Life At Slow-Mo

If you ever did a diet based on calorie counting, you would be familiar with the problem of measuring what you ate. It is a daunting but important step in eating right. I got so used to eating whenever and in any amount that I want, my body lost track of how much is too much. One reason I do this intermittent fasting is to recalibrate my body’s satiety sensor. But before my body can take over control, I need to know the right amount of food I eat.

Knowing just the rough measure of food you eat will enable you to calculate the number of calories you take. This in turn will help you evaluate whether you have stayed within or gone beyond your calorie budget.

Check The Nutrition Facts

Most of the processed food you find in supermarkets or convenience store has nutritional information printed in its packaging. The number could be misleading if you’re not careful. Take the nutrition fact on this bag of cheese-flavored potato chips:

The first number you see is 110 kcal. Kcal, or kilocalories, is the unit that is commonly used to measure calories or amounts of energy. So when the bag says it contains 110 kcal per serving, it is the same as saying it has 110 calories per serving. Reading this information, you might think that the whole bag of chips only has 110 calories. But two lines above, the label says, “3 Sajian per Kemasan” or “3 servings per bag.” If you missed this part and finished the whole bag, you actually ate 3 servings or 330 calories. To put the number in perspective, it will take you roughly 33 minutes of running at 6-mile (9.5-km) an hour, or 33 minutes of stair-climbing to burn that much energy. (1)

Let’s say you just want to eat about one serving of the chips. How can you know that you have not passed that limit? Well first, share the bag with at least two other people. Second, put the chips in a bowl instead of eating them right out of the bag so you can see how much you are taking. Third, take about a third of the bag in a separate cup for yourself.

Portion Control

Portion control is a good strategy to keep yourself within your calorie budget. There are at least two ways you can do this. The first one is by using what is known as visual cues. This is very useful when you go to a party where they serve a buffet, or when eating home-cooked dinner. Measure the amount of food you are putting on your plate by using the following guide:

Some use a deck of cards, plate size, and a variety of other methods to make visual measurements.

Using The Kitchen Scale

If you are like me, you might not be happy with the visual cues above. I want to know exactly how much I eat. The driving motivation of this thought is that it is easier to find calorie information using food weight instead of volume. This is where the kitchen scale comes in.

I would suggest using digital kitchen scales like this one. My wife got this for only IDR 50,000 or USD 3.50 online. But if you have in your possession a higher quality scale, that would be even better.

The main thing to remember is the scale MUST have a tare button. This button helps you to weigh something while disregarding the weight of the container. The result is you get the net weight of your food without the weight of the plate on which you put it. Here is how I do it:

When taking food for my lunch, (1) I put an empty plate on the scale. Of course, it will weigh the plate. So I push the tare button to reset the weight to zero. (2) Next, I weigh the first food I want to eat. Let’s say I take some broccoli and put it on the plate. Say I take two scoops, read the weight, and write it down. Then I push the tare button again to reset. (3) I then take some tofu and put it on the plate. I read the weight, write it down, and press tare. (4) I take some rice, put it on the plate, read the weight, write it down, and press tare. And so on, until I have taken all the food I want.

There you go. Three ways to know how much you eat. Any other ways you have done yourself? Please share in the comments.