Counting cooking fat

tiffanydavey

Tried to hunt around for an answer but couldn't fiND one. How do you count cooking fat? If I cook with a tbsp of coconut oil, I don't get to eat a whole tbsp. What do you count if anything?

Thanks!

PPumpItUp

I try not to use extra oil, just enough for the item(s) I am cooking. If I use a tablespoon of olive oil I count the entire tablespoon, a lot of it gets absorbed into what I am cooking. If there is a good amount left and you are cooking something like chicken breast that will not leave a lot of excess moisture behind you can try to measure it? I would say if it look like oil you can count it as oil, if it looks like drippings with oil mixed in, only count 1/2 of the contents as leftover oil (this is just a ratio I pulled out of a hat).

Another idea is, the excess oil and moisture in the pan, you can always drizzle it over whatever you just cooked.

KnitOrMiss

Calories are not an exact science anyway. Pretty much everything is an estimate (even calorie goals). That TBSP of coconut oil will be the same no matter what when you start, but your dish may or may not absorb everything. The FDA/USDA allows up to 25% margin of error on nutritional labels, so if you tend to be underestimating, I would count the full amount and divide by portions in the recipe. If you tend to overestimate, come to a compromise you can live with. If you don't know, choose one method and stick with it. You can always change your method after a few weeks if it doesn't seem to be working. Good luck!

P.S. As with everything health related - consistency is key - so whatever you choose to do, stick with that option. Also, if you put the "raw" ingredient on there, or "drained" there might be logical entries. If you use "USDA" as a search term, with a result that has no * first, then you will get an officially recorded entry, not a user generated entry.

sweetteadrinker2

I usually don't count it. Typically I'm using a teaspoon of olive oil and one of butter for my mushrooms, if I know I'm having that for dinner I just make sure I'm around 100 under on calories overall to account for that and any other discrepancies.

totaloblivia

I don't bother, as long as I am still losing, I don't worry about counting that kind of thing. Maybe I will have to get stricter later!