Logging food- what to use?

futmom

This may be a stupid question but I have to ask. Cooked a 4 oz piece of chicken breast yesterday. After cooking it was 2.7 oz. I assume I enter the lower amount in the food intake and not the before cooking number. Is that right?

kommodevaran

It's one of the most crucial things to know in order to succeed with calorie counting, and this being an issue, isn't even obvious to everybody. The entry should specify whether it is raw or cooked, and cooked how. Check with the USDA database anyway.

murp4069

Log the 4oz raw, if by cooking it you meant actually cooking the chicken from its raw state and not reheating already cooked chicken. Unless a label says otherwise, you generally weigh and log your foods raw (dry in the case of pasta and rice).

ETA for clarification.

diannethegeek

You can do either as long as you choose an appropriate and accurate entry in the database. If you weigh it raw, then choose an entry in the database that specifies it's for the raw weight. If you weigh it cooked, then choose an entry that specifies it's for the cooked weight, preferably one that specifies the type of cooking (for instance, you wouldn't want to use a grilled entry if you boiled it).

musicfan68

You would log the raw weight - all that is lost is water during cooking, not calories.

maybe1pe

murp4069 wrote: »

Log the 4oz raw. Unless a label says otherwise, you generally weigh and log your foods raw (dry in the case of pasta and rice).

definitely this. If I know the weight of the chicken or food before I cooked it I always log the raw weight under the raw entry for example "chicken breast, boneless skinless, raw"

TavistockToad

Weigh it raw, log it raw.

Weigh it cooked, log it cooked.