If you're tracking calories...PLEASE buy/use a food scale


#1

I’ve been using a food scale for years, yet I still have moments where I discover I was eating more than I thought.

Last night, I was packing some avocado mayo for lunch and decided to weigh it instead of going off the typical 1 tbsp=100 calories; Instead I went off the 14grams=100 that was on the label.

My “TBSP” was actually 26g when I weighed it, so I was closer to 200 calories. I usually scoop two TBSP which resulted in 58g or 4 servings, instead of the 2 I thought I was having. That’s 200 more calories than I thought I was eating.

Even as a food scale veteran I’m reminded to weigh EVERYTHING because you never know how much you’re eating. Just imagine how many people out there who eyeball their measurements are overeating :open_mouth:


All things CICO - back from the dead thread
(Jay Patten) #2

You count calories?


(Steve) #3

Couldn’t agree more!
We use a scale for weighing ingredients everyday to get consistent results on recipes. We also use it for portion control, it’s amazing how portions can creep up without weighing.
$10 on Amazon


#4

Yes, I strongly believe in the basics of calories in vs calories out.

I lift 5-6 days a week and I mainly track the % of protein that I’m eating, because my goal is 220g.
I’ve read the science behind not all calories are the same, but for the majority of people that template still works.

If you want to cut weight or gain, you should at least figure out the range of calories specific to your activity/weight/height/sex so that you can see if you need to lower/raise calories when it comes to tweaking things.


(Steve) #5

Oh and I forgot, anyone new to the keto diet should have a scale to see exactly what their portion size should be along with tracking macros. We weighed everything and ran it through the macro calculator for 2 months when starting keto. Now we can easily estimate exactly what our plates should look like. Never trust the carb count in a recipe, do your own calculations and look at the difference.


#6

You’ll find the CICO model does not have much support here. With a couple exceptions, most of us are for training people to eat whole, fatty foods that allow people to start learning to trust their bodies when it tells them they’re satisfied; if they’re not overeating, they don’t need to count calories.

The biggest reason I use my food scale nowadays is for weighing out hamburger patties when I buy ground beef, so I can get them about half a pound each.


(Scott) #7

My favorite part of keto is not counting calories anymore.


(John) #8

I still find that portion management is important. Whether you call them calories, or fat-grams / carb-grams / protein-grams, the quantity of bio-available energy from food you consume does matter to weight maintenance.

It is surprising just how little actual food we need, and how small portion sizes are. Measure 1oz of nuts, for example. It is not very much. A closed handful.

You don’t have to always weigh everything, but it is useful to calibrate your eyes to how much food you are really eating, until you get to where it’s habit.


(Jane) #9

I lost 35 lbs and never counted a single calorie. Just carbs and as my appetite diminished my portion sizes decreased also and eating window shrunk.

I realize not everyone can do keto like this, but it worked for me. Have not gained any weight after 6 months being at my goal weight. Love keto!


(Scott) #10

Keto WOE my body seems to intuitively know what to eat and how much as long as I keep carbs in check. YMMV

This is not to say that it will work for all. It seems that there are three types of ketoers

  1. Only carbs need counting.
  2. I am a geeky numbers person and like counting & weighing.
  3. I need to count to carefully regulate what I eat to achieve goals.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #11

Then why bother with a ketgenic diet, which is based on the idea that caloric content is a lot less important than hormonal response? There is a logical disjunction between the notion that all calories are equal, and the notion that the body responds differently to different foods. Are you aware of that?

Eating to satiety eliminates all need to track, in my experience. The quantity of bioavailable energy that my body needs varies enough from day to day that the feedback from the hunger/satiety loop is extremely valuable for determining how much food to eat. Not only that, but the insulin response from getting all my calories from glazed doughnuts is vastly different from the insulin response to getting the same amount of energy from ribeye and bacon. Given that insulin is known to be the fat-storage hormone, that hormonal response is highly significant to me.


#12

I think the vast majority of people did not catch the “If you’re counting calories” part of my title. I’ve clearly acknowledged the fact that many people don’t calorie count, especially on keto.

When cutting weight, there is more evidence than not that shows your overall caloric intake has a big impact on weight loss.

Someone trying to lose weight who is eating 4000 calories of ribeye steak with a Total Daily Energy Expenditure of 2400 calories will gain weight and I’d bet money on it.


(Scott) #13

I found the 2ketodudes podcast “The man who ate 6000 calories a day and lost weight” very fascinating. It is an older episode but I happen to listen to it this weekend.


(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #14

I am tracking my food by weighing it. HOWEVER, I’m not tracking calories, per se.
I’m trying to figure out how to get the best GKI and what ratios of fat, protein, carbs give it to me. That said, I haven’t had much luck. Maybe it’s more in the types of food, but that hasn’t seemed too consistent either. I may need to just make the same thing for a few weeks and see if gives me the results I want.

I mostly just put food on my plate then weight it, I’m more trying to go for a minimum of calories (I’m very specifically trying to NOT lose weight).


(Jane) #15

CICO proponents always use extreme examples when they discuss calorie counting.

I have no idea what my TDEE is so how do I know how many calories I should eat? 2200? 1800?

I can tell you I’ve eaten far fewer calories on past diets and failed to reach my goals.

Keto has healed my metabolism so that I can vary my intake from day to day and my metabolism ramps up or down to keto my weight fairly constant. Not everyone experiences this. I only watch my carbs on maintenance and have no clue how many calories I eat since I don’t track anymore.

If I had to use my scale to measure my food instead of ingredients for cooking I would have given up on keto long ago like @PaulL has said.

YYMV.


#16

I glanced through the article and comments and noticed this

Blockquote Hi Sam. A potential source of error is thet youare shifting to a low carb diet, which csn make you lose up to 3 kg of water weight initially. That could switch your weight in e wrong directon. Meaning that you can have lost 3 kg water and added it as fat. In addition to your measured weight gain.

He ate 5700 calories and gained roughly 2.86lbs by the end of the 21 day period he conducted in this experiment.

Key points:

-Shifting from high carb to low carb usually results in substantial weight lose within the first few weeks due to water exiting the cells. (2-3g of water is retained per carb)

-He GAINED 3lbs in 21 days and that’s after depleting his glycogen stores

-He only ran this for 21 days to maximize the initial weight loss benefits of keto. I’d be curious to see how much weight he’d gain if did this for 5-6 months.

This supports my Caloric intake exceeding Total Daily Energy Expenditure results in weight gain statement.


(Scott) #17

I order to support your statement above it would seem to me that he would have gained a lot of weight. 21 days was also the time he tested high carb low fat and another WOE that escapes me at the moment. He did tested each way of eating for three weeks with a three week break between to return to his normal weight so I don’t see an intent to tip the scale one way or another.


#18

Do you have a blood glucose monitor?

I bought one and it’s helped me distinguish between negative and positive impacting GKI foods. Any food that spikes my blood sugar to 110+ I usually avoid unless it was a huge meal all at once.

For GKI the type of food is more important than the caloric intake, with the exception of fasting. If I start to fast for 12+ hours my GKI typically falls between 2-3. I haven’t tried an extended fast, but I’m sure it would go even lower.


(John) #19

I see it’s going to be another one of those threads. Good luck with your battle, Apex.


#20

He ate 5000 calories a day on a high carb diet and went from 12.7 to 16.9% body fat while gaining 15.6lb in 21 days.

He gained much less on low carb, but the fact is that he still gained 2.9lbs in 21 days. There’s a lot of info being left out as well. The TYPE of calories are important as well (which I’ve stated too). He was eating nearly 3000 calories a day in nuts, which is not typical on a keto diet.

I’ve read articles that the actual amount of net calories absorbed can be around 25% less, especially if you’re eating fibrous foods.

Imagine someone eating 3000 calories worth of steak vs 3000 calories of nuts over the course of a day. My bet would be you’d retain much less calories/weight over a 21 day period due to bowel movements and bioavailibility alone.