Weighing potatoes?

dave_in_ni

Since I started my diet Potatoes are a rare sort of thing for me. When I do have them the way I used to weigh them was when the entire family was having them I'd lift out a couple of scoops of mashed potatoes out of the pot, put them on my scales and 2 scoops comes to around 130 grams depending on the variety of potato.

Now today for example I fancied potatoes, the family weren't having potatoes so I lifted out an average sized potato before it was pealed and weighed it, it came to 230 grams, now if you boil said potato and mash it you wouldn't even get 1 scoop with it so I decided not to have potatoes today.

So how exactly do you weigh these things? Before or after cooking?

Colorscheme

I always weigh my food raw.

fr33sia12

I weigh them before cooking as that's how I log them. If you chose to weigh them after cooking, chose the option for cooked potatoes from the database when logging.

Susieq_1994

If you're peeling it, then weigh it raw and peeled. If you're eating the skin as well, just weigh the whole thing raw. Then just weigh and log anything else you might add to the potatoes (like butter or gravy) later on during cooking. I find that much more accurate than weighing out a cooked serving and figuring out how much weight comes from butter or whatever.

dave_in_ni

Susieq_1994 wrote: »

If you're peeling it, then weigh it raw and peeled. If you're eating the skin as well, just weigh the whole thing raw. Then just weigh and log anything else you might add to the potatoes (like butter or gravy) later on during cooking. I find that much more accurate than weighing out a cooked serving and figuring out how much weight comes from butter or whatever.

The problem with that for me is a raw potato say said potato 220g comes to roughly 160 cals, now in order for me to get my 2 scoops I would probably need double that amount, so that would be 320 cals which I simply can't justify when trying to restrict to 1500 cals per day. I don't put anything on my mashed potatoes BTW just mashed up. 2 scoops of mashed potato isn't even very filling compared to brown rice, 220g of brown rice would do me 4 meals.

kristysaurus

I weigh and log everything raw because the weight changes. Weigh anything you add in later (butter, garlic, gravy and so forth). It keeps it simple. Plus, I figure if it loses/gains water it wont change the calories in it so this is the safest bet to be accurate

Queenmunchy

dave_in_ni wrote: »

The problem with that for me is a raw potato say said potato 220g comes to roughly 160 cals, now in order for me to get my 2 scoops I would probably need double that amount, so that would be 320 cals which I simply can't justify when trying to restrict to 1500 cals per day. I don't put anything on my mashed potatoes BTW just mashed up. 2 scoops of mashed potato isn't even very filling compared to brown rice, 220g of brown rice would do me 4 meals.

You control this, so if you feel the potatoes aren't filling for you, don't eat them. You're not restricted to either rice OR potatoes (or anything else). You may find that the 220g is filling enough when it's paired with other foods, or you may not.

Tweak as you go.

cross2bear

I am different, and since I have lost 77 lbs since October doing this, I'm sticking to it.

I weigh food how I eat it - I dont eat raw potatoes, so I am not going to weigh it raw. Weigh it after cooking, and then be careful to pick the appropriate entry from MFP's database - boiled, roasted, mashed plain etc. then if you add anything else to the potato, like butter, milk or whatever, obviously you are then going to add those calories.

The exception I can think of right now is pasta - because the box gives the weight dry, and past can vary so much in weight during cooking. There may be other exceptions but I cant think of another one right now.

SnappyDresser

calorieking.com/foods/calories-in-fresh-or-dried-vegetables-russet-potatoes-baked-flesh-skin_f-ZmlkPTEzODEwNQ.html

Using the link above, and changing the search terms, you can find the nutritional values of any fresh food possible in units of grams. For potatoes of any kind, or other higher calorie produce, I will enter in the item using units of grams and the nutritional info in grams as a new food. I enter it into the MFP database so when I am ready to eat a potato, I weigh the potato/food of any kind I enter the total weight in grams and MFP does the nutritional math for me. YES, it is a pain in the rear to enter in new foods & the nutrition info, but it is the only way to have any sort of accuracy. For my healing, I needed to make sure I was having the highest nutrition possible, so that accuracy was the only way.

Takes 5 minutes to enter a new food. Logically, as referenced by calorieking website, weigh the food before cooking. The dehydration or hydration of any food will skew the calorie count if you weigh it after cooking. Cooking it either dehydrates it further, like in potatoes, or adds water to it depending on how the food is cooked, either baked, boiled or steamed. Cooking changes the weight of the food. The calories remain the same.

The size in inches of fruit or potatoes etc, is as much as 25-50% inaccurate by just looking at a food is only a guesstimate. Gram weights, takes away all the inaccuracy if accuracy is what you need. I needed it. I wasn't losing, until after I got that accuracy. Then, I easily and steadily lost XX lbs and have kept it off.
I LOVE POTATOES of all kinds.

Mashed potatoes of any type, is a little trickier. I skin and weigh all the potatoes, writing down the weight and adding in the weight & calorie counts of the milk or butter if used. After cooking and mashing, I weigh the whole batch and divide up the servings by weight to determine the true calories of a weighted serving. It gets very easy after doing this a few times and you'll quickly figure it out. Like I said, I needed that amount of accuracy for my health & recovery.

I hope this helps you. edit: to correct egregious spelling error.

SnappyDresser

Two other thoughts, in trying to use the MFP database, it was only as accurate as the person as who entered the food into the database -- verified by other users helps accuracy most of the time, but you will see a wide range of food sizes and calorie differences. I ended up entering my own foods for accuracy so I could eat real food that I cooked myself.

Prepared foods, like frozen or canned meals or desserts, according to the FDA can legally be off by 25% in calories, either up, or down. Typically, the calories are up as the size of the meal is larger to keep customers coming in to eat. This is also true for any restaurant meals. Most of them, are around 30-40% higher in calories & nutrients than what the menu states for any particular meal on their menu. Don't be fooled. The restaurants know this too.

85Cardinals

The USDA nutrition entry I use for red potatoes says baked with skin, so I weigh them after baking in their skin. I obviously eat the skin too, I hear it's good for you and I don't mind the taste. Easier that way.

If a nutrition entry doesn't explicitly say baked, I'd weigh it raw.

I find potatoes very filling indeed, all that warm starchiness. I eat them with just pepper usually.

indiacaitlin

I weigh everything raw

lemurcat12

You can find both cooked and raw USDA entries, so I'd just make sure it identifies which it is. Either one is fine, although I like using raw when possible (i.e., not something like bone-in meat or if I portion out my bit before cooking).

I also find potatoes quite filling -- I am happy with 100 g no problem (plus meat and veg). Roasted with a tiny bit of olive oil and some salt and pepper. Love them -- my favorite starch, probably.

tomteboda

A scoop is a volume. A gram is a mass. Mashed potatoes are denser than raw according to your results.

Log grams and carry on.

Nota Bene: most mashed potatoes have other ingredients such as butter and milk or cream. If you eat them, you need to use the recipe calculator.

Francl27

I weigh it raw if I'm only making one, cooked if I'm making a bunch at ones.

But 200g of potato is fine for me usually.

lauraesh0384

I have a few baked potatoes every couple weeks. I weigh it raw and with skin. I manage to make it fit into my calories even with butter and sour cream. I eat one with a source of protein (either chicken or steak) and a veggie (usually canned corn or peas). I find it to be pretty darn filling.