Weighing meat for counting

jbgolf52

I know that to be accurate you should weigh food raw, which I have recently started doing (was weighing it cooked). I cook in bulk at one time for lunches throughout the week and last night I made boneless and skinless chicken thighs. The total amount of weight raw was 49.5oz. Taking the number from the package, the total calories for the chicken is:

49.5oz x 42.5 cals per oz = 2,103.75 total calories

My question is how long after cooking do you wait until you measure the amount that's left over in order to get what an ounce of the cooked meat is calorie-wise? I weighed the chicken right after it was done and got 43oz total. I put all the thighs in a Tupperware container and let them sit to cool for a bit before putting in the fridge. When I was putting them in the fridge, I noticed there was some liquid at the bottom so I emptied t and then re-weighed the chicken and got 41oz. So:

2,103.75cals / 43oz = 48.92 cals per ounce of cooked meat

2,103.75 / 41oz = 51.31 cals per ounce of cooked meat.

The total calorie amount doesn't change, just the amount that is attributed to each ounce of meat. For those of you who do what I'm doing, how long after do you wait to weigh the meat? Do you weigh it while its hot off the grill or from the oven or wait until it cools? I'm not sure which one to use because the waiting period is when the juices redistribute. Also, I figured since I switched to weighing raw I might as well be as accurate as possible. While it seems like not a big deal, this happens with every meat/ fish I cook and can be a difference of up to 100-150 cals per day which is significant.

jbgolf52

Ok I'll make it shorter: I weigh my food raw and use the nutritional info for raw food. When I weigh it after to see how much the meat cooked down to, I normally weigh it immediately after cooking. Is this right or should I wait for it to cool down, when it has released more juice and therefore weighs less?

wolfchild59

I would err on the side of caution and use the weight after you poured off the liquid since what was released probably had little to no calories in it. So the bulk of all the calories would still be in the meat that remains in the container.

jbgolf52

I would err on the side of caution and use the weight after you poured off the liquid since what was released probably had little to no calories in it. So the bulk of all the calories would still be in the meat that remains in the container.

Good point, thanks for the advice!