Weighing your food.

Vivian06703188

I have been on MFP for about 75 days and in the beginning I was using measuring cups to measure my food and stay under my calorie goal. I knew it wasn't an exact method but I lost weight so it worked for me. But in an attempt to be more precise I bought a scale and have been weighing my food. I didn't realize food weighed a whole lot more before it was cooked so I was weighing it before putting it into the pan. I had a cube steak tonight and before cooking it weight 4.7 oz but after cooking it weight 3.4 oz. How do you weigh your food before or after cooking????

Camera_BagintheUK

I weigh it before. I mean, especially if you're making a sauce or stew, how would you weigh the ingredients after cooking?

BattleTaxi

Good question! I was wondering about this too!

glin23

I definitely weight it before. That said if you really want to be precise I'd probably do it before and after.

chelle_fri

Anything that shrinks when I cook it, I weight before. Anything that swells, I weigh after. It's a safe bet either way.

edit to say that I don't include veggies in this, those are allowed in gluttonous abundance.

lee91356

good foods like fruits, veggies and pure proteins (aside from cheese) I wont stress out too much about when to measure and those I believe are usually based on post-cooking weight. I would focus more on exact measurements of sauces, butter, milk, peanut butter, cereal, pasta, etc.

just my 2 cents

Avandel

Before

awebster2

Most things I weigh before but you can combine it. From experience, I now know that 2 ounces of dry spaghetti cooks out to five ounces. By knowing that, I can cook spaghetti for both my husband and I and then just weigh out five ounces onto a plate for my portion.

SuffolkSally

Just choose accordingly from the database e.g. rice dry weight or rice cooked weight, or in your example raw steak or cooked steak (in that case you also need to consider whether it's fatty or lean, of course,as that has a bearing on calorie content) . Other than that it's just down to what suits you best. I weigh uncooked almost all the time.

9jenn9

Before. In recipes, the ingredients (unless otherwise specified) are listed in the precooked weights/volumes. A 4oz chicken breast in a recipe means a 4oz raw chicken breast.

seliinac

I have a question. When the pasta package lists the weight and calories, in that dry weight or after cooking (when it's only absorbed water)? It doesn't say on the package I have.

Anthonydaman

Definitely before on anything that can lose water

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

Cooking changes the volume and it's difficult to tell how much. For example, a raw chicken breast might weigh 6 ounces before cooking and 4 ounces after. Or it might weigh 6 ounces before and 5.5 ounces after. But both will have the same calories because all that's changed is the water content. That's why I always weigh everything raw. If you do use cooked weight just make sure you find the cooked entry in the database to use.

MyaPapaya75

I weigh everything before

Serah87

BEFORE!!!! :happy:

Vivian06703188

Well I think weighing before I cook will be the way to go because I don't like putting hot food on the scale. I usually just put foil or plastic wrap on the scale to protect it so the heat could damage it. For the girl about weighing pasta the weights are on the wrapper are dry weights. Though I guess some things will still be cooked weight like ham deli meat for salads, and left overs Thanks for all the input!

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

Well I think weighing before I cook will be the way to go because I don't like putting hot food on the scale. I usually just put foil or plastic wrap on the scale to protect it so the heat could damage it. For the girl about weighing pasta the weights are on the wrapper are dry weights. Though I guess some things will still be cooked weight like ham deli meat for salads, and left overs Thanks for all the input!

For pasta and especially rice/quinoa, always weigh dry. I've found that those box mixes that say "serving size 1 cup cooked, servings per container 3" almost never come out to 3 one cup servings. Instead it comes to 2 1/2 or 2 3/4 cups total, so I just divide those into three equal portions.

If it comes cooked then the calories are for the cooked amount (like deli meat).

For leftovers I have my recipe entered in the database and divided into servings, so then I just take out one serving to heat up.

ritchiedrama

Pretty much all packets have (raw) food data, so before cooking..

Always weigh before..

on the odd occasion if I have a packet that says "cooked" i'll do it cooked, but either way,, consistency is key, if you do it the same way everytime with weight, you'll be consistent.

DragonSquatter

I weigh before and try to find entries in the database that list information for "raw" foods not cooked.

Ryan__V

I usually weigh everything before. I don't know if it is right or wrong, I just find it easier! I am a true believer of keeping it simple.

WVprankster

It's much more convenient to weigh food before it's hot, sweating, and smelling delicious.