Estimating calories without a food scale

I lost fine when I had more weight to lose, the closer I get to goal the more strict I had to be with weighing. But I;m gonna be honest with you... if what you are doing is working, keep doing it, make changes if it stops working.

There is only one way to find out...log for a month and see if it is meeting your weight loss goal. A scale is my most important tool. They are a cheap investment and keep things accurate.. I've lost almost 100 lbs in less than a year.

From reading the forums you'll get the impression that everyone uses a food scale 100% of the time to log everything and that without you pretty much always underestimate. That's because those are the threads that get posted, the "I'm logging, but not losing weight" one.

In reality you'll find that for some people the actual act of logging the food is enough. Others weigh most things, but not everything, and some have to weigh everything.

The reason "use scales" is touted quite so much, is because people generally suck at thinking how many calories there are in something, or even what is an appropriate portion size. Before buying scales I never bothered to weigh pasta or rice, I'd just add in about the amount that I thought was right. Then I'd add a little extra to make sure that I wasn't going to be left hungry. I always overcooked on quantity. And then I ate it. Because I didn't realise how silly this portion size was.

In a similar way, many people assume that the amount that they're using/eating is the same as the portion size on the label, and in many cases this can be wildly inaccurate. What weighing has taught me is how sucky companies can be with making their portion sizes smaller than is sensible, just so it looks like their product doesn't have that many calories (peanut butter I'm looking at you!)

Personally I use scales for some things: meat, higher calorie veg, carbohydrates, cakes and confectionery, all fats. Others I don't bother. I'm not one to weigh a pizza to check that it really is the weight it says on the packet, nor do I eat enough condiments for them to anything more than negligible.

If you find that you're losing weight fine without one, go without one. If you're finding that you're stalling, a cheap set of scales might be just the tool you need to continue. At the end of the day it's what works for the individual is the best thing.

It's going to be more important when your margins are smaller.

Also, pour a guess of 100 cals of nuts into your hand, then weigh what it actually would be and see how close you are.

With a large amount of weight to lose, eating in any kind of a deficit will help you. If you want a true picture of how many calories the foods you are eating have, a scale is valuable. My favorite example is the "Spot the Difference" pictures you can find online. This one is a good example of how an estimated healthy meal could have much more calories than you thought. I had results before I weighed my food. I had much better results when I learned what a real portion looks like.