The Scale is Your Best Friend!

 Scales are so important  when it comes to losing weight! I know when I first  started  losing weight it was hard and that  was because I  had  no idea  how much   I was  eating and  how much I was weighing!  Believe it or not that scale is your best  friend. If you are serious about  losing weight  get  both a weight scale and a food scale. It's going to be  your best friend in losing weight.

Obviously a  weight scale is important as we do need to know if we are on target when losing  weight. the main thing  on  a weight scale is if you're going to weight yourself do it when you first wake up in the morning before you eat anything.  That is your real weight. And honesty you don't need to weigh every day. I weigh once a week  usually on a Monday  because that is when I  start my workout for the week.



Please invest in a food scale if you haven't already. It's really something you should get because a food scale does teach you what  portion control is all about.   I have found using a food scale really helps me keep watch of what I am eating. Not only is a  food scales important but don't forget  measuring cups are important.  If I am cooking, I want to know much calories I am making for myself  per serving.  I actually took the time to look up how many calories were in each food. I trained myself to have a food journal. Yes it may be a bit tedious at first, but I realized I was overeating.  Hence I also trained myself to look at that nutrition  whenever I  buy food. It has taught me what is  healthy and what is not. It doesn't mean I can't have something that is not healthy, it just  means that I have to lighten up  on the use of those things.   A good example is  shredded cheese! As much as I love cheese on some of my foods, I learned   not pour on the cheese but to just  limit  how much to put on it. I can anything I want but its about how much of it. the only way I  understood how much was  6 oz was to weigh it first! If I was making more than one serving  it was about  adding  all the calories together then divided by the amount of servings I was making it for to get my calorie count on the meal. As far as a Food scale, I got  a scale like the one above that does all sorts of measurements this way I didn't have an excuse  not to weigh things for myself. Remember a  previous  post i wrote about? No excuses!  Get a scale that does weight all sorts of measurements, you will thank me later for it.



Does this  mean you cant have your favorite treats?? No.  It means learning to portion  control it. I have learned  I can have chips but I weigh my  chips and make sure its just that  1 oz  for the 150 calories. Then I put the rest of the bag away  so I wont  be tempted to grab more later.  I eat ice cream,  but I will  see how much  half a  cup is.  I love ice cream sandwiches but goodness the calories are so high! So I have learned to find  something lighter. There are coconut ice cream sandwich bars from Cuties for  only 90 calories! A bit pricey but  so worth it. But, if you are really into the real ice cream bars,  try  Trader Joe's,  they are mini sandwich bars yet 1 mini bar is  only 90 calories too. Fruit cream bars are  only 60-90 calories.

 I love Trader Joes!  I go there on the weekends to pick up a few things. So pretty much around the afternoon I swing on by to get a few things there. It's one of my favorite markets I go to. Not to mention I live right around the corner so when I  just want to go for a walk and I know I am just getting small stuff I treat myself to some exercising with grocery shopping and a walk to and from home. Another way to burn a few extra calories for myself.

Since I am speaking  about food,  going out to eat is a treat and I do watch what I eat and  make healthier choices.  Rarely do I  drink soda,  I feel better  without all that sugar in my body. I usually substitute Ice tea as my drink or water with lemon.  If I went to McDonalds, I am surely not going to get  those  big hamburgers  or big chicken sandwiches,  but I do look at other alternatives on there. Sometimes I just get a regular cheese burger  or  a McChicken, or chicken  nuggets.  Then as much as I like their  fries I just get a small fries. Fast food is  really  high in calories because one meal itself is  over 1000 calories. Their sandwiches and  hamburgers are  over 700 calories alone and small fries are over  200 calories!   Therefore, I  have learned to plan what I am going to eat for the day. If I  think I want  desert at the end of the night, I will make room for it but I will stay within my calorie  range.

the main thing is  to really pay attention  to what we eat. As much as we  want to eat  what we want sometimes its best to be creative and  find  other alternatives for the  foods we crave. If we cant find that  alternative,  then  the next step is to do a portion control. I  still eat what I love  but i am just mindful about my choices  now.