You don't use a food scale?

How much veggies and protein to use a scale .. How do yiu know how much of anything you eat on a scale?

quiksylver296 wrote: »

mtaratoot wrote: »

I have started to "cheat" sometimes. Like yesterday. I had a cantaloupe. I knew how much it weighed, and I assumed half was seeds and rind. I could have weighed the halves after I seeded them, and I cold have weighed the remaining rind after I ate it to be more accurate. I've done that enough that I now know I can just assume about half.

Same thing happened with an early-season Dungeness crab I bought. I make an assumption how much crab meat there is in a crab after you clean it, crack it, and pick it clean.

I think this is fair, once you have enough experience under your belt to make knowledgeable estimates. But early on, most people don't have enough experience to estimate accurately.

Back when I was a desk jockey, I often ate plain yogurt with either rolled oats or sunflower seeds as "breakfast" some time mid-morning. I would weigh out several days portions of yogurt and take them to the office. This was easiest when I drove my truck instead of rode my bike. I left seeds and oats in the office. Sunflower seeds are pretty calorie-dense, but I would estimate my serving because no scale at work. One day, to check my calibration, I poured the estimated "one ounce" serving into my palm and then put it on the scale. It was so close to 28 grams I even surprised myself. I always think that if you get your eyes calibrated, they can do a reasonably good job of estimating but only if you keep checking your calibration to see if it's drifting!

Handful of rolled oats was between a quarter and third cup.

I rarely weigh butter. Instead I take less than I log; gives me a cushion.

Well, guess it's come to this.

I no longer use a food scale. Starting about 20 minutes or so ago. No. It's not permanent, but there ya go.

My trusty food scale showed a low battery a little while ago. The alert came and went. Once or twice it shut off. Always came back. Today I weighed some rutabaga, and then when I went to weigh the next ingredient it said "Lo" and shut off. I tried a few more times. Wouldn't stay on. I said, "Well, I guess it's time. I think it's been a couple years since I replaced the battery." It's a CR-2032, so they last quite a while.

I went and grabbed a new battery from the closet. I found a tiny screwdriver and opened the battery compartment and replaced the old battery. Sweet. Turned it on. Guess what? It still said "Lo."

Time for a new scale.

Thank you scale. You have been trusty all these years. You weren't expensive, and you did your one and only job. Thank you. Now I have to get another one. Then I'll use a food scale again. For now though?

No. I don't use a food scale.

mtaratoot wrote: »

Well, guess it's come to this.

I no longer use a food scale. Starting about 20 minutes or so ago. No. It's not permanent, but there ya go.

My trusty food scale showed a low battery a little while ago. The alert came and went. Once or twice it shut off. Always came back. Today I weighed some rutabaga, and then when I went to weigh the next ingredient it said "Lo" and shut off. I tried a few more times. Wouldn't stay on. I said, "Well, I guess it's time. I think it's been a couple years since I replaced the battery. It's a CR-2032, so they last quite a while.

I went and grabbed a new battery from the closet. I found a tiny screwdriver and opened the battery compartment and replaced the old battery. Sweet. Turned it on. Guess what? It still said "Lo."

Time for a new scale.

Thank you scale. You have been trusty all these years. You weren't expensive, and you did your one and only job. Thank you. Now I have to get another one. Then I'll use a food scale again. For now though?

No. I don't use a food scale.

The bolded brings it home to me just how often I must use my scale! 😱

Those batteries last me an average of just 3 months! 😂

And the answer is....

Less than five minutes.

I guess the el-cheapo batteries that came with the scale were already discharged in storage even though they had a plastic thing to keep them from making a connection. I tossed in some rechargeables, and will probably put more alkalines in. I'm not sure this is the best use of NiMH technology as while they have higher energy density, they have lower voltage and can discharge in storage quicker. Plus, then I'll know how long a fresh set of alkaline AAA cells last.

I use measuring cups its better for me

I use my scale religiously. Last night Mr. decided to treat me and cook dinner. Chicken Marsala. I walked in the kitchen to see him drop 3 tablespoons of butter in the pan and follow up with the olive oil inverted and giving the butter a pool to swim in. I asked him if he was making healthy Marsala. He said yes…he cut the fat in the recipe by half. He is recovering from open heart surgery for a 70% blockage bypass. We know how this happened now.

What gets measured, gets counted. If you are eating too much, be accountable to yourself and log it. You can look back and see trends and the why you are or are not losing weight.

Inflammation is the cause of heart disease and blocked arteries and the main dietary drivers of systemic inflammation are the overconsumption of sugars and ultra processed food, aka powdered carbohydrates. Fat doesn't miraculously give us heart disease, even though that is what we've been told ad nauseum for 50 years, overconsumption does, which also leads to complications like heart disease and a briefcase full of other inflammatory diseases. However, I agree with you and if someone is counting calories a scale is mandatory imo. Cheers.

enopau wrote: »

Thank you for sharing, this is the one thing that I know I have to start, waiting for my scale in the mail! I have a question though, how do you all figure out how much of everything you should eat? I struggle with the quantities and figuring out how much of everything I should eat!

I agree with the approach outlined by @Sinisterbarbie1. One place to start is how much you are already eating. Just weigh everything so you're informed how much it is. As you log what you eat, you will find out how that compares with the goals you set. If it turns out you are eating more than your goal, cut back. You ca also track the nutrients in your foods and focus on those that not only fuel your body but support it nutritionally.

I echo that the scale is way more accurate (and precise) than measuring cups. Measuring cups and spoons actually vary quite a bit in size. A gram is a gram - it is how much a milliliter of water weighs.

Here's a trick lots of us use especially for calorie-dense things like nut butters: Remove the lid from the jar, put the jar on the scale, and tare the scale so it reads zero. Then get the knife and remove the amount, in grams, that you want to eat. Note that some is still on the knife after you do something like spread it on bread. You weighed it already, so it's fine to eat it!

When I use cooking oil, I do the same thing. I put the bottle on the scale without the lid, and then I pour some into the fry pan and put the bottle back on the scale. I am amazed how good I am getting at eyeballing eleven grams. Note though that most oils are listed in the database in milliliters. There's a conversion, but you're still WAY ahead if you just use grams.

It may take a while to get used to it, and at first it may seem like a chore. Well, it is a chore sort of, but so is eating. Soon it will become habit and it will become really easy. Use the scale for everything. You will begin to calibrate your eye so you can guess when you have to. Don't stop using the scale or your eye will go out of calibration.

I did a test one time. I would keep rolled oats and sunflower seeds at work and mix them with yogurt. I would weigh out my yogurt from a quart or half gallon into smaller cups and leave those in the refrigerator at work. I got good at estimating 50 grams of oats or one ounce (28 grams) of seeds. One day at home, I poured what I thought was 28 grams of seeds in the palm of my hand, just like I do at work. I weighed them. I was within a gram. I thought that was pretty cool. Doing that test helped me keep my eye calibrated.

Consider trying something like the Ninja saucepan. It’s not Teflon but some kind of super hard steel. If you preheat it well, you can brown meats, caramelize onions, even stir fry with no oils.

I’ve got nice Pampered Chef (no idea-honeycomb surface) and TFal (Teflon) skillets that can be used likewise, but the Ninja pan is in a class by itself, and again, no Teflon (yay!) and wipes clean with the swish of a sponge no matter what I’ve , seared, browned or otherwise charred in it. It’s the one I reach for.

We’ve gotten to the point where we seldom buy butter or margarine, and olive oil and even the smallest can of Crisco go rancid well before we’ve made a dent in the jar.

If I do have to use margarine or oil in a recipe, I cut it by 3/4 before adding more and generally find that’s more than adequate.

I made a chicken cassoulet the other day that called for bread crumbs stirred into half a stick of melted butter. I cut that in half, and could easily have gotten away with just a tablespoon, but the recipe was well within our calorie budget anyway, so I “treated us” to two tablespoons. Since it was making six servings anyway, I figured 17 calories wouldn’t make or break us.

I usually use a food scale. No surprise. I've written about it before. It is an extremely useful tool. Sometimes I don't, like if I am away from home. I have written that through the routine use of my scale, I'm better able to estimate when I have to. Here's an example:

I wanted a snack. I decided to have some roasted Oregon hazelnuts. They are so delicious and have protein and healthy fat. I took the lid off the jar I'm storing them in, I put the jar on my food scale, and I got a tare weight. I took the jar and poured some into my palm. I said to myself, "That is twelve grams." I put the jar back on the scale, and guess what? It said 12g.

My eyeball is, for the moment, calibrated. I will keep using the scale to keep my eyeball calibrated.

Ah NUTS!