Help: My Diet Plan Instructs Me To Measure Ingredients In Grams!

Help: My Diet Plan Instructs Me To Measure Ingredients In Grams!

Feb 19 , 2021

Written by: Alexandra Spring

Help: My Diet Plan Instructs Me To Measure Ingredients In Grams!

Measuring cups and spoons show us the volume of each ingredient we use in cooking, but what if we need to measure weight? The Rejuvences Kitchen Scale is designed to accurately measure the weight of each ingredient, with the options of gram, kilogram, pound or ounce. Guessing isn’t always enough; there are situations where measuring the exact weight of food is important. Dieting for weight loss, the ketogenic diet and the usually-temporary need for extra protein are all times when we need to count calories or macronutrients.

How Calorie Counting Matters For Weight Loss

Why does calorie counting matter? Evidence shows that overweight and obese people who count calories lose more weight on average and are therefore more likely to reach their goals than those who don’t. The most important factor in weight loss is whether or not you are using up more calories than you are eating.

It is also important to be aware of where the most calories are found in food. The macronutrients – protein, fat and carbohydrates – have different caloric densities. Remember that:

  • 1 gram of carbohydrates is 4 calories
  • 1 gram of protein is 4 calories
  • 1 gram of fat is 9 calories

A common rule when dieting is the 1-2-3 system. This means you divide your energy intake into six parts: one part comes from fat, two parts from protein, and three parts (half your energy intake) from carbs. For example, if you consumed 2400 calories per day, 400 of those would come from fat (45 grams), 800 from protein (200 grams) and 1200 from carbohydrates (300 grams).

However, the Hatfield Estimate Procedure for Determining Minimum Daily Protein Requirements recommends lower protein intakes. Here, you multiply your body weight in pounds by a “need factor” of 0.5-1 depending on your level of physical activity. 200 grams of protein is generally advised only if you weigh over 200 pounds and are very active, or you want to build muscle and your goal weight is 200 pounds.

Kitchen Scales And The Ketogenic Diet

While the US RDA advises that no more than 30% of caloric intakes comes from fat, and the 1-2-3 method limits it to around 15% of your energy intake, the ketogenic diet uses fat as the primary macronutrient. Here, the aim is to trigger production of ketones for energy instead of sugar. Ketogenic (or “keto”) diets can be more effective for weight loss and reducing excess food intake in some people.

The “classic” keto diet is 75% fat, 15-20% protein and 5-10% carbohydrates. At this level, you cannot eat more than 50 grams of carbohydrate each day, or your body will revert to using sugars for energy. The “targeted” keto diet is 65-70% fat, 20% protein and 10-15% carbs; the extra 20-30 grams of carbohydrates are eaten just before and after workouts to improve recovery and maximise fitness gains. Keto diets are best used temporarily, or in cycles with a more “normal” diet.

High-Protein Diets

Another use for kitchen scales is situations where we need to increase protein intake to build or protect muscle mass. While a normal protein intake is roughly one gram per kilogram of body weight (or around 0.5 grams per pound) to maintain our muscles, this increases slightly when we want to build muscle, often up to one gram per kilogram of our desired weight. In cases of recovery from injury or surgery, protein needs may even double or triple! It is important to remember that protein should not be more than 30% of your caloric intake.

Calorie-Counting Apps We Recommend

Top Pick: Calory

Calory, our top pick, is a user-friendly calorie counting app for Apple and Android. You can record calories, macronutrients, water intake and weight, all without opening the app to type, as meals can be logged by Siri. Not only can you create your own custom foods, but Calory has thousands of pre-set recipes for convenience and inspiration. While Journal View shows your daily snapshot, you can also see weekly, monthly and annual progress charts.

Calory has three payment levels: a free version, $14.99/year and $29.99 for lifetime access.

Befit Tracker

Designed for MacOS and iOS, the Befit Tracker provides easy access to caloric data on over 5000 foods. The Befit Tracker allows you to set calorie intake and BMI goals, and create your own shopping lists and recipe lists. If you don’t see a food already in the tracker, just take a picture of its barcode with the app to add a new entry!

Perfect Diet Tracker

The Perfect Diet Tracker takes into account your height, weight, age, gender and current activity level, to find the number of calories you need to maintain, lose or even gain weight. There are over 100,000 foods in the Perfect Diet Tracker’s database, including brand-name foods specific to your country. The app is compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux, with both free and paid versions.

Calorie Control Council

The Calorie Control Council’s Healthy Weight Tool Kit includes calculators for BMI, calories burnt during different types of exercise, calories in food, and a weight calculator that tells you how many calories you need for maintenance. If you decide to use low-calorie foods and sweeteners but need some inspiration, they have a wide range of recipes from desserts to meat dishes.

Three Tips If You Are New To Using A Kitchen Scale

  1. Make sure that your scale is set to “zero” with the bowl you will use to hold the ingredients sitting on top of it. Otherwise, you will measure the bowl’s weight.
  2. When using a calorie counter, always look for specifications, such as whether the food is raw or cooked. It is best to find the food’s general listing, and only use a specific brand’s measurements if you are cooking with that product.
  3. Many food labels will contain nutritional information per 100-gram serving. To adjust this measurement to the amount you actually use, multiply it by one-hundredth of the food’s weight in grams.

For example, if the food contains 200 calories per 100 grams, but you want to use 30 grams, it is 200 x 0.3 = 60 calories.

The Rejuvences Kitchen Scale is a lightweight, convenient way to measure exact amounts of food, which helps you to meet specific nutrient requirements. Your weight loss goals will be much easier to achieve when you no longer have to guess, and can keep track of how much you are eating.