Weighing recipes

LisaTcan

I'm trying to really tighten up my logging/weighting in order to lose some stubborn baby weight. When you cook a recipe how do you make sure you log it accurately? Do you weigh each ingredient and then add the total and then weigh your portion?

sammyliftsandeats

Using the recipe builder, weigh your ingredients and add them in - and then when done cooking, weigh the finished product. Use the grams weight as your number of servings so when you weigh out 200 grams, log it as 200 servings.

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ksmommy5

Recipe builder is your best friend. I make a chilli. I put all of the ingredients into the builder. I then weigh my pot (zeroing out its weight first obviously) and then if it weighs 2500g then my serving size is 2500. So 1g= 1 serving. When I want some chilli, I put my bowl on the scale, zero out, add my chilli and if it was 200g then I log it as 200 servings.

LisaTcan

Thanks everyone! I've been using the recipe builder for years but I normally just used measuring cups and then divided the whole recipe into 6 or whatever. I'm sure 1gm=1 serving will be much more accurate.

magraewright

Get a scale and yes weight everything. I've been meal prepping for quite sometime now. The purpose isn't only to lose body fat but also to eat better and feel better! When I started I was a little over 18% body fat, now I'm at 13%. So it does work! Good luck

theotherthinme

Hi all, newbie poster here, so apologies if I'm resurrecting an old thread (and possibly being a bit thick) but I'd like your opinions please...

I use similar methods to the above to calculate the calorific value of a portion of a meal I have cooked. The question and possibly issue that I have is that I weigh my ingredients raw and both the calorific value and weight of each ingredient can, though not always, change due to the cooking process.

How do you guys work that out, so that you're managing to track as accurately as possible?

Kathryn247

I figure out the calories of the ingredients raw, and then use fractions of the cooked weight. Say the raw calorie total is 2000, and the cooked weight is 1000 grams. If I have 500 grams of it cooked, that's 1000 calories. If I have 250 grams, that's 500 calories.

Macy9336

I'll look up the difference in caloric content on the web and do some fancy math. Because you're right, even something as simple as a slice of toast will have more calories than when it was a "raw" slice of bread. So just putting in calories when raw, you under estimate.

Macy9336

Here's a good article on the impact of cooking methods on chicken breast.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/336835-why-do-caloric-counts-change-when-cooked/

deannalfisher

Macy9336 wrote: »

I'll look up the difference in caloric content on the web and do some fancy math. Because you're right, even something as simple as a slice of toast will have more calories than when it was a "raw" slice of bread. So just putting in calories when raw, you under estimate.

huh...a piece of toasted bread and untoasted would have the same calories...that makes no sense

if you log it raw - then add any toppings that you use (butter/jelly etc) - but the base bread calorie isn't going to change

re: chicken breast - yes 4oz raw of chicken breast is going to have less calories than 4oz cooked (because chicken breast shrinks when it cooks due to water being removed) - so logging raw is more accurate in the long run (i.e. I could weigh raw at 4oz and then depending on how much I cook it, that weight could vary)

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deannalfisher

zachbonner_ wrote: »

sammyliftsandeats wrote: »

Using the recipe builder, weigh your ingredients and add them in - and then when done cooking, weigh the finished product. Use the grams weight as your number of servings so when you weigh out 200 grams, log it as 200 servings.

Wow doing the total grams as the number of servings is genius. I've been doing it wrong the whole time lol

I think I have one recipe that had something like 5000 servings - but it works well

toxikon

I don't do the gram = serving, but it's definitely a clever tactic. I do a lot of meal prep, so after I'm finished cooking, I portion it out into 1 serving per tupperware container. It's not as accurate as the gram method, but it works fine for me. I do my best to make each serving an equal size.

hesn92

I use the recipe function. Like I made lasagna the other night. I added all the ingredients into the recipe builder, and when it was all done I weighed the whole thing (minus the weight of the dish) and however many oz the thing weighed I put that as the number of servings.

Enjcg5

I must be a "visual" learning. Im reading the responses hoping to make sense of how to use the recipe builder accurately but I'm still confused