepancy.
  • taletreader
    taletreader Posts: 377 Member
    How useful are they around the kitchen?

    I had a food scale when I started cooking more -- months before I used it to estimate my calories! I consider it an essential kitchen tool. I have an inexpensive flat digital scale made by Salter.

    Measuring spoons and cups can be useful, but they're quite imprecise and invite to slight cheating (was that spoon maybe... heaped?) For example, my oatmeal says 1 portion = 1/2 cup = 40 g. But measuring 1/2 cup as precisely as I can I easily get 45 g, that is I'd be under-counting calories by more than 10%.

    A peeve of mine is when the portion size is given in fractions of a cup with NO indication what weight this corresponds to. Especially problematic is this for compressible foodstuffs -- cooked pasta, say -- or foods where the volume depends on the size of individual units (chunks of fruit, blueberries, almonds): how much 1 cup (or 1/4 cup or whatever) of them is depends how big the individual bits are, but if you go by weight, 25 g of almonds will always be 25 g of almonds, regardless of the individual size of the type of almond they sell in your store.

    I grew up with calorie counts always indicated per 100g, and don't think of many foods as being measured by the cup, though.

    ETA: As an example, I'll empty out a container of Greek yogurt into a bowl, hit "tare" (sets scale to 0), add oatmeal until it reaches 10g, hit "tare" again, add my sliced half of an apple, note it shows 110 g, hit "tare" again, add a glug of maple syrup, note it's 6 g. So I've everything I need to add into MFP right away with pretty high accuracy.
  • lajuice24
    lajuice24 Posts: 409 Member
    This is a great thread! I had been thinking about getting one. I will be going to Walmart tonight to find one!:smile:
  • Black_Swan
    Black_Swan Posts: 770 Member
    Kitchen scale is the BEST investment during my new healthy eating (and diet!)! Go for it, like, NOW, really... its so so so much easier to count calories with it, I can only recommend it! Its perfect! I love it!
  • TrainerRobin
    TrainerRobin Posts: 509 Member
    Yes, yes, a million times, yes! I weigh everything. And almost always when my client's are "plateaued" their issue isn't really a plateau but the fact that they're logging things at a lower level than they REALLY ate. I bring 'em into the gym and do a demo with various foods and they're always shocked at the results. It's typically about 20% off. And eating 20% more calories than one intends to can be devastating to one's weight loss efforts -- not to mention frustrating!

    I wrote a little about this subject on one of my blog posts: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/TrainerRobin/view/measuring-versus-weighing-your-food-63132

    I agree that digital is best and that one that goes negative is even better, as it saves me some effort. For example, if I weigh blueberries, I put the entire container on the scale and hit tare. Then I remove however much I want and log it. THEN I wash the berries and dump them into my serving bowl. Saved me from washing an intermediary bowl AND I got the full measure of blueberries (they'd weigh more when saturated with water from washing). I measure my PB2 negatively too. I toss an EAS low carb chocolate shake into the blender, and then put the entire PB2 container on the scale, hit tare and s scoop it out of the jar and just log the negative number, dumping it directly into the blender as I measure. Saves me dishes and I don't have any dirty measuring cups or spoons anymore.

    The biggest advantage though is that I take however much that I want. No "serving sizes" for me so it feels like I'm tracking what I eat, not restricting myself. A subtle psychological ploy but it helps me immensely!

    TIP: If you take (for example) 56 grams of something and the serving size is 24 grams, that's no problem. Just divide how much you took by the serving size on the label and voila, that's your serving (56 divided by 24 = 2.33 servings). Enter it into MFP like that and you're set. No "serving" restrictions that way. Just tracking what you ate. Now, we can all live with that, right? :drinker:
  • monkeefun
    monkeefun Posts: 271 Member
    I think I may have to lol. Gotta wait for money to be cooperative again ;) but if it helps me out it's definitely a good plan! Thanks for all the input everyone! :)
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