If you really want long-term success for weight loss or maintaining your ideal weight, I can't stress the importance of a reliable set of kitchen scales enough. I used to be the archetypal "that'll do" type cook. Over the years, the portions I dished up just kept getting bigger and bigger (and therefore, so did I!) Infact, before I joined Weight Watchers, I didn't really know how much food I should be serving as a portion.
I really enjoy cooking for people - it has so much to do with love and nurture. I've realised though, that I can still do all of that without overfeeding people. We are not doing ourselves, or the people we love any favours by plying them with too much food.
One of the biggest surprises I got when I started the plan, was how high ingredients like rice and pasta are in propoints and calories! Without weighing your ingredients, you have very little chance of success.
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The scales I have shown above are the cream of kitchen scales if you are on the Weight Watchers plan. They do all sorts of clever things like calculate propoints for you, and they have a huge database of over 700 items in them to help you on your journey.
When I joined in 2010, the propoints system hadn't been introduced yet, so I bought this set which I still use. The calculator and database is redundant now, because the 'language' of the propoints system is totally different, but they are accurate and wonderful and I couldn't live without them! I just use other means to calculate the information I need, such as my iphone app. or the calculator which is available to buy in the meeting.
You might think this is really sad, but I also have a little inexpensive but accurate set of travel kitchen scales...
... I bought these last Summer as we were going away to a self-catering apartment
for a few days.
If you are committed to your weight loss journey, you have to think about these things and plan ahead as much as you can. If you have the equipment with you that you need, it's much less stressful and you don't feel like you have fallen off the band-wagon. Without the right tools, you can jeopardize your attempts very quickly.
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I've been living this way for two years now and I intend to keep this weight off for ever. Weighing and measuring ingredients has become an every day part of my food preparation and apportioning servings.
I've also found that, now I have much more idea of how portions should look visually, it has made it easier to 'guesstimate' propoints or calories if I am out for a meal at a restaurant or a friend's house. In these situations, I can't possibly be 100% sure of those values. Now I know what 100g of steak, 165g chicken, 60g rice or pasta looks like, I am far more likely to make a pretty accurate, educated guess in these 'real life' situations. Then, I am armed with the confidence to get on and enjoy myself and the food without worrying.
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Weigh more and YOU will weigh less!
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