If you are interested in maintaining, losing or gaining weight you need to know how much you are eating. If you are eating something without a label (such as fruit and vegetables) I wouldn’t worry about those calories as much as those foods with labels. I know you try to be good and read those labels. The most important piece of information on that label is the serving size. It is usually given in a measurable amount such as number of pieces or amount of a cup. But, how do you know what “about 15″ pieces means? 13? 14? 16? 17? Does it depend on the day or how hungy you are at the time – Yeah, 60 is “about 15.” There is another piece of information on that food lablel that can help you watch what you eat – the serving size in a weight amount. This amount is much more precise than the other amount. However, in order to harness the power of this information you need the the most important item in your kitchen – a kitchen scale!
I can hear the grousing – “you want me to weigh my food?!?!?” Yes, I want you to weigh your food. It only takes a few seconds and can keep you honest about what is going in your body.
Even Dietitians get caught in the serving size game and that scale keeps me in check. For example, I found a new cereal I really like (Kashi Strawberry Fields). The serving size said “1 cup.” I measured a cup plus a little for breakfast. I learned what that looked like in my bowl so I wouldn’t have to measure each time. Over time, I started putting more in my bowl. More in my bowl = extra calories. I stopped one day and pulled down the scale just to double-check. I was putting in not one, but about three servings!!! I thought this was odd, so I measured out a single serving by weight (32 g) then put it in a measuring cup. The serving by weight was less than a cup! I’ve started weighing my cereal each day to be sure I don’t overdo the calories since, apparently, I’m not trustworthy when it comes to Kashi Strawberry Fields cereal (it has fruit in it – right?).
Stopping to weigh something only takes a few seconds and can save you a tremendous amount of calories. If you have foods you regularly eat, learn what that serving looks like on the plate or in the bowl and you won’t have to weigh forever (however, it is good to check yourself occasionally).
What scale should you get – one you will use and can afford. You don’t have to spend a lot to get a kitchen scale. You can find them at just about any general retailer such as Target, Bed, Bath & Beyond and Linnens ‘N Things. They range from the simple (which tell you just weight) to the complex (which allow you to enter in information from the nutrition lable, weigh and get a calorie count for that specific serving, save and add more foods for a total calorie count for the meal).
