Use a Scale to Help Monitor Your Cals

Posted By elissa on Dec 9, 2010 | 2 comments

I’ve been modding over at Will Brink’s “Bodybuilding Revealed” and “Fat Loss Revealed” forums for nearly 7 years. And one of the standard pieces of advice I (and others) give – and have always given – to new members, is to weigh their food for a few weeks.

Why use a scale? Because when you’re counting calories, estimating portion sizes can be tricky. Sure, the volume of some items can be measured, but even then you can underestimate how much you’re actually eating. A rounded tablespoon of peanut butter, for example, contains considerably more calories than a level one.

Weighing your food will also help verify the accuracy of nutrition labels. These two “Weighty Matters” posts by Dr. Yoni Freedhoff highlight the importance of double checking labels:

1. Do Nutrition Panels Make Weight Management More Difficult?

So our dietitian Joanne Kurtz decided to buy some whole grain mini pitas.

Looking at the back of the bag she clearly saw that 1 serving was listed as 2 pitas which weighed 14grams and contained 40 calories.

Being a dietitian, and moreover a dietitian whose work involves helping folks with weight management (and hence someone who talks and looks at lots of labels), she knew something was fishy so she cracked out her trusty scale.

…She found that each pita weighed 20grams, that’s 185% more than the 7grams it was supposed to weigh.

2. Ridiculous Serving Sizes at Costco

And unlike what you might expect, I mean small.

Thanks to our wonderful dietitian Joanne Kurtz I now know how many pieces to cut a Costco mille-feuille (Napoleon) pastry if I wanted to adhere to their nutrition facts panel’s serving information.

Apparently the answer’s 34.

Check out the pics to the Costco post – priceless! One “serving” looks to be about 2 dainty nibbles, lol. No surprise, since the tray weighs 680g and the stated serving size is 20g – but, hey – how many people are gonna do the math?

Trust me, weighing your food for a few weeks can be a revelatory experience. Yep – I’ll say it upfront: the first few days can be a real PITA. But a) it’s not forever; and b) it will help you develop a good “eye” for portions, so you can better estimate your intake (which is a handy skill, even when you’re not counting calories).