Weighing food

jclawst

Donyoubweigh food before or after cooking in order to assess how many grams you’re eating?

cmriverside

before. Raw weights.

kami3006

Raw is much more accurate but if you are in a situation where you need to weigh after cooking then use the appropriate "cooked" entry instead. The USDA database is good for that as well.

WholeFoods4Lyfe

Raw as much as I can, especially things like steak which cook off a lot of water weight depending on how well done they are.

callsitlikeiseeit

always raw, unless product packaging indicates its a cooked weight

fr33sia12

Depends what the packaging says, some say uncooked some say cooked. For fresh food like potatoes, veggies etc always raw.

jclawst

Yeah my main question was about meat I guess. I rarely consume pasta anymore at all, and have a slice or two per day of some relatively healthy bread called Dave’s killer bread 21 whole grain bread.

Thanks for the replies

AnvilHead

You can find both raw and cooked entries for many meats in the database. But it's more accurate to use the raw entry and weigh it before cooking. If that's not possible for whatever reason, look up the 'cooked' entry and call it close enough.

It usually helps to add "USDA" to your search terms, to help sift out some of the (many) bogus entries in the food database.

flagrantavidity

For meats, raw is going to be most accurate. Just be careful with cross contamination with raw foods.

Yes, there are entries for cooked, you will probably only be off 10cals per 100 grams just depending how it’s cooked, raw is simply the most accurate.

flagrantavidity

AnvilHead wrote: »

It usually helps to add "USDA" to your search terms, to help sift out some of the (many) bogus entries in the food database.

I do this too. I track my macros and nutrients as well and something was off one day, so I went through my entries and noticed one of the usda entries was missing all nutrient information.

If this matters to you, it’s a good idea to check your entries not matter what the source.

amusedmonkey

Raw whenever I can, cooked when I can't, using the appropriate entry for each.

VUA21

Raw if possible. Particular with meat as a lot of weight from liquid can be lost through cooking, but not calories.

To avoid cross contamination, use a piece of plastic wrap to prevent the meat from touching your scale. (Still wipe it down, just to be extra safe).

ruffneckred

Recently started thinking about this. I just cooked 7.5 ozs of bacon, which weighed 2.8 ozs when cooked. I can see the amount of bacon grease that I poured off before cooking my eggs in the pan. Seems like a considerable amount of the 7.5 ozs will be there, plus what evaporated. The "fatsecret" website, shows quite a bit less calories in cooked. https://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/usda/bacon-(cured-pan-fried-cooked)?portionid=33869
So which do I use?

kami3006

ruffneckred wrote: »

Recently started thinking about this. I just cooked 7.5 ozs of bacon, which weighed 2.8 ozs when cooked. I can see the amount of bacon grease that I poured off before cooking my eggs in the pan. Seems like a considerable amount of the 7.5 ozs will be there, plus what evaporated. The "fatsecret" website, shows quite a bit less calories in cooked. https://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/usda/bacon-(cured-pan-fried-cooked)?portionid=33869
So which do I use?

For bacon, I go with what the package says. Bacon, a lot of the time, gives the cooked calories per gram so weigh it afterwards and go from there. If yours says raw, then used the raw weight.

nutmegoreo

ruffneckred wrote: »

Recently started thinking about this. I just cooked 7.5 ozs of bacon, which weighed 2.8 ozs when cooked. I can see the amount of bacon grease that I poured off before cooking my eggs in the pan. Seems like a considerable amount of the 7.5 ozs will be there, plus what evaporated. The "fatsecret" website, shows quite a bit less calories in cooked. https://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/usda/bacon-(cured-pan-fried-cooked)?portionid=33869
So which do I use?

Did you compare the 2.8 oz cooked versus the 7.5 oz raw? I would go off the package, because there are some differences from one brand to another. Just make sure the diary entry you use is cooked or raw accordingly.

Neiross1

jclawst wrote: »

Donyoubweigh food before or after cooking in order to assess how many grams you’re eating?

Weighing it after it is cooked is easier, it really doesn't matter as long as your are getting closer to your goal.

Best of luck.

vallary14

The only “meat” I eat is chicken and turkey. I weigh my chicken after it’s cooked and just try to shoot for a portion that’s about 4oz. I would do the same if I cooked turkey breast, but turkey is usually in the form of lunch meat or my favorite turkey sausages!

nutmegoreo

Neiross1 wrote: »

jclawst wrote: »

Donyoubweigh food before or after cooking in order to assess how many grams you’re eating?

Weighing it after it is cooked is easier, it really doesn't matter as long as your are getting closer to your goal.

Best of luck.

Depends on how you are cooking it. I usually add mine to recipes so before it gets mixed in with everything is much easier. Weighing before can also be more accurate due to changes in water weight resulting from different cooking methods, overcooking, etc.

kbmnurse1

Before most of the time.

Candyspun

I do it in its final state.

braves3134

callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »

always raw, unless product packaging indicates its a cooked weight

^^^ this