Fat lost during cooking / nutrition facts question
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AmZam05
Posts: 130 Member
I've been eating low carb for about a month and I absolutely LOVE it. I'm not doing strict keto or anything, but keeping my carbs under 75g on lifting days, and 50 or less on non-lifting days, sometimes 30 or less. This is total carbs, so net is 10-15 lower.
Anyway since my cooking has changed and I want to log as accurately as possible, I have some questions that might seem stupid but that I'm having a hard time finding the answers to. I know you're supposed to weigh your meat in its raw state for accuracy. But take chicken thighs for example. If I roast a bunch of chicken thighs in the oven, I have a good 1/4" of fat sitting in the bottom of the pan when I'm done, and I don't dump it in my plate. Similarly, fattier types of ground beef like 80% chuck leave a lot of grease behind that I don't eat.
Doesn't this make the nutrition facts very flawed? I just have an incredibly hard time grasping that a chicken thigh the diameter of my palm is 500 calories and equal grams fat and protein despite a bunch of drippings cooking out and being left behind. If it's correct, then so be it, but when fat is involved I can see the raw vs. cooked nutrition being quite different. And then there's the question of bones.
How would you log things in this situation? I don't want to be overdoing my calories, but I can easily eat 2 roasted chicken thighs for dinner. I just can't imagine it's actually nearly 1,000 calories based on the raw weight and the package's nutrition facts.
Again I apologize if this is a stupid question or something that's been covered numerous times but I'm having hard time finding info. Any insight is appreciated!
Anyway since my cooking has changed and I want to log as accurately as possible, I have some questions that might seem stupid but that I'm having a hard time finding the answers to. I know you're supposed to weigh your meat in its raw state for accuracy. But take chicken thighs for example. If I roast a bunch of chicken thighs in the oven, I have a good 1/4" of fat sitting in the bottom of the pan when I'm done, and I don't dump it in my plate. Similarly, fattier types of ground beef like 80% chuck leave a lot of grease behind that I don't eat.
Doesn't this make the nutrition facts very flawed? I just have an incredibly hard time grasping that a chicken thigh the diameter of my palm is 500 calories and equal grams fat and protein despite a bunch of drippings cooking out and being left behind. If it's correct, then so be it, but when fat is involved I can see the raw vs. cooked nutrition being quite different. And then there's the question of bones.
How would you log things in this situation? I don't want to be overdoing my calories, but I can easily eat 2 roasted chicken thighs for dinner. I just can't imagine it's actually nearly 1,000 calories based on the raw weight and the package's nutrition facts.
Again I apologize if this is a stupid question or something that's been covered numerous times but I'm having hard time finding info. Any insight is appreciated!
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Replies
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Well when I search grilled chicken thigh, there are quite a few options to pick. Homemade grilled chicken thigh, 4oz each, is 161 calories and 10 grams of fat. That seems reasonable.
I usually search how I've prepared the meat, such as roasted chicken leg or grilled chicken breast, smoked pork, etc.0 -
The database has USDA (non-starred entries) for some cooked meats. For example they have Chicken - white meat only no bone no skin - roasted
For recipes I use the raw entries. For meats that have a lot of fat cooked out of them (like ground beef) I use the cooked entry.
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Regarding the bones, I either cut the meat off the bones and weigh it, or I weigh the thigh before I eat it and subtract the weight of the bone left at the end.0
