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MyFitnessPal Community

Question about weighing food?

ldstrange

Should food be weighed before of after cooking?

I've been weighing/measuring my food after cooking feeling that it would better indicate the amount consumed and not measure water/fat lost in cooking.

Input please.

Replies

Grimmerick

I weigh it before to err on the side of caution, plus I always figured the companies weigh it the way it is when they package it.

whierd

Good question. I tend to do it either way. Whichever is more convenient at the time.

jolt28

I agree and do after - besides there are some things that just can't be done before, like if you roast a whole chicken, then you need to measure just what you eat. So I figure might as well be consistent and do it after all the time.

staceypunk

Bumping for answers

Pasta I do dry.

Steam bag of veggies is after it's cooked (obvious becuase your instructed not to puncture the bag) but I also use a measuring cup not my scale for this.

Macaroni and cheese says "as prepared" so I measure with cups after cooking and mixing in butter and milk.

Seems different for everything!

Grimmerick

what about pasta though, you wouldn't eat much of it if you weighed it after cooking it

Alwayssohungry

Depends what kind of food. Since I assume you're weighing it to log your calories you need to weigh it the same way the manufacturer did to get an accurate count. Most times that is before cooking.

I weigh my meat after cooking because, like you said, fats and juices.

shmoony

The simple anwer is both. It depends on how the maunufacturer has labeled it and what database listing you are using as a reference. Meat products should be weighed before cooking to be accurate to the package, but if you want to weigh after, there is a listing in the database for that as well. Pasta should definately be weighed before because how much water it aborbs depends on how long you cook it. Some foods lose weight as you cook them, some gain weight, so just go by the labeled cals/gram on the package and weigh according to their specs.

TigerBite

You can do it before or after (though IMO, things like pasta, rice, grains, beans, letils, and the like are much easier if you do dry weight). When you look up the nutrition information just make sure you specify whether the food is cooked and by which method (braising, grilling, roating, etc). I like using nutritiondata.com, because they give you a bunch of options as to how you've cooked it (or if it's raw); Then, I take the information I get from there and create my own food in the MFP database (If I can't find it).

ChangingAmanda

For meats, it depends on the database entry. If it says chicken-raw, I weigh before hand. If it's ground beef 93% lean pan browned, then I weigh after cooking.

Packaged foods I mainly weigh before hand unless calorie count is based on prepared.

Fresh fruits & veggies I weigh before hand.

ldstrange

LOVE the 'stach!