Do you own a food scale?

Do you use it often? I bought a food scale, but im not sure when to use it. Should I return it or just get into the habit of using it? Am I meant to use it for portion control? Do I use it to control my vegetable intake? I bought it to weigh out my food, but I don't know if I weigh it after I cook it or before. It's a cool gadget, but I don't know what I'm doing.

I used mine a lot the first couple of years after surgery. I don't use it much anymore. I never bothered weighing vegetables since they don't have that many calories. I'd weigh meat a lot, though. With meat, you usually weigh it before cooking it.

If you don't weigh and measure, you don't know what you're eating, unless you're buying everything as individual packaged portions (and reading those labels). I weigh what I put on my plate. I use my tracking app if I make a recipe to determine the overall recipe and what a portion is...but then I use the scale to make sure I'm eating the right portion. I have found that I can't eyeball correctly.

I know you've mentioned on other posts that you're not progressing the way you would like, using the scale, at least during slow/no movement periods could be very helpful.

Yes I had one and I never used it .

I?m fine with just eating what I crave .... I nibble ( and taste when I?m cooking) a little here and there but it?s never really affected my weight I don?t think .
I?ve often sat down with the family and said I got full from tasting ... what my Grandmother used to say . But true .

Then again I don?t think I?ve ever eaten a whole pizza pie either ( or even half of one ) so ... if portion control or even total fat amount ingested is an issue.... maybe I would try to scale .

in the beginning post op I loved to eat at all you can eat buffets... now it's totally throwing munny out the window lol .

I wouldn't worry... you're still in the two year happy losing stage .... and afterwards... things get even better.

Watch your fat intake is my advice... nothing gets you back to original weight faster than cheese ... butter ... ice cream ... fast food ... hamburgers.

And for Gods sakes move if you can .... it'll make you lose much more and make you want to eat a lot less .

The food scale is an important tool. Would you drive a car with no speedometer and guess your speed. Do everything you can to lose and maintain. The weight loss from surgery is only for two years

After that your body needs a lot less calories. If you don't track and weigh you will regain.

I use it regularly. In Europe, recipes and nutrition labels use weight rather than volume, so a scale is essential.

I think of food as falling into one of three categories:

Ingredients that I am extremely unlikely to overeat. I only track these foods to make sure I'm getting enough nutrients and variety. I rarely weigh these. Most of these are low calorie anyway, so an estimate is good enough. There are a few higher-calorie items in this category, like flaxseed, but I'm not tempted to overindulge, so again an estimate is good enough.

Ingredients I am likely to overeat (e.g. nuts). I weigh these almost every time.

Ingredients that may cause pain if I overeat. This includes some low calorie foods like raw carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli. I weigh these every time, even on days that I take a holiday from food tracking.

I like that approach!

I use mine all the time. I find that, when I use it, I lose. Otherwise, my eyes are bigger than my stomach,

I am just at a year out and I have had my food scale since before surgery. I use it to weight out all my foods that I eat or use in to make something so I can keep my portions/calories in line. I mainly use it for meats, cheese but I have started using it for recipes that are in grams. I find it is very helpful for me to not have to guess how much and risk increasing my calories by accident. We were told by the girl who does nutrition at my program to weigh your pasta out before you cook it. There is one woman who is 11 yrs out at our group and she uses her scale daily and also plans her meals. She has maintained her 200lb weight loss by doing it.