Food scale...pros and cons?

abbyoncloud9
abbyoncloud9 Posts: 48 Member
edited November 24 in Food and Nutrition
I am considering getting a food scale. Any recommendations? And, did anyone find that using a scale made them more obsessed with food? That is one of the things I'm trying to avoid.

Replies

  • BekahC1980
    BekahC1980 Posts: 474 Member
    Get one that measures in grams and either has a raised plate or big surface to put a plate
  • BekahC1980
    BekahC1980 Posts: 474 Member
    I only became obsessed with using one when I saw how good my blood sugars were getting by eating fewer carbd
  • MommyL2015
    MommyL2015 Posts: 1,411 Member
    I don't have any recommendations (I use an old postage scale! lol) but no, it didn't make me more obsessed with food, just more aware of how much I eat. Which is a very good thing, IMO.
  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
    MommyL2015 wrote: »
    I don't have any recommendations (I use an old postage scale! lol) but no, it didn't make me more obsessed with food, just more aware of how much I eat. Which is a very good thing, IMO.

    Hahaha postage scale. That's funny, but hey it works!

    I wouldn't say I became obsessed with food, but my friends that come over now and see how I weigh everything would probably say otherwise.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Love my scale. Doesn't make me more obsessed with food than when I was shoving food down my throat all day, frankly.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    edited September 2015
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  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    Love it. Don't count the extra millisecond I might spend getting a weight to come out exact as a con.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
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  • RebeccaNaegle
    RebeccaNaegle Posts: 236 Member
    I love having a digital scale so you can monitor intake better and more accurately! Get one you can tare out as you add things to your bowl/plate etc.
  • Kalici
    Kalici Posts: 685 Member
    RebeccaParmenter wrote: »
    I love having a digital scale so you can monitor intake better and more accurately! Get one you can tare out as you add things to your bowl/plate etc.

    I second everything here, in particular the tare feature. I did not understand how great it was. Now I'd be completely annoyed having to go back to one that didn't have it. Tare makes everything so much quicker and easier.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    I think most of them are good. Unless you are looking for a special feature, just get a cheap one that can hold a bowl and plate (though not at the same time).

    I don't weigh my food any more. It wasn't so much an obsession with food because of the scale as just a general dislike of the extra steps in my cooking process. I found it cumbersome.
  • Michael190lbs
    Michael190lbs Posts: 1,510 Member
    I use a scale for certain things I just wish I could be more accurate with table spoon of peanut butter..
  • mike_bold
    mike_bold Posts: 140 Member
    There are no cons. You absolutely should be using one if you want to log accurately. Digital with tare function is super handy.
  • ManiacalLaugh
    ManiacalLaugh Posts: 1,048 Member
    edited September 2015
    - Get one that has a TARE function. It zeros it out, even if you have something with weight on it. This helps you not have to do math to figure out the weight of the plate you have your food on. This also helps when you're building a plate with multiple dishes on it and don't want to have to juggle your china just to get an accurate reading.

    - Make sure the surface you put it on is flat and clean - also check the bottom of the scale. A little, dried-out grain of rice threw me off by almost double for a whole week.

    - Don't overpay. Even the cheapest digital scales have multiple weight functions (grams, ml, oz., etc), and TARE, so you shouldn't need to break the bank.

    As for your question about obsessiveness - it does a little. But the point of a food scale is to learn real portion control and gain perspective on how much you're eating. Some people rely on them all of the time, and are content to use them to help them maintain their lifestyle forever. I've even heard from people who take their scales to restaurants.

    Personally, I prefer to use them in spells. I'll weigh and log meticulously, and then when I feel that I've got a good handle on portions, I'll stop. If my weight starts popping up again (or stalls), I'll pull out the scale and begin weighing and logging again for a little while. I don't mind the idea of using it for this purpose for the rest of my life... as it allows me long breaks from the scale and logging.
  • LaceyBirds
    LaceyBirds Posts: 451 Member
    edited September 2015
    Kalici wrote: »
    RebeccaParmenter wrote: »
    I love having a digital scale so you can monitor intake better and more accurately! Get one you can tare out as you add things to your bowl/plate etc.

    I second everything here, in particular the tare feature. I did not understand how great it was. Now I'd be completely annoyed having to go back to one that didn't have it. Tare makes everything so much quicker and easier.

    Me too.

    In case you don't know what the "tare" feature is (I didn't), it is a button that you push to reset the scale back to "0". So as you add food to your plate, for a sandwich as an example, you add the plate, push the "tare" button which resets the weight back to "0," add the bread and record the weight, push the tare button, add the mayo, etc.

    At first it might seem obsessive or a pain, but as you get used to using it, it becomes second nature. I have stopped using measuring spoons and cups and weigh most things, except for things that I have weighed often and know that they are always close to what it says on the ingredient list. The scale saves a lot of washing those measuring spoons/cups.

    Here's mine - I've had it for four months now, I think, use it daily and often weigh coins to check if it is still accurate and it is doing great. I think it is very attractive sitting on my counter: amazon.com/Ozeri-Epicurean-Removable-Weighing-Platform/dp/B005WLPVUG/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1442871616&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=Ozeri+The+Epicurean+LED+Kitchen+Scale+with+Removable+Glass+Weighing+Platform+silver

    I also bought these and keep one attached to my range hood - I got tired of wasting paper since I use the scale every day: amazon.com/Quartet-ReWritables-Dry-Erase-Assorted-79201/dp/B003KGBGOA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1442871868&sr=8-3&keywords=quartet+rewritables
  • jmpaterno
    jmpaterno Posts: 47 Member
    I love mine. If anything, I've become less obsessed with food after getting it. Having the food scale has allowed me to reintroduce a lot of foods into my diet that I wasn't eating before. Pre-food scale, my thinking was that if I couldn't be 100 percent sure I was logging correctly, I'd better eat "healthy" stereotypically diet foods, which kinda made me miserable and was unsustainable. Now I feel like I can really eat whatever I want (if it fits my calories) because I feel a lot more confident that I'm logging and counting pretty darn accurately. I even ate pasta (four ounces exactly!) last week, and it was super satisfying, Does that make sense? Long story short, I like it, maybe for weird reasons.
  • abbyoncloud9
    abbyoncloud9 Posts: 48 Member
    Thanks everyone, I ordered one from amazon with good reviews. It should be here soon. My dietician recommended getting one because so many food packages are inaccurate. I agree that once I see what real portions are supposed to look like for a while, it gets easier to eyeball. BUT...I have to come back to being strict on a regular basis to avoid starting to compromise with portions.
  • mxchana
    mxchana Posts: 666 Member
    I love my EatSmart Pro Digital Kitchen Scale ... 20 bucks on Amazon. It has the tare function, weighs in ounces, grams, kg and lbs. Weighing portions has been a cornerstone of my success.

    Michael190lbs, you can weigh peanut butter by weighing whatever you're putting it on first, tare that, then weigh 16 grams per tblsp. I guess if you eat it by itself, you just have to weigh the spoon first.
  • andrikosDE
    andrikosDE Posts: 383 Member
    The only con is the inability to go back in the past and buying it earlier.
  • andrikosDE
    andrikosDE Posts: 383 Member
    mxchana wrote: »

    Michael190lbs, you can weigh peanut butter by weighing whatever you're putting it on first, tare that, then weigh 16 grams per tblsp. I guess if you eat it by itself, you just have to weigh the spoon first.

    Or:
    Put PB jar on scale. Tare.
    Spoon out desired PB
    Weigh PB jar.

    The difference in grams is what you ate.

    "Tablespoons" mean nothing.

    cough-syrup-dosage_slide-d5213165ae9beb0f79c0d6930aa2fc35c31e75ba-s900-c85.jpg




  • Michael190lbs
    Michael190lbs Posts: 1,510 Member
    edited September 2015
    Thanks I meant it as a joke-
  • RogerToo
    RogerToo Posts: 16,157 Member
    abbyoncloud9 wrote: »
    I am considering getting a food scale. Any recommendations? And, did anyone find that using a scale made them more obsessed with food? That is one of the things I'm trying to avoid.

    Hi
    I use a Cuisinart Digital. It measures Grams and Ounces. Grams are more accurate IMO.
    I put the empty plate on it, Turn it on, it zeros and then I add the food. I like that I can divide the bag of frozen Vegetables in to 170 gram portions and thus microwave accurately every time.

    I use it every day. I do not find it makes me Obsess over food either.

    Good Luck
    Roger
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