Barbells are my favorite tool in the gym and my favorite tool in the kitchen is the kitchen scale. Personally, I have the appetite of growing teenager and the kitchen scale truly helps me keep track of proper portions when I know I could probably eat at least twice that amount!<\/p>\n
Most people probably don\u2019t have one in their kitchen yet, and I know this because most of my personal training clients don\u2019t own one.<\/p>\n
When I work with them, I always encourage them to get one, whether their goal is weight loss or weight gain.\u00a0 In addition to measuring cups and spoons (which most people already to have), consider yourself equipped and ready for action!<\/p>\n
As Elissa pointed out in a previous post<\/a>, learning to measure out your portions does get easier and ultimately you learn to estimate your calories when you aren\u2019t in the kitchen.<\/p>\n There are lots of weight loss programs built around the concept of portion control.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to sign up for a food delivery program, or do Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig or some other program to understand just how much food you really ought to be putting in your system.<\/p>\n So, what sort of kitchen scale should you get?<\/p>\n My very first one was a little $4 plastic one that I got from Target. You could spend as little as that amount on one (mine was great and even travels well, but cracked after too much use), or get something fancier like Kitrics Digitial Nutrition Scale, which has the ability to compute calories, calories from fat, carbohydrates, protein, fat, saturated fat, fiber, sugars, cholesterol, and sodium.<\/p>\n This product is a little more pricey than my $4 option, but is very popular, and most people seem genuinely pleased with their purchase (the Kitrics Digital Nutrition Scale received a 4 1\/2 out of 5 star customer rating on Amazon.com<\/a>).<\/p>\n If you\u2019re the kind of dieter who needs precise information on nutritional content, the Kitrics Digital Nutrition Scale may be a good product for you.<\/p>\n You can precisely hit a daily calorie goal if you\u2019re on a restricted diet and track and map out your protein\/carb\/fat macronutrient split.<\/p>\n Bodybuilders, figure athletes, fitness models, diabetics (who often need to track carb intake carefully), those following a low-sodium or low-fat diet, etc might benefit from the on-screen nutritional content displays that the Kitrics Digital Nutrition Scale offers (1,999 foods stored in the database, and you can program \u201cunknown foods\u201d in too!).<\/p>\n The one I own at home isn\u2019t quite as cool as the Kitrics Digital Nutrition Scale, but it does the trick. I think I paid around $20 for it, the weighing plate is a nice stainless steel, and I\u2019m happy.<\/p>\n