The key to achieving and maintaining a healthy weight is portion control, and one of the best tools for managing your portion sizes is... the food scale! The food scale is your sidekick in the kitchen for understanding how much you’re eating and staying within your goals for healthy weight loss.
Here are 5 ways the food scale can help you lose weight, plus extra tips on how to find the perfect food scale for you!
Need more food scale fun facts? Check out our blog post on 6 Reasons Why You NEED a Food Scale.
How a Food Scale Can Help You Lose Weight
1. Opens your eyes to how much you’re currently eating
A food scale is a great visual tool for giving you a sense of exactly how much you’re eating, and if those portion sizes align with your health goals.
Unless you’ve been using a food scale for years then chances are you’re pretty bad at guessing portion sizes of the foods you’re eating. Most people are!
You might be surprised to learn that you’ve been eating larger than recommended amounts for some food items, and that could be negatively contributing to your weight gain. This is especially the case for food items like pasta, cereal, granola, nut butter, oils, and other easy-to-eat foods that you don’t often think about how much you’re consuming.
With a food scale, you can know with certainty whether you’re eating the right amount of the foods you’re preparing, correct your portion sizes if you aren’t, and cut out those extra sneaky calories!
2. Provides more accurate calorie counts
In a study done in 2014, researchers found that the caloric content of some of the most commonly consumed snack foods in the U.S. was slightly higher than the nutritional label indicated.
This shows that you can’t always rely on the label for the most accurate reading. This is especially hindering if you’re trying to follow a more calorie-restrictive diet where it’s important to know exactly how much you’re consuming. With a food scale, you can feel more confident in the calories you’re putting in your body, and use those numbers to adjust accordingly to match your diet.
3. Eliminates the guesswork of calorie counting
And even if the calories are accurate on the label, it’s hard enough to remember exactly how much you’re eating and convert that to an accurate calorie count!
We’ve all been there: “It says 190 calories for one serving, but you end up eating about 3/4s of the whole bag… so it’s probably more like 600 calories, right? Or was it 900?” Instead of guessing, use your scale and calculate calories with accuracy.
4. Teaches you portion control
The experience of weighing out your food teaches you how to properly manage your portions. Eating becomes less mindless and more intentional. Instead of eating more than you need, you’re figuring out exactly how much you need and this gives you more control over your diet.
For example, let’s say you weigh out your morning breakfast cereal and find out that you’ve been eating more than twice the recommended serving size. This gives you a chance to not only regulate how much cereal you’re eating in the morning but also accurately report your calorie intake.
And it’s not just about cutting down! With your food scale, you might realize you aren’t eating enough of certain foods. For example, let’s say you're eating far more protein than you need and not nearly enough vegetables. Now you know you need to swap out the meat and add in more of those yummy veggies to your plate instead.
A scale can be a major eye-opener into correct portion sizes. And when you’re trying to lose weight, this is crucial information!
5. Improves your eye for correct portion sizes while eating out
As you start learning correct portion sizes, you might not even need to use your scale as frequently to know how much to eat of certain foods. Regular use of a food scale can help you feel more comfortable eyeballing portion sizes so that your plate is set up to support your weight loss goals.
This is especially helpful in those moments when you don’t have your food scale on you, such as going out to eat. Restaurants often serve larger portions of food than you need. By having a knowledge of the correct portion sizes, you can make smarter choices while eating out.
How to Find the Perfect Food Scale
You don’t need to go high-end or fancy with your food scale, but you also want to buy one that has everything you need. Because although you aren’t performing scientific experiments with this scale, this could be a tool you plan on using every day.
Here’s what you should be looking for when purchasing your food scale:
- Multiple forms of measurement: Find a scale that provides measurements in grams, kilograms, and ounces so you have some flexibility.
- A tare weight function: This function allows you to only measure out the weight of your food while you use a bowl or plate as a container on your scale or while working with multiple ingredients.
- Functional for your needs: Make sure you can read the numbers, that the scale is the right size for measuring out the kinds of foods you plan on preparing, and that it meets whatever other needs you might have.
- Affordable: You don’t need to break the bank to get a good food scale! Make sure the scale you choose is within your budget.
If you’re looking for some help to build healthier habits and eat a variety of fresh, clean foods while making quicker meals, our 310 Digital Food Scale can help. Plus, it checks all the boxes above for your food scale needs!
Find the Weight Loss Solutions That Are Right for You
Only use a food scale for supporting your weight loss goals if it’s helping you. You might realize that weighing out your food just isn’t for you— and that’s okay! If you find yourself overdoing it or obsessing over weighing out everything that you’re eating, then it might be time to try a different strategy to reach your weight loss goals.
However, even if you stop using your food scale consistently it’s a good investment for better understanding your food portions and for accurate measurements when baking and cooking.
Ready to streamline the measuring of ingredients for a healthier diet and lifestyle while making meal prepping a breeze? Check out our 310 Meal Prep Kit which features our 310 Digital Food Scale plus extra essentials like collapsible containers, a cooler lunch box, and a meal prep recipe guide to help you make meal planning quick, easy, and efficient.
