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This Scale Can Make You Lose Weight

Statistics may tell the truth, but they don’t do much to motivate anyone. It’s statistically true that 40% of American adults are overweight. And yet we continue to eat as if sustaining fat was our goal!

Just as there are supposed to be “skinny mirrors” that make you look slimmer, maybe a magical scale would help. 

In fact, there is a scale that has been proven to help people lose weight.

You don’t tuck this scale in the bathroom. You don’t even set it near the refrigerator as a silent snack cop. You put it on the kitchen counter.

We all know that despite a million magic diets, people lose weight when they cut calories—faithfully, daily, for the long run. It’s so simple and so devastatingly hard that hardly anyone who takes off weight by counting calories manages to keep it up.

Here’s where very soon—you could start today—using a kitchen scale could change your calorie-cutting weight loss story.

Because of the scale, you don’t have to give up favorites and you don’t accidentally ingest more calories than you realized.

A good example from my household. We have a thing for mashed potatoes. Rich, buttery, smooth mashed potatoes.

Since I make them extra rich and flavorful, one cup of those devils comes in at around 400 calories.  Then I add a bit of steak. It turns out that my usual portion is worth another 500 calories. On and on it goes.

We always underestimate how many calories we eat or how big our portions are. My favorite afternoon snack used to be an apple with peanut butter. I thought it was a nice 150 calorie treat until I measured and found it was 370.

Day after day, snack and meal after snack and meal, we continue to make little errors like this.

Then one day you wake up to discover that not only do you weigh more than you want, but you are used to giving yourself a LOT of food. You have lost perspective and actually may not know what the “right” amount for your target weight looks like on a plate.

Quite simply, your food radar is broken.

That’s why weighing your food is so effective.  It changes the game.

Give yourself just one month weighing everything then calculating how many calories there are. You don’t even have to try dieting, just see what’s happening to you. You will be re-educated.

You will be surprised at where the extra calories arise and what you can do to get on track.

Yes, we can all read a book about eating sensibly. We can look up meal plans. But using the scale involves all five senses, especially seeing your food. It makes it easy to adjust YOUR diet in a personal way.  That’s important, because, frankly, if I had to eat broiled chicken breast five nights a week to keep calories down, I would rather be fat. Instead, I weigh portions so I can savor 4 ounces of steak or salmon, carefully measured. And because I’ve done it so long, I now know what that portion looks like. Even better, that amount has become “enough” over time. I don’t even need the scale anymore.

Weighing food takes the guesswork out.  For instance, everyone says 4 ounces of meat is about the size of your palm. Really? My palm or your palm? Betty White’s palm or Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s palm? And is that “cupful” of rice a fluffy cupful or do you pack it down? If you weigh, you’ll never make mistakes.

But the best thing about a kitchen scale is how easy it is to use. Even for a whole meal… You put your plate on it, add one food, weigh, then zero out (tare)and weigh the next item. No measuring cups or spoons are needed. Nothing extra to wash. 

No sneaky calories getting a free ride, either.

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