digital scales

Hi all, i wanted to know what scales you guys all use for measuring foods? am not good with measuring but getting bored eating same stuff ,so was gona get some sclaes to measure 100g portions etc...can anyone recommend any good ones or shall i buy cheapie asda ones? also with the scales can i measure fruits etc like grape portion etc? sorry but i never used kitchen scales and am scared i will eat more coz i dont know how to measure properly..any info regarding how u guys measure would be appreciated.

thanks to all

I've got basic digital cookwork ones from Argos x

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The Weight Watchers ones are great. I don't use scales as I tend to try and measure it myself :/

Mine are made by Salter, just looked at Argos and they don't have that exact model any more, they have chrome-coloured plastic on the main body, a round flat jug in smoky clear plastic, and include a timer (which I've never used) and they weigh in 1g increments. They're pretty good, they have some that look similar for £20, called Add And Weigh.

I'd be lost on things like cereal without them, 40g and 60g don't look THAT different (to me anyway) so they're an absolutely key part of my plan.

As for meassuring fruit, yes they'll absolutely do that, look online to find a site that has good calorie counts and/or buy a book on it, there's one called the Calorie, Carb & Fat Bible which is the most comprehensive, they do a new one each year because they have a section for chain restaurants but you should be able to find an older version on Amazon pretty cheaply and for things like fruit, veg, meat, cheese, packaged foods like bread etc it will still be accurate.

I got mine from asda they are digital salter ones and cost about £8. They are fab

I got the cheapies from Asda, £6. They are not fancy but they do the job. The gadget freak in me would like some snazzier ones but I can't spend the cash at the moment.

any basic ones will do the job rightly

I have some plain black salter ones from tesco, about £10 they were. I love them so much, would totally be lost without them, but people obviously think I'm a freak when I get them out to measure things like 3g of cocoa...

thatlittlebit said:

I have some plain black salter ones from tesco, about £10 they were. I love them so much, would totally be lost without them, but people obviously think I'm a freak when I get them out to measure things like 3g of cocoa...

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i would be more worried if someone was calorie counting and not weighing anything, than being careful like you are! Really you just arent following it properly if you can't be bothered to weigh anything.

You measure 3g once, but tomorrow it could be 4 or 5 if you don't keep control.

To me it just really is worth the tiniest bit of effort to weigh the stuff out. When I first started dieting weighing food gave me the shock of my life. For example: cereal, pre diet I was eating 50g of cereal, and sometimes I had seconds!!!

Ah don't I know about excessively consuming cereal !! I would eat it by the handfuls I once got through family Frosties in 2 days...

Ha yeah I'm really bad with cereal, I don't eat it anymore as 40g isn't enough and I always want to eat more x

thanks to all..so if i buy something and it has 180 calories per 100g ,all i do is weigh it till its 100g to get the 180 calories.and also do i put the food on the scale or in a plate etc?? sorry just i dont want to eat more than i should...i would love to eat potato wedges and measure them to get exact calories,..does the calories stay the same before oven cooked? thks

rani said:

thanks to all..so if i buy something and it has 180 calories per 100g ,all i do is weigh it till its 100g to get the 180 calories.

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Yes, and if you only want 75g or 30g of something for example, take the figure given for 100g (in that case 180cals) and multiply it by 0.75 or 0.30 to get the amount you're going to be eating, it's quicker & easier than dividing the 100g sum by 100 to get the calories per 1gram, then multiplying it by 75 or 30 or whatever.

and also do i put the food on the scale or in a plate etc??

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Depends on what works best, most scales have a way of setting weight on them (such as a plate) then resetting to zero so that only new stuff added on will count, sometimes that button or feature is called Tare (better explanation here).

I prefer to use other containers, eg plates or tupperware boxes, on my scales so as to not mess up the jug provided or have to keep washing it - if you weigh raw meat, eggs or fish that's especially important.

(This might lean towards being a bit obsessive but I actually weighed ALL my plates, bowls and dishes + saucepans empty and dry, and then noted them in the back of my calorie count book, so if I need to weigh them with something in I know right away how much to subtract for the container... this may be abnormal, so just mentioning it! )

i would love to eat potato wedges and measure them to get exact calories,..does the calories stay the same before oven cooked? thks

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No, things like potato, bread and meat shrink when you cook them because they lose water, baked potato for example shrinks by as much as 30% in a standard fan oven, whereas grains and anything that's hard which you cook to soften it (beans, pasta etc) expand with the water, so it's best to weigh EVERYTHING raw (because you can't calculate the exact shrinkage/expansion) and double-check as well that you're going by calorie meaurements for raw quantities, eg a lot of pasta or rice packages will have a sum for 75g cooked which is VERY much less than 75g raw/uncooked rice.

Put your plate / bowl on the scales THEN turn them on and you will see that the weight is 0. You're ready to weigh.

RachBlue said:

No, things like potato, bread and meat shrink when you cook them because they lose water, baked potato for example shrinks by as much as 30% in a standard fan oven, whereas grains and anything that's hard which you cook to soften it (beans, pasta etc) expand with the water, so it's best to weigh EVERYTHING raw (because you can't calculate the exact shrinkage/expansion) and double-check as well that you're going by calorie meaurements for raw quantities, eg a lot of pasta or rice packages will have a sum for 75g cooked which is VERY much less than 75g raw/uncooked rice.

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It's so annoying when they have the cooked weight on the pack, i then I have to go look on the internet to see how much things potentially expenad, dry vs cooked weight and make an estimate.

Hi I also avoid most cereal now except for weetabix and oat so simple. They are actually filling and both around 200cals (inc milk)

I use a plastic tuppaware pot or similar to weigh stuff into, if pre cooked. If it is rice or potato etc and I need the cooked weight measured out I usually just put my plate on the scales before turning them on. The scales are then set at 0 ready to weigh your food directly on.

I am really loving the flexibility of cc and tbh I pretty much think I have found something that will work for life.

I feel like im eating normally at last. For example yesterday I knew we were having a takeaway so made sure I was very careful in the daytime and just had oat so simple original and then soup for lunch....this left me nearly 900 cals for the evening.

Loads of 'skinny' friends would do this but instead of calorie counting they just instinctively say 'im saving myself for later' or 'I dont want to spoil my dinner' which leads thrm to abstain from too much (high calorie) food. In the past I would probably still eat normally/too much through the day and then still stuff myself with curry in the evening! It just doesnt come naturally to me so to think like a skinny person (YET)

Xxxx