Food scale...Do you weigh your portions?

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  • leafygreensforme
    leafygreensforme Posts: 18 Member
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    That's so funny...I have a pencil and pad of paper in the kitchen too...as I'm making dinner I'm writing calories down to add to my "tracker"....maybe a little OCD is ok when you're tracking calories :happy:
  • CP533
    CP533 Posts: 10
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    Thank you so very much...I'm heading out his morning to but a food scale...are they all pretty much the same?

    I prefer electronic ones for ease of use, accuracy and size. Its good if they have the option to show grams or ounces. Mine also do ml or fl oz, but thats a gimmick as 100gms = 100mls, etc. I use flat scales so I can easily sit a plate on them, some people prefer ones with a bowl so you can weigh flour etc in it.
  • FoxyMcDeadlift
    FoxyMcDeadlift Posts: 771 Member
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    Rather than work off a portion, where possible i prefer to work off the calories of 100gs worth of food. Its easier to divide by then say a portion off 288gs or whatever
  • uk_ja
    uk_ja Posts: 143 Member
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    I weigh all amounts of food I use to cook a meal and then I weigh the portions I put on my plate, I use a cheap digital scale and weigh in grams for accuracy I find it works better than using volume as in cups, tbsp.
  • KLK1986
    KLK1986 Posts: 89
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    I always weigh my food, but I'm also Type 1 diabetic so weighing is the way for me to accurately dose my insulin as well.
  • xcrushx28
    xcrushx28 Posts: 182 Member
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    I've brought a scale to a restaurant before...

    Everything get weighed ;)

    I made pizza yesterday and a package of pizza crust is supposed to be 4 servings, but ended up weighing out 4.2 servings. Bread is something else that may vary a whole bunch when you weigh it. Sometimes where 2 slices of bread may equal 2.6 or 3.2 in actual weight...
  • Sabineslims
    Sabineslims Posts: 70
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    I weigh every thing. It's too easy to over estimate or under estimate.
    I also measure everything as well.
    It's important to me to know exactly what I am eating. It's also very useful to learn what 3 oz's of chicken truly looks like so when I am somewhere that I am not able to measure, I have a good sense of what portion size it looks like. It's a great tool and to me, invaluable.
    Well worth the small investment.
  • biancamirella
    biancamirella Posts: 22 Member
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    I weigh absolutely everything. It's really helped me get a more realistic idea of portion sizes. Plus, I like having exact numbers in my log. I've had the most success when I am weighing everything with a scale. Using measuring cups isn't as exact, as it depends on how much you fill it up and where you fill it up to.
  • andrialindsay
    andrialindsay Posts: 55
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    Oh yes I weigh everything for the most part. I purchased my digital scales off amazon and they work/worked great. The first one my friend was over and asked me if I was selling drugs.. joking of course, so my second one I purchased looks more "chef friendly" LOL. I also use it when I'm baking to get more accurate measures.
    Also I live alone so when I buy fresh meats I weigh them, divide them into servings then freeze so that I know exactly what I'm getting when I pull it out of the freezer.
  • heatherterp
    heatherterp Posts: 239
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    in the beginning I eyeballed things. After Christmas we got a food scale and things got more serious. I find it is hard when the package has 2 set of info on the lable. as packaged and as prepared. It takes a lot of figuring, but since I have gotten out the measuring cups, spoons and the scale I am making my average of 2 pounds a week. when we are out I have a better Idea of what the portion is. I say as long as you are keeping honest with yourself do what is right for you. we will all get there eventually.
  • akyraj2006
    akyraj2006 Posts: 83 Member
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    I do weigh my food. I used to guess at things before i purchased my scale and honestly, i was guessing to high as to how much something was, in turn i wasn't eating all of my calories. over my Christmas holiday, i went searching for a good food scale, and the ones i found were ok but some were very costly. i started to look on ebay for some scales and i actually found a great scale and i only paid $20 for it and i love it!! i weigh everything on it!! and it is not just your basic scale, it is also a postal scale. it weighs anything up to 55lbs and it starts weighing at 0.1 of and ounce. it also has a tare feature (it will subtract the weight of the container you are weighing the food in, so that you will only get the real weight of the food).... here is the link to one just like mine. i think it is a huge investment, especially if you like to make sure everything you are doing is right or as close to right as it can be...

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/Saga-New-55-lb-x-0-1-oz-Digital-Shipping-Postage-Postal-scale-75-35-W-AC-Weight-/160670265686?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2568b1b156#ht_2210wt_1396
  • lisadlocks
    lisadlocks Posts: 212 Member
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    I weigh pretty much everything. Doing so keeps me honest. I have found that I can always cheat just a little and add a little bit more here and there when I don't. I actually miss it when I eat out because who can be sure? Everything is so supersized. I have a scale that measures grams, ounces and pounds. I didn't want to spend the 20 dollars but I used to spend more than that a week on fast food. Everytime I quibble about how much something costs, I think about how much the extra weight, belly fat and subsequent ill health has cost me. I am WORTH a scale.So ironic, purchasing a food scale is a Non Scale Victory! Woooo Hoooo! :laugh:
  • TourThePast
    TourThePast Posts: 1,753 Member
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    I weigh everything that isn't pre-packaged.

    Measuring in cups is simply not accurate enough, except for liquids and granular things like sugar.

    My recommendation is to get a flat digital scale, the sort that you can put a bowl or plate on, then reset to zero. That makes it simple to weigh all the components of a meal, without adding to the washing up.
  • chachita7
    chachita7 Posts: 996 Member
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    I weigh everything and measure everything, it helps me keep servings accurate.
  • TamsinEllis
    TamsinEllis Posts: 293
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    I don't weigh my portions, I weigh my ingredients if I'm cooking something (like pasta or chicken pie) since then I know exactly what's in my meal, but I don't tend to weigh my portions since a) most things come with recommended portion size (eg half a bag of noodles - 300cal) and sure maybe I take more or less then half the bag, but whenever I next have noodles I have the other half, even if it isn't an exact half the point is I'm eating exactly the same amount over a few days (fresh egg noodles don't store well haha) as I would if I had weighed what I was eating. Like someone else said half a pack of chicken, where there's 10 breasts is going to be 5 breasts, sure some will weigh less whilst others weigh more but on average you're still eating half. I don't eat stuff like cereal, maybe if I did I would weigh, but I just tend to try and end the day with 100-200 exercise calories uneaten so any error I made guessing what I'm eating is (hopefully) countered.
    I think if I was having problems loosing weight and it wasn't down to something obvious (such as drastic under eating) then I would begin to weigh what I eat, but for now it doesn't bother me.
  • SlinkyPinkyBunsOfSteel
    SlinkyPinkyBunsOfSteel Posts: 661 Member
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    I weigh whenever it's needed. If I buy a container of chicken, and it's 377g (I've not plucked that number from nothing, that's the right one for my chicken), I will take approximately half and accept that it's 188.5g, but for anything like fruit and veg, cereal etc where it's harder to guess that number, I definitely always weigh. I wouldn't pour out a quarter of a 400g bag of frozen veg and assume I'd got 100g, because it's much harder to get that quarter right than pulling five pieces of chicken out of a container of ten.
    I'm exactly the same. :smile:
  • crucian007
    crucian007 Posts: 7 Member
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    I just bought a scale from Walmart for about $8, so far so good. I've been guessing on protein and non-bar code things since I started
  • NoMoreThickyMickey
    NoMoreThickyMickey Posts: 73 Member
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    I have recently gotten adamant about measuring my portions. I thought I could just "wing it" and I was surprised when I was serving myself twice the actual portion size. Like someone else asked how can you be truly accurate in counting calories when you are not using the correct numbers.

    It doesn't take long and I get a sense of satisfaction from being full off of correct portions.
  • countrygirl812
    countrygirl812 Posts: 116
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    Yes, it makes a difference. If you have went all your life without weighing or measuring anything, you will probably be shocked to find out what an actual serving size of a particular food is. I weigh/measure EVERYTHING.
  • michelle225
    michelle225 Posts: 42 Member
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    I'm another one who weighs everything. I don't trust myself to estimate that I'm pouring out the right amount of cereal. Plus it's a lot easier and than using measuring cups and it cuts down on things to wash. I also second the person who mentioned weighing bread. I buy sourdough bread at Trader Joe's and the slices are actually often 20-30% less than a serving size so I like to know what I'm getting. Single serving packaged things though like an egg or a Healthy Choice frozen meal are the only things I don't measure.

    When I make recipes at home, I weigh all the ingredients as I'm putting them in so I know the total calories in the meal and then weigh the final product since some may have evaporated from cooking and divide that weight by the number of servings to make sure I'm still being accurate with how much I'm eating.

    Make sure you get one with a large enough surface to hold your plate, a high upper weight threshold (for measuring full recipes like I mentioned above) and the ability to zero it out so you can zero it when you put your plate on.

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