Just Bought a Food Scale

NoelFigart1
NoelFigart1 Posts: 1,276 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I was wondering if I was fooling myself about some measurements, and figured that there was no real downside to a bit more accuracy when it comes to measuring one's food.

I won't say that measuring by volume is accurate to the gram. 'Cause it's totally not.

I will say that after a few experiments, my volume measurements have been +- 5%. Which at the volume I eat is pretty close to okay.

I feel like I've wasted 35bucks to be honest.

Replies

  • ithrowconfetti
    ithrowconfetti Posts: 451 Member
    Coincidentally, I also got a food scale today, because I was looking forward to baking with my mum this week. My dad paid over a hundred Singapore dollars for a digital Kenwood one, which measures up to 8 kilograms to a 2 gram accuracy. Perhaps there are cheaper alternatives out there, but no matter the price paid, I suppose we can take comfort in the fact that having a food scale just gives you that peace of mind that what you're weighing is as accurate as you can get? Not just for weight loss, but also perhaps for weighing foods where you're following a recipe.
  • daffodilsoup
    daffodilsoup Posts: 1,972 Member
    Return it or sell it on Craigslist? Not sure what the issue is.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Well $35 is a lot for a food scale. But try to weigh different things and you'll probably end up finding something for which you were pretty far off. I know I was always pretty close for veggies, but when I start weighing nut butter, I can be off by 30-50 calories... it really adds up. For me it's for recipes that it's the most useful though, when you have a big crockpot of chili, it's easier to weigh everything to figure out a serving than totally guessing the number of cups or something (and it never adds up in the end when I do that anyway).

    Although to be honest, some of us are way better at estimating portions than others. My husband is pretty good at it, me... not so much. But it gets more important as you get closer to your goal and have a smaller deficit. A 5% difference is close to half my deficit (when I manage to keep one that is).
  • NoelFigart1
    NoelFigart1 Posts: 1,276 Member
    daffodilsoup wrote: »
    Return it or sell it on Craigslist? Not sure what the issue is.

    Well, it's not particularly an issue, but after reading all the "You can't know accurately how much you're eating unless you use a food scale" I was dumb enough to buy into it rather than realizing that if I'm cool with the accuracy level and results in other areas (like baking bread) where the "Buy stuff or you're wrong" nerds will come out to play, I should have blasted well known better.

    I know people do fool themselves, mind. I just... wasn't.
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
    I'm almost always off on my estimations. I can't guesstimate 100g of anything to save my life. For this reason, I love my food scale.

    If you do fine without a scale, good for you.... I wish I could say the same. I do however, recommend using the scale for a while, and not just a few times to really gauge how accurate you are. You may find you're better at estimating some foods than others.

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