Weighing your food...precooked or postcooked

sashalarue

Do you weigh your food before or after you cook it...

maru84

Before

lulabox

Usually before too. If I eat at someone's house or the canteen, I do cooked: I try to estimate how many cup sizes of pasta, salad etc.

epcorne

Before

pg3ibew

I don't understand why everything is done before cooking.

It would seem a piece of meat would shrink after cooking.
While things like rice or pasta expand after cooking.

hailzp

I do it after cooking. Seems like it would be more accurate in my head. no?

Jack_mc

Depends upon the meal sometimes b4 with some stuff, yet chicken i always do after. Also some of nutritional info is after cooked also sometimes the database on here says cooked or not for some foods go with however u feel is right. Bit of both x

EricMurano

Cooked or uncooked I have to use a food from the database whose data is based on that state. I can't use a "raw chicken" entry if I'm weighing cooked chicken. Raw chicken has a lot of water that evaporates when you cook it so cooked chicken will have more calories per gram.

If I'm cooking a meal I'll weigh everything raw then add the ingredients to a recipe.

david_swinstead

Well i do everything cooked burt I never know if I'm doing what I'm supposed to.

Problem is, with the MFP database, the vast majority of it is user submitted, so you have no way of knowing whether the values were entered based on cooked or uncooked food.

Pandorian

I use raw weights, just like the restaurant chains, watch their menu's you'll see a * beside steaks or hamburger notifying you that it refers to pre-cooked weight.

Taking a slab of meat at 8oz raw, cooked blue-rare might lose next to nothing, same piece cooked through to well-done may well weigh an ounce or 2 less depending on quality of the cut etc. The only way "2" people can get the "same" result from the same piece of meat is to use the raw weight
Same with pasta etc. Starting with it raw you'll be able to get the 'same' calorie count from the same package in the end though you cook it al dente (still with a crisp) while they cook it SO much that it's about to fall apart from all the additional water.

jenilla1

I don't understand why everything is done before cooking.

It would seem a piece of meat would shrink after cooking.
While things like rice or pasta expand after cooking.

I do it before because it's easier to measure your ingredients before you cook. It's very simple. You choose RAW meat and UNCOOKED pasta/rice when you log using measurements taken before cooking.

jadedone

Both: meat after cooking, if i am making a recipe then pre-cooked. Generally veggies are pre-cooked weight.

taso42

Depends. If i'm making a recipe like chili, I do the measurements raw.
If I'm making chicken breasts or something, I used the cooked weight (because I usually some random fraction of the chicken breast at a time).

The answer is, do it however is convenient, just as long as you log it accordingly.

howeclectic

I tend to go with before cooking as it is far more reliable. Most caloric information is given on the precooked state. So for say a sauce, if you cook it, it will lose moisture (making it weigh less) but will simply condense the fat/sugars altering the accuracy. The only exceptions to this would be with meats, however, i would weight anything used in the cooking process beforehand (oil, butter, shortening, breadcrumbs, etc). Typically though, if you're using low fat turkey or chicken, small differences in weight might only amount to small differences on average- I wouldn't fret them too much. What you have to watch out for are the secret calories that come from sauces, oils, creams, and butter. Going a little overboard with these will have a lot greater calorie swing then whatever miss estimate you might make in a measurement of turkey or chicken.

NicolioRussell

Before!

howeclectic

just wanted to add another thing i kind of figured out in my year on MFP. As you use MFP so long as you are CONSISTENT you will get a general feeling of your metabolism. So if you set yourself up to lose 2 pounds a week but are only losing 1 pound a week, you can be somewhat confident you are not 100% accurate. The easiest thing i've found to do, is just change your caloric goal. You might be miss measuring your exercise or your food intake, but if you adjust your calorie goal until you get the pace that you want and remain consistent in your technique who cares if the exact numbers are dead on? I think its best to tweak things on MFP until you get the pace you want. So if you tend to overestimate your calories my 10%, reduce your calorie goal by 10% and continue doing what youre doing. Dont make it too hard on yourself!

RAFValentina

Cooked or uncooked I have to use a food from the database whose data is based on that state. I can't use a "raw chicken" entry if I'm weighing cooked chicken. Raw chicken has a lot of water that evaporates when you cook it so cooked chicken will have more calories per gram.

If I'm cooking a meal I'll weigh everything raw then add the ingredients to a recipe.

This as most ingredients unless specified are in their raw state - the reason being the variation in water due to cooking changing the calorie density.

corrymeela

foods which absorb a lot of water should be weighed after cooking-
eg 100g uncooked rice weighs 300g cooked.its about 120 cal/100g cooked,if you used dry weight 100g=360 cal
the nutritional label on the food states if it uses cooked weight.

whoiskat23

Crazy... I just did a search on this as I was preparing my dinner since I am trying to be more accurate and measure. But anywho, I found the following article that was very helpful to me. It basically says weigh your meats both before and after, and all your grains, before.

http://www.skinny-bits.com/2010/04/weighing-your-food-raw-vs-cooked.html

mfoster1019

so if i allow myself 6oz (or whatever amount) of ground turkey at a meal, and i weigh it after it is cooked...am i calculating too little or too many calories? i've been weighing it after i cook it.

blooomers

why are you weighing your food? should i? :embarassed:

magnetwife

I've been going with cooked weight. I read all the posts but have yet to run into a restaurant yet where it has the pre cooked weight, other than McDonalds referring to their quarter pounder. now I'm wondering if I've input data wrong; I've managed to lose 24 pounds in 8 weeks so I'm sticking with what I'm doing but now wondering!

taso42

Depends on the food. Just be sure to log accordingly.

nataliewood222

Meat is cooked
rice is cooked
oatmeal is cooked
potatoes are pre-cooked

3dogsrunning

why are you weighing your food? should i? :embarassed:

It's more accurate. You don't have to, many people are successful by using measuring cups and stuff but if you find you are stalling you may want to look at it.

I weigh pre-cooked as often as possible especially for things like rice and pasta which can really depend on cooking methods for after cooking weight.
If I do measure cooked I make sure to use an entry that reflects cooked weight, not raw.