Measuring question

kathyvstephan

When you measure out 6 ounces of chopped meat (or any other type of meat that shrinks with cooking), do you count the calories before or after you cook it? Eg: I cooked 6 ounces of lean chop meat and, after cooking, it weighed about 4 ounces. This shrinkage happens for may items. I'm curious how the shrinkage affects calorie count and how to account for it in MFP.

Thanks.

55in13

Meat calories are always inexact. The fat content varies pretty widely and even the lean meat is inconsistent. Every calorie guide I have ever used lists calories for uncooked meat as a convenience because that is how you buy it. Primary cause of shrinkage in cooking is escaping water and collapsing cells, not losing calories. Meat is an exception to some degree as some fat melts off it. But measure it raw.

EDIT - An exception to what I said about guides is when they list prepared foods like restaurant burgers or whatever.

caseythirteen

A lot of the MFP provided entries for meat will state if the entry is for cooked (various cooking methods) or raw. While it's not exact, it's at least close. If I have the nutritional info from the package than I will just use that and it would be the raw value.