for those of you who don't like to hear "buy a scale and weigh"

Yes, there are many people who definitely need to be diligent weighing and measuring everything, I do agree.

I love that my scale, has a removable cover. Does anyone take theirs when they go out to eat, if the place has nutritional information? The only problem that I have is that because some places/foods don't have nutritional information, it doesn't matter if the scale can inform me of how many grams there're; if I still have to guesstimate Calories, etc. So I try to avoid consuming, whatever foods that I can't entirely accurately measure.

If someone is able to lose without weighing, then great! If you are counting calories, but not losing, then weighing will definitely help!! In my 20s and 30s, I could always maintain or lose that 10 extra pounds by counting. Now, I am older and after menopause, and I couldn't lose by counting...I needed to weigh everything. And, after buying a scale, I realized I was under estimating about 10 - 20% - and sometimes that is make or break depending on your calorie needs.

The scale is EVERYTHING. If you can lose without it, that's more than fine, but many people can't. Time after time threads are posted here "I can't lose weight!", "Hit a plateau but I'm only eating 1000 calories a day!", "Can't understand why I'm not losing weight on 1200 calories per day!" and usually the culprit is that the poster in question is underestimating how much they eat and/or overestimating how much they burn. Yes, even 50 calories make a difference in a deficit. A deficit is just that; a deficit. You're not going to lose any weight if you're not eating at a deficit. End of story.

It honestly does not take too much time to weigh things on a scale. Anyone who claims such is honestly making a poor excuse for not using one. Yes, I even use it for recipes. I just baked cupcakes and muffins this morning and it took me less than five minutes to weigh out my ingredients and get a decent approximation for the calorie count of what I was making. I've made chili as well and it takes the same amount of time to weigh things. You can't always trust packages. If something has 174 calories, companies can round that down to 170. They often do so because humans like seeing numbers that end in 0 or 5. How many of you need the volume on your TV to either be even or end in five?

The other day I weighed my Quest bar which is supposed to be 60 grams; it was 68 grams which was a difference of about 30 calories. Things like that add up, especially when you have less weight to lose or don't realize how much you actually eat. The food scale also teaches you better portion control. It's only a $5-$25 investment. People will spend $100 on a "detox" or some get thin quick solution, but they're hesitant to shell out 75-95% less money on a food scale for accuracy and to be accountable for their food. They don't want to hear that they eat too much. They want to hear it's their thyroid, the sugar, the carbs, their age, anything but eating less food in general. Weight loss really is easier than people make it out to be overall.

marykate_1203 wrote: »

Scales don't tell you what clothes fit...

What does that have to do with buying a food scale to weigh food? This thread is about food scales.

Excellent points! And, once you have weighed every little thing days and days and days and days, you are pretty much a food ninja when you are forced to eyeball servings on a hike or at a restaurant. I love the little ritual of weighing out my plate at home...

Weighing really doesn't add any extra time for me, and at least I know exactly how much I'm eating rather than guessing. Also in baking, specifically bread and such, accuracy is key. So yeah, the food scale and I are bffs. I also weigh out my son's sippy cups to make sure he's getting the right amount of milk every time.

I used a $5 scale from eBay for years and recently upgraded to a fancy one I can also use for shipping because it goes up to 11lb, but there was nothing wrong with the other one.

I like weighing my food. I don't know how people accept "one serving" as a measurement.

I have steady lost weight without using one. I have one on my counter, and I tried it. Despite measuring cups I was already measuring right. If I stall out I'll give it a go, but for the moment it is more hassle than it is worth, plus I seldom eat much at home, both my jobs feed me. Are they a great tool that have a place in weight loss? Of course! Are they necessary for everyone? Nope.

I don't weight all of my foods on a scale, but I do measure ingredients with measuring spoons and cups, etc. I have a little spring scale that I might use to weigh fruits or oddly shaped cheeses or meats. Mostly I just google "How many calories in...?" and it comes up, then I just multiply that by however many I'm eating.

For example: "How many calories in a large peeled shrimp?"
Answer: 10-11
If I eat 6 shrimp, then that's 60 - 66 calories (I'd probably put in 65, because I like my numbers to end in 0 or 5...I'm weird).
If I cook them in oil or marinate them, I'll measure out how much I want to use (1 tbsp EVOO = 120 calories).

So 6 large shrimp cooked in 1 tbsp EVOO = 185 calories if every drop of that oil is consumed.

Is a scale necessary? Not really. Is it useful and practical? Sure. I guess it just depends on how exactly exact you want to be in your measurements!

This post is spot on! Weighing keeps me accountable, although because of relatives coming over, I've been sloppy with the scale. However, it's taught me what certain portion sizes look like and made me ditch the cereal lol.

I notice when I don't weigh my food, I find it very easy to overeat (and very easy for me to just grab anything I want). And when I don't weigh, I'm more likely to crave high calories bombs.