Raw vs. cooked meat calories

surlydoc

While searching for calorie breakdown for chicken online, I noticed that there is a different calorie count for 4oz chicken breast raw vs. cooked (the same 4 oz. increases in calories once you cook it). I understand that water cooks out of raw meat, thereby making it more dense, but how should I log? I've been using prefilled estimates by brand, etc., but I'm thinking that these were the raw counts and that I am eating more calories than I've been logging. How does everyone else do this? Is there a simple formula or way of knowing how much cooked chicken you are eating if all the calorie counts are for raw? Thanks.

Ready2Rock206

If you weigh it raw (which is the most accurate) then log a raw entry. If you weigh it cooked then search for the cooked entry depending on you cooked it and log that. There are both cooked and raw entries in the database.

ktekc

use the usda database to find what you are looking for then look that up in the MFP database. like,
05062, Chicken, broiler or fryers, breast, skinless, boneless, meat only, raw or,
05747, Chicken, broiler or fryers, breast, skinless, boneless, meat only, cooked, grilled

edited because spelling is hard. . .

emailmehere1122

There was a post about this not long ago...I didn't know it but your supposed to weigh it raw because that's what the calorie information is based on.

If you've already cooked it you need to multiply the cooked weight by 1.5 to get the correct weight. I actually experimented by weighing some chicken raw then cooking it and that method worked perfectly.

DaintyWhisper

The reason that the calories increase is this. It doesn't mean that 4 oz of cooked chicken becomes more calories once cooked. It means that if you have 4 oz of raw chicken, it will generally result in 2.5 to 3 oz of cooked chicken. But if you have 4 oz of cooked chicken, it means that you probably started off with 5 to 5.5 oz of raw chicken. That's why it's giving more calories for the 4 oz of cooked chicken than for the 4 oz of raw chicken. For me, it's just a whole lot easier to weigh meat raw. The calories you see on the package are usually for 4 oz of raw chicken. Let's say you have 4 oz of raw chicken breast at 120 calories and cook it, the amount it weighs after you cook it doesn't matter. It's still 120 calories.

cwolfman13

surlydoc wrote: »

While searching for calorie breakdown for chicken online, I noticed that there is a different calorie count for 4oz chicken breast raw vs. cooked (the same 4 oz. increases in calories once you cook it). I understand that water cooks out of raw meat, thereby making it more dense, but how should I log? I've been using prefilled estimates by brand, etc., but I'm thinking that these were the raw counts and that I am eating more calories than I've been logging. How does everyone else do this? Is there a simple formula or way of knowing how much cooked chicken you are eating if all the calorie counts are for raw? Thanks.

The reason 4 ounces cooked is going to be higher calorie is because it was heavier than 4 ounces when it was raw...it loses water when cooking...you're eating a bigger piece of chicken.

A 4 ounce raw piece of chicken will weigh less than 4 ounces after cooking.

There are both raw and cooked entries in the database...if you weigh it raw and cook it, use the raw weight...because that's what you're starting with. If you cook it and weigh it, use a cooked entry.

megsi886

Isn't is maddening? Bacon is almost always based on cooked weight, but you have to really hunt to find that info on the package label. It makes sense because you can lose so much of the fat in preparation.

I sometimes check this way: multiply the serving weight by the number of servings per package. If the result is the net weight of the package, they're using the weight as packaged (raw, frozen, whatever). If the multiplication doesn't come out, it's a good clue they're using cooked weight. (Very occasionally I've found a package label that's just clearly wrong, though.) With chicken I think they often inject it with saline or some other magic formula and that factors in somehow.

A reverse example from my freezer: the serving size is in pieces instead of weight. But the bag is 40oz and is supposed to have 8 servings, so on average 5oz frozen should be the serving size.