I have a pair of old-fashioned kitchen scales that I use whenever I'm using European recipes (often in weight, not volume measurements.) I like that they will never run out of batteries and as long as the kids don't destroy them (I know my brothers and I got in trouble for that one a lot) they will keep on plugging away. (My brother still uses one for weighing his packages before shipping his ebay sales.)
I had a Salter digital scale in Britain which worked well enough. But I prefer the non-digital kinds.
BTW, calories are not all equal... I would suggest simply avoiding too many grain-based carbs and adding some good quality bone broth to your diet (if you do animal products.) Don't be afraid of fat either. Since meeting me, my husband (over the past 8 months or so) has reduced his blood cholesterol significantly as well as his a1c level (diabetes marker) considerably on an "unhealthy" higher-fat, higher-meat diet!