Meat - weight before or after cooking?

angiec68

does anyone weigh their food? I'm wondering when looking at oz per serving for meat - is that the precooked or postcooked weight? I know that 3 oz of precooked chicken breast weighs less after you cook it.

SyStEmPhReAk

Unless there are nutrition facts for both uncooked and cooked, I normally weigh BEFORE cooking. Just how i do it...

pixiechick8321

After, cooking removes the water. Pasta, rice, etc is before, since water is added. Water has no calories. It does no good to weigh it as part of a nutritional food.

Rule: subtract fluid, weigh after; add fluid, weigh before.

mynameismita

Since I always add seasonings and oils/butters to my meats, I weigh it raw.

MrsWilsoncroft

I always weigh mine raw x

ShannonMpls

After, cooking removes the water.... Water has no calories. It does no good to weigh it as part of a nutritional food.

That doesn't make sense. How one cooks meat determines how much water is cooked out.

If you take a 160g raw chicken breast and cook the ever-living crap out of it, it will weigh less than if you cook it perfectly.
By weight in the database, the overcooked version will have fewer calories than the perfectly cooked version, but of course in reality they have the same number of calories. The only difference is that one tastes good and the other doesn't.

160g chicken breast (weighed raw) = 176 calories
Overcook that chicken breast so it weighs only 90g because you've cooked every last drop of moisture out of it: 149 calories (chicken, breast only, cooked, roasted in the database)

You'll be underestimating this way.

Because water loss is so dependent on cooking choice (and ability!), it makes the most sense to weigh raw if one is looking for the most accurate choice.

If one simply wants an estimation, weigh whenever is more convenient for you.

Topher1978

Before if you want accurate calorie info

LilLolo22

Weigh raw

angiec68

Thanks. I was leaning toward Raw, just wanted a few more opinions.