Measured Success with the Ozeri Pro II

What’s your diet weakness?  Mine is very much snacks.  I’ve pretty good meals but the snacking in-between meals is my biggest downfall.

I absolutely love the calorie counting app from Myfitnesspal.com to keep track of what I eat. It’s hard though to keep track of the constant munching I do throughout the day.  I’m always estimating (downwards, of course!).  Recently I’ve been using the Ozeri Pro II digital kitchen scale to weigh my snacks and keep my calorie counting accurate.

Reports suggest that up to 40% of people underestimate their serving suggestions. For example, that heaping tablespoon of peanut butter may technically be 2 tablespoons.   Here’s how this neat-looking kitchen scale comes in handy for weighing different snacks.

Jellybeans

How many calories can a handful (10 precisely) jellybeans be?  You can check the calorie count for a lot of foods in the handy Ozeri calorie guide which comes with the scales.  At 3.75 calories per gram, 10 jellybeans came in at 10 grams or 38 calories.  Not too bad I think.

Marshmallows

I thought for sure the marshmallows would be a lot more calories than the jellybeans because they were just big and puffy and sugary-looking.  Five marshmallows weighed in at 32 grams and at 3.18 calories per gram were equal to 102 calories.  That’s less calories than I would have thought.

Pistachios

Pistachios are supposed to be a healthy snack. A bowl of pistachios (or 37 to be precise) came in at 5 grams and at 5.64 calories per gram were a reasonable 28 calories.

Apples

An apple is the healthiest of the snacking options in terms of filling you up for minimal calories.  My apple weighted 146 grams and at 0.52 calories per gram, was equal to 76 calories.

Crackers

The nine cheese crackers weighed 14 grams and a total of 180 calories.  The crackers were a lot of calories (and that’s not including the cheese that goes on top of them!).

In honour of Halloween, I had to weigh some Skittles and a snack-size Mars bar.

The candy came out to 20 grams and 236 calories.  So little and so many calories.  Yikes.  I could have had  A LOT more jellybeans for far fewer calories than the candy if I really just wanted a sugar fix.

I’ve noticed that measuring my snacks has helped me cut down on the amount I eat.  I still snack (a habit of a lifetime will be hard to change) but now I have better portion control.  And, I can’t delude myself that a teeny amount of junk food really amounts to barely any calories.

I love the black and stainless steel look of the scale which blends in well with the rest of my modern kitchen.  The scale is incredibly easy to use and accurate (I’ve tested on packaged items).  The measurement can be set to imperial or metric.  The scale works on batteries which are included.  You can also use a container to weigh items using the tare button which allows for the net weight of the items to be calculated.

What do you think?  Do you agree with the people who suggest measuring food will help people make healthier eating choices?

I was provided the Ozeri Pro II Digital Kitchen Scale free of charge in exchange for my review but all words, opinions and images are my own.