Do I Need to Weigh My Food to Track Macros?

You’ve heard your friend, family member, or coworker discussing precisely weighed food portions, or maybe you’ve seen them carefully weighing out their food on a little scale and placing the portions in designated containers. You’re wondering if you really need to weigh your food to track macros. Let’s discuss tracking macros, weighing your food, and whether it’s necessary. 

What are Macronutrients?

Those looking to gain muscle mass or drop pounds often count macronutrients. Tracking macros refers to keeping track of the types of foods you eat to achieve certain macronutrient goals.

It’s not as confusing as it initially sounds. The three primary macronutrients are carbs, fat, and protein. To count macronutrients, you typically figure out your calorie needs first and then determine which macronutrient ratios/percentages you’d like to follow.

For example, you might choose 10% carbohydrates, 20% protein, and 70% fat. You can finetune your macronutrient percentages. Some people require different macronutrient ratios from others. Check out our guide on tracking macros for more information.

Do I Need to Weigh My Food to Track Macros?

Tracking macros simply means you log the foods you eat on a food journal, website, or an app like MyFitnessPal or Lose It! These apps are specifically designed to help you track macros. Many apps come with a barcode scanner that allows you to scan some foods directly into your macro log.

If you’d like, you can use a digital food scale to weigh your food, but it isn’t necessary. You don’t need to weigh your food because when you input a specific food, the apps perform the calculations for you. If you’re using a food scale, you weigh each food item before logging it into your preferred app.

Eating Habits & Disorders

Some health and fitness advocates don’t believe a food scale is needed and that it adds unnecessary hassle, time, and energy and might heighten the risk of food anxiety and orthorexia. When making large batches of food with multiple ingredients, it’s trickier to be completely accurate with food weighing. If you’re frequently cooking for other family members, the process might be a little complicated and time-consuming.

Others believe weighing food on a scale can enhance your chances of success in different ways. For example, modern digital food scales are usually inexpensive and measure in ounces and grams to give you specific measurements every time. Some people note they’ve found discrepancies between the actual weight of food in a single serving package and what’s listed by the food manufacturer on the label. Many dieters and foodies claim there’s sometimes less than a full serving in one package.

The main reason given for tracking macros is precision. While it’s a little easier to log your fruit as one avocado or one small avocado, some foodies claim this isn’t accurate enough. If you don’t eat the pit, core, or peel, they recommend you don’t count that in the weight of the food. If you make a recipe and it turns out different sometimes, they claim it’s probably because of human error when measuring, so using a food scale gets rid of this problem.

Concluding Thoughts

It’s up to you if you’d like to weigh your food to track macros. If you don’t weigh your food, it’s one less step to think about. However, you won’t know how much it helps you until you try it.

Remember, you don’t have to be a stickler when it comes to tracking your macros. You don’t need to hit your targets exactly, and you can still meet your health, weight, or fitness goals even with a few grams under or over your daily macros.

It also isn’t necessary to count your macros, but you might decide it keeps you on track and prompts you to make even healthier choices. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, so you might find it easier to use an app like MyFitnessPal.

Do You Weigh Your Food on Keto?

How do you track macros? Share your top keto tips with the keto community!