How much sugar did your REALLY put in your coffee?
Written: Apr 06 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Extremely accurate!
Easy to store.
Cons: Expensive. Gram/Ounce switch on bottom of unit
The Bottom Line: A good choice for anyone who wants accurate measurements down to a .05 ounce. A very handy kitchen and diet tool.
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| tony1963's Full Review: Soehnle 4-Pound Attache Scale |
The Soehnle Attache is a very handy tool for anyone trying to count calories. For most people trying to lose weight, the formula is very simple. Figure out how many calories you burn each day and eat less calories than you need. There are different ways of approaching diets, such as choosing foods that burn easier or are better suited for your lifestyle or body type, but the bottom line is you need to know how many calories you are shoveling into your mouth in order to decide how much you need to reduce your intake. In order to count calories properly, you need to have some confidence in the measurements you are making. It is fine to say "I will eat 2 ounces of pasta", but who can figure out what 2 ounces of pasta really looks like without a scale? I think one of the reasons that people have such trouble losing weight is because they overestimate their activity level (they think they burn more calories than they actually do), and they UNDERESTIMATE how many calories they are eating, for instance they scoop out a tablespoonful of margarine on a knife but they think it is only a teaspoonful.
With a basic analog scale, you can see an approximation of the weight of your food. Depending on how well it has been calibrated and from what angle you are looking at the needle on the dial, you can be off by a little or even a lot. It probably is a good enough measurement for a substantial amount of food. If you want to measure a pound of raw chicken, it really doesn't matter if you are off by an ounce or so. But for finer measurements such as a teaspoonful of margarine, I'm not sure I could trust a low-end scale. Since I wanted to get very serious about losing weight, I wanted something that would give me a very accurate count of my food intake. Consumer nutrition labels on packaged food is a real blessing because it gives a good amount of information to help anyone trying to decide how much of the food they want to eat. Forget the "serving size" recommendation, most people eat what they are used to eating, if the label says there are 100 calories per serving, and 1 tablespoon is their idea of a serving, you will need to do some math to figure out how many calories your actual serving size will be, but you still need to make an accurate measurement to figure this out. The Attache is a great option for this task.
The Attache measures weight in both grams and ounces. I didn't think grams would be too important to know, but many times I need to figure out calories based on the nutrition label's measurements, and they often give it in "teaspoonfuls" and "grams", not ounces. So when I measure my ingredients I check the gram weight to make sure I measured correctly. The scale is EXTREMELY accurate, I have checked its accuracy on a number of prepackaged food items (candy bar, pre-cut cheddar cheese, etc). These foods indicate on their labels their approximate weight, if the candy bar label said on it should be 60 grams, the Attache said it was 60 grams. The cheddar cheese weight was labeled 8 ounces, the Attache said it was 8.05 ounces. I gradually poured water into a measuring cup sitting on the Attache, and when the reading on the scale said 8.00, I stopped and saw it was perfectly on the 8 ounce line on the cup. I was impressed. Another great feature of the scale is it is able to reset to zero at a touch of the front pad. Place a bowl on the platform, it will show the weight of the empty bowl. Reset the zero, and now you can add an ingredient. Check that weight, then reset the zero again to add the next ingredient. No need to empty the bowl each time, saves on dishes and utensils! The scale will automatically turn off after 2 minutes of non-use, or if you hit the pad twice it will turn off manually. And the great thing too is it gives weight down to the .05 of an ounce (or to a single gram), so you can be super precise in your measurements if necessary.
I admit this level of accuracy must sound anal retentive, but like I mentioned earlier, I find that people are woefully unaware of how wrong their measurements are while counting calories. After getting the Attache, I checked some basic stuff I used to take for granted, such as a serving size of peanut butter. I put a slice of bread on the Attache, reset the zero, then removed the bread and spread my serving size of peanut butter. I put it back on the scale and it showed that I added 56 grams, about 3.5 tablespoons rather than the 2 tablespoons I thought I had added. I basically underestimated what I was using by about 150 calories. Granted it is not the end of the world, but considering that was just one example, I could only imagine how many extra calories I was consuming each day without realizing it. Okay, anal retentive AND paranoid :)
There have to be some cons to this product, one is the price. I'm not sure why they charge $70 for such a small scale, but I also know the accuracy of the scale is amazing so perhaps the guts of it are more impressive that the exterior. It is a basic white, flat, plastic, uncomplicated design. One thing I wish they would have done differently would be to make the gram/ounce switch easier to access. It is on the bottom of the unit, so if you need to change between ounces and grams you need to turn it off and turn it over. But overall I am glad I bought it and I do recommend it for anyone serious about watching what they eat.
Last thing to mention, Soehnle warrantees the Attache for 10 years, parts and labor, but oddly it needs to be sent to the place of purchase if you need service. I bought it online at Amazon.com, I hope they are still around in 10 years :)
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
tony1963
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Reviews written: 7
Trusted by: 0 members
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