Conflicting calories with Steak

mortonmoore

So Im trying to work out calories of a steak for dinner.

I have a 208g raw beef Fillet Steak.
MFP says 291calories "Beef Fillet Steak, Raw, Lean" ✅

Then I cooked the steak and thought I'd weigh and see how much cooked. The same steak now weighs 114g.
MFP says 369 calories for "Fillet Steak"✅ (Im guessing this option is cooked?)

Can someone please help me with this as this is a big difference.

(Additional side question, how do we know when a green ticked option is cooked or uncooked?)

Thanks Dan

mortonmoore

Lietchi

Unfortunately, the green checkmark doesn't really guarantee accuracy.

I would use the first entry, because the syntax indicates its based on a USDA food database entry. (You can cross-check on the usda website, looking at the 'legacy' foods)
There's probably a usda entry for a cooked version too, but it will be less accurate because with a different cooking time the end weight varies.

The MFP food database is crowdsourced and your other screenshot is a good example of an entry I would avoid because it's vague.

springlering62

I look for uncooked entries. I also try to buy packages that have calorie info already on them. Unfortunately, this is hit or miss with meats, especially fresher versus processed or vacuum packed meats.

I’ve been doing this for years. My general rule of thumb is that cooked meats are .66% the weight of the uncooked. Or, meats lose roughly 1/3 of their weight when cooked.

That’s my cooking style, and I’m not a fan of rare runny meats. YMMV so suggest you experiment for a while weighing both raw and cooked meats til you get your own % down.

That’s my go-to in case I forget to weigh the raw meat, or have cooked a huge batch and chopped a bunch for lunches throughout the week. I know that 6 ounces will translate to 4 in my wrap.

And agree with @Lietchi green checks generally have no meaning. I actually have better luck with people who’ve gotten aggravated and entered sos and so food “corrected”. Not 100% but usually more accurate than the green check.

neanderthin

So, your numbers are close to reality for raw simply because we don't know exactly what cut you used and fat content will differ regardless of what it might say on the package or a data base based on factors like what the animal was fed, grazing time and age for example, which will show up as marbling. No marbling to speak of then less fat content. Most lean cuts of steak will have around 300-350 calories for around 200g's and I would just stick with those numbers.

Anyway getting a cooked weight that low will have facilitated a few things. First with that much weight loss this was cooked well done. Also during the cooking process protein will unfold, which is called denaturation and will expose their amino acid chains, so basically losing a little of the protein content and of course water will be lost considering muscle fiber is around 80% water, as well as some fat to a lesser degree and this is where most of the weight was lost. So like I said just stick with your original calorie amount to be safe imo.

rileysowner

Go with the raw calories. Most of the weight loss is going to be water cooking off which will not change the calories. The fat that cooks off will lower the calories and fat macro, but not so much that I would personally worry about it as nutrition information is an average and will not precisely reflect the actual piece of meat you are eating. Some cattle will have more fat, some less. In the long run, and weight loss is a long run proposition, it will all average out.

mortonmoore

Thanks for all your answers guys, very helpful. It's a shame the green ticks aren't as accurate are I hoped, kinda wonder why they have the green ticks at all now? 🙄

kshama2001

Unfortunately, the green check marks in the MFP database are used for both USER-created entries and ADMIN-created entries that MFP pulled from the USDA database. A green check mark for USER-created entries just means enough people have upvoted the entry - it is not necessarily correct.

To find ADMIN entries for whole foods, I get the syntax from the USDA database and paste that into MFP. All ADMIN entries from the USDA will have weights as an option BUT there is a glitch whereby sometimes 1g is the option but the values are actually for 100g. This is pretty easy to spot though, as when added the calories are 100x more than is reasonable.

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

Use the “SR Legacy” tab - that's what MFP used to pull in entries.

Note: any MFP entry that includes "USDA" was USER entered.

For packaged foods, I verify the label against what I find in MFP. (Alas, you cannot just scan with your phone and assume what you get is correct. Note: scanning is mostly only available with Premium these days.)

loulee997

mortonmoore wrote: »

So Im trying to work out calories of a steak for dinner.

I have a 208g raw beef Fillet Steak.
MFP says 291calories "Beef Fillet Steak, Raw, Lean" ✅

Then I cooked the steak and thought I'd weigh and see how much cooked. The same steak now weighs 114g.
MFP says 369 calories for "Fillet Steak"✅ (Im guessing this option is cooked?)

Can someone please help me with this as this is a big difference.

(Additional side question, how do we know when a green ticked option is cooked or uncooked?)

Thanks Dan

If you are pan cooking your steak, many people add butter, oil, or other fats to keep the steak from drying out. I'm assuming the cooked version is assuming 'fats' for cooking.

When I search steak, grilled, 6 ounces--I get several options close to the raw steak calorie count. The steak cooked calories vary because of user error or they are adding in their 'cooking' fats.


You can search teak grilled and ounces or grams or use the raw entry. How you put in the description varies things as well. A lean grilled steak and beef steak sirloin will come up differently because of the assumed fat content. Lean will be presumed to be lower fat.

But I'd just use the raw steak calories. Then put in a separate entry for any added fats.

Here is a calorie calculator for LEAN beef by ounce.
https://www.nutritionix.com/food/lean-beef

You can also create your own entry.
https://www.nutritionix.com/food/lean-beef


Lou