Seeing the Light, Buying a Food Scale

noel2fit · August 2015

Okay, okay- let me just start by saying you guys were right and I was wrong. So very wrong. Why have I not been losing weight? Oh half an overflowing cup is not 40g... I finally bought a food scale. I outrageously recommend it to everyone (also they're on sale at Target right now for $20). I was totally fooling myself about portion size. 4oz of sweet potato? It's about 1/4TH!!! of a medium size one! WTH?!

Anyway the question is what do you do about eating out? How do you measure at restaurants or work cafeteria, etc?? I've heard there are portable scales but can't find one at a store. Anyone know where I can get a cheap one or how to not look like a lunatic using it? "Excuse me waiter, do you have a cup I can use with my scale to measure this risotto?"

sugaraddict4321 · August 2015

I estimate, but I've been weighing and measuring at home for about four years so I'd like to think I have a good eye.

It will take some time for your eye to learn portions when eating out. What you can do at home is to measure all the raw or dry ingredients, and then before you serve put them onto the plate like you'd see in a restaurant. You'll start to see how things look cooked vs. raw weights.

If you really want to be strict, I suppose you could put the whole plate on your scale, note the weight, and then weigh again after you eat each item. I do that sometimes when my OH serves me before I can weigh my portion, but that's at home. I am not sure I'd dare to do such a thing in a restaurant.

. Also in the U.S. many restaurants do list their nutrition info online, albeit in an obscure part of the website. So hunt around and see what you can find that's comparable. Good luck, you can do this!

earlnabby · August 2015

I ask and estimate. Using a food scale at home will give you a better sense of what a portion is. If the restaurant has a website with nutrition info, I use that info. (It also helps me pre plan what I am going to order). If the restaurant does not, I will ask. Generally they know the weight of their meats because of the way they purchase them from the wholesalers.(this steak is 8 oz, this chicken breast is 6 oz, they use 4 oz of ground beef in their burgers, etc).

Syneea · August 2015

I had one previously when I lost 25 pds pretty quickly...you have just encouraged me to stop fooling myself and run out to get another one. My weight is coming off but Much slower than it did before (4 yrs ago) and I probably work out now at Triple times the amount that I did then.. for me it MUST be that I am off with eyeing my portions albeit I have been eating out more than usual lately and using the nutrition guides online.... Ill see I guess once I start cooking more frequently again AND weighing.

diannethegeek · August 2015

I don't eat out often, so I can get away with estimating or finding something close enough in the database when I do. And using the food scale over time has given me better estimation skills. I do drag it over to my parent's house every once in a while, but not often.

arditarose · August 2015

Once you are weighing everything at home, you do get better at eye balling portions. I always guess when I'm out and I log all foods separately, and since I've weighed so many meats and veggies before-I'll eyeball to the gram. Then I usually log at least a tablespoon of oil. It's not going to be perfect but you can get yourself pretty close.

007Aggie · August 2015

I don't take it with me everywhere, but I own a Joseph Joseph folding food scale. It's my regular scale at home, and if I feel the need, I do take it.

When I eat out, I usually don't use it because I eat a whole portion as listed on the restaurants guide. It may be off somewhat, but it's not enough to derail my progress. The only time I've really weighed something was when I was splitting French fries with my kids at a fast food restaurant. I am terrible at eyeballing was 2 oz of fries looks like.

emiliebecause · August 2015

I try not to eat out often and I make my best guess in my food diary when I do. And I always overestimate a bit just to be safe.

Firefly0606 · August 2015

The wanting to weigh everything while eating out dilemma has saved me a stack of money!!! I used to buy my lunch most days while at work....now I know that any nutritional information (if you can get it) is a rough guess, and I am frustrated by my options being limited as only a handful of places I can get nutritional info. There is an awesome salad bar near where I work - their portion sizes are massive, so even though it is "healthy salad", the dressings are made in store and I have no idea of the calorie count. I bring my lunch most days now, because I weigh everything at home as I prepare it.

But I'm not a hermit, life happens and do eat out. I try to go somewhere that displays their nutritional info if I can. Otherwise I stick to meat and veggies/salad if I am eating at a restaurant. You can ask how much the meat weighs - generally they can give you the raw weight as it is part of their budgeting, and everything else on the plate I "eyeball". I tend to try to plan eating out and eat a little lighter on that day too.

Francl27 · August 2015

I eyeball as well when I eat out. By now I'm pretty good at it, because I've been weighing things for 2.5 years.

I could ask but I'm too shy to bother the waiters, lol. But it's once a week or less, and I don't typically go for the high calorie stuff, so if I'm off by a bit one day it's not the end of the world.

gemdiver00 · August 2015

emiliebecause wrote: »

I try not to eat out often and I make my best guess in my food diary when I do. And I always overestimate a bit just to be safe.

Same here, I pull up their nutrition info from their website if it's available and then I overestimate.

Seeing the Light, Buying a Food Scale

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