Food scales

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georgiab0095
georgiab0095 Posts: 25 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
It's recently been brought to my attention that a food scale is going to be necessary for me to continue to drop pounds. Does anyone have any advice on weighing food? Or any tips on weighing food then transferring the results into myfitnesspal? Thank in advance!

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  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
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    Logging Accurately..step by step guide
  • st476
    st476 Posts: 357 Member
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    When you weigh something, put a bowl or plate on the scale then zero is out and put the food in there. For some reason, I didn't realize you could do this at first and it was so hard to weigh things. Always weigh things before you cook them, like pasta, vegetables, etc. (before it absorbs water and weighs more). Weigh meat and fish raw, unless you're buying something already cooked and it gives you the calories for it on there. Only weigh what you eat, so for example if you're eating a banana peel it first and then weigh it (since you're not eating the peel I'm assuming). I was confused if I should weigh a banana peeled or not at first, but then someone told me to think of it as packaging. You wouldn't weigh the box that your food comes in, so if you don't eat it don't weigh it. That's all that really comes to mind right now :smile:
  • MelaniaTrump
    MelaniaTrump Posts: 2,694 Member
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    A digital scale should have a TARE button.
    You can put a bowl on the scale. Hit tare to set to 0.
    Then add cereal. Log it. Hit tare to make 0.
    Then add milk.....
    Walmart, target, bbbeyond all have scales for less than $20.
  • ktekc
    ktekc Posts: 879 Member
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    I will add to a previous poster...if you weigh it raw make sure you choose a raw entry in the database. Preferably a usda one. And vice versa of course.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
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    Learn the TARE button and how it works. It makes the whole process so much easier!

    Another tip - for things like peanut butter, ketchup, mayo, salad dressings, etc - Turn the scale on. Put the container on the scale. TARE out the container. Use the condiment. Reweigh the container. You will get a negative number of grams. That's how much ketchup or whatever you used. Log that amount, but in a positive number.
  • georgiab0095
    georgiab0095 Posts: 25 Member
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    Thanks everyone!
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    quiksylver296 wrote: »
    Learn the TARE button and how it works. It makes the whole process so much easier!

    Another tip - for things like peanut butter, ketchup, mayo, salad dressings, etc - Turn the scale on. Put the container on the scale. TARE out the container. Use the condiment. Reweigh the container. You will get a negative number of grams. That's how much ketchup or whatever you used. Log that amount, but in a positive number.

    When I serve myself from a jar, I scoop out and scoop back(? - the limits to my knowledge of your beautiful language are around here somwhere) until I have the amount I want/have decided on. I'm willing to bet this tip alone made me lose 40 pounds :smiley:
  • georgiab0095
    georgiab0095 Posts: 25 Member
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    This is going to sound silly, but this really is new territory to me and I'm trying to get a grasp of what I should do . I know how much I should consume protein and carb wise. Therefore, I feel like I have a decent idea on how to weigh them and get an accurate number . But what about fruit and veggies? What's an ideal serving of them gram/ounce wise?
  • need2belean
    need2belean Posts: 356 Member
    edited June 2016
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    georgiab0095 wrote: »
    This is going to sound silly, but this really is new territory to me and I'm trying to get a grasp of what I should do . I know how much I should consume protein and carb wise. Therefore, I feel like I have a decent idea on how to weigh them and get an accurate number . But what about fruit and veggies? What's an ideal serving of them gram/ounce wise?

    Ideally it is all in terms of what works for you. I will have a bag of frozen broccoli for dinner (cooked of course). That equals around 300 grams BUT the serving size on the bag says there's 3.5 servings per bag. So, if I went by the serving size, that's only 85grams which would not fill me up in the least. Just play around with it. You'll get it. :)
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,012 Member
    edited June 2016
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    georgiab0095 wrote: »
    This is going to sound silly, but this really is new territory to me and I'm trying to get a grasp of what I should do . I know how much I should consume protein and carb wise. Therefore, I feel like I have a decent idea on how to weigh them and get an accurate number . But what about fruit and veggies? What's an ideal serving of them gram/ounce wise?

    I always use a USDA entry for fruits and vegetables that shows a serving to be 100 grams. Then I just weigh my fruit and if I have 68 grams then it is .68 servings. You just divide the amount you have by 100 to get your serving.

    ETA For fruits and veggies I consider an ideal serving size to be the amount I want to eat.
  • georgiab0095
    georgiab0095 Posts: 25 Member
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    I have one last question! (I want to make sure I'm going about this in the right way.) let's say that I want to have pineapple for a snack . So in order to accurately log the amount I eat, I would look on here or google, and find a entry that seems correct interms of grams/ounces and then alter the entry to the amount I'm having? I hope that makes sense :|
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,012 Member
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    georgiab0095 wrote: »
    I have one last question! (I want to make sure I'm going about this in the right way.) let's say that I want to have pineapple for a snack . So in order to accurately log the amount I eat, I would look on here or google, and find a entry that seems correct interms of grams/ounces and then alter the entry to the amount I'm having? I hope that makes sense :|

    Yes. And if you use an entry that shows the serving size as 100g it is simple to calculate your portion.
  • georgiab0095
    georgiab0095 Posts: 25 Member
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    Thank you! :)

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