Weighing meats - before or after cooking?

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atomiclauren
atomiclauren Posts: 689 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I asked about this in another thread and it got buried (and no bumping would bring it back to life!) so here it goes.

Do you log the weight of your meats before or after cooking?

The main reason I ask is because for one of the main foods I tend to eat, salmon, the USDA nutrient database has entries for raw and cooked and per ounce or gram the difference is negligible (5 oz cooked Atlantic salmon = 292 calories vs. 5 oz raw Atlantic salmon = 295 calories).

Obviously I'd love to use the after-cooking-weight but I still see mixed answers, even in cases like this.

TIA!

Replies

  • myfitnessnmhoy
    myfitnessnmhoy Posts: 2,105 Member
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    In general, meat is weighed before cooking unless the database entry specifically states "cooked" or "precooked". Of course, most of the database entries are user-submitted so there's going to be significant inconsistency there.
  • alpine1994
    alpine1994 Posts: 1,915 Member
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    I weigh it after I cook it and find it in the database as cooked, like "grilled chicken, 4oz" or whatever. Seems to work out ok.
  • atomiclauren
    atomiclauren Posts: 689 Member
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    Thanks guys - it just sucks to log 8 ounces of "raw salmon" and only actually eat about 5-6 ounces of "cooked salmon" :ohwell: :happy:
  • arcticfox04
    arcticfox04 Posts: 1,011 Member
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    I always do it raw. You never how much gets cooked away. It varies piece by piece. Also other users submitted data might cook it in a different way.
  • leafstucker16
    leafstucker16 Posts: 136 Member
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    Always after cooking. I would never weigh meat before cooking because it loses so much during cooking so your not going to get the real weight of it before.
  • pixiechick8321
    pixiechick8321 Posts: 284 Member
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    If it's cooked, then after - you lose a ton of water weight when cooked. If you are eating sushi, or a light sear on the meat (ie, not much cooking done) then do it raw.

    Pasta is before. Veggies are a toss up (raw or cooked is similar, if you do a ton of cooking and thus lose a lot of water, then do cooked, if you steam it, do it either). Fruit is usually after (especially grilled pineapple or baked apple). Meat is as I stated above.

    Just use common sense - if you know the object is full of water and it will be gone after cooking, do it after. If you know the object will ADD water (ie, pasta, rice, etc), then do it before. Water has no calories so shouldn't be counted.
  • atomiclauren
    atomiclauren Posts: 689 Member
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    Just to clarify, I'm not using user data - I'm pulling both cooked and raw straight from the USDA Nutrient Database (http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/)
  • Gramps251
    Gramps251 Posts: 738 Member
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    The usda is pre cooking but I figure we're dealing with approximates anyway so I just consistantly weigh after cooking. If I have to I'll adjust the amount but everything is working for me right now.
  • beekuzz
    beekuzz Posts: 428 Member
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    I always use cooked, but check multiple sources. Thanks for mentioning the usda database. That should help quite a bit.

    Also, since I've lost 33 lbs in just 90 days, I'm guessing my logging is working for me. When I start to slow down, that is one area I will work on harder.
  • lukeevans85
    lukeevans85 Posts: 108 Member
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    Just to clarify, I'm not using user data - I'm pulling both cooked and raw straight from the USDA Nutrient Database (http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/)

    I don't quite understand how the USDA site didn't answer your question. The salmon example they gave is ridiculously obvious and they should have varied that weights to prove their point. But either way 5 oz of cooked salmon and 5 oz of raw salmon are the same thing. It's still 5 oz of salmon. If you cook it and it goes to 3 oz then by all means weigh it again.

    Personally, I weigh it when I cut it to ensure that I'm logging the correct amounts. I'm sure up until I bought my food scale that every salmon filet or steak that I cut and logged as 4 oz was actually 5-6 oz. Now I cut it and weigh it to make sure I'm portioning everything correctly. If it loses some weight I'm not going to weigh again or adjust my input...the difference will most likely be negligible anyway.
  • atomiclauren
    atomiclauren Posts: 689 Member
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    I was just asking for clarification since other calorie/nutrition measurements I've come across DO vary. Where is the support for that. I also trust the USDA nutrient site but by no means would I say it's the end-all-be-all.

    I'll go with my after-cooking measurements - it is more accurate anyhow when we're splitting it up (and I can actually make sure we're getting equal amounts!).
  • simplydelish2
    simplydelish2 Posts: 726 Member
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    I've always been told by nutritionists to weigh or measure my food in the state I eat it. If I eat it raw - measure it raw; if I eat it cooked - measure (or weigh) it cooked. One exception is pasta - always weigh it before cooking as the amount of water it absorbs will vary a bit each time.

    Hope that helps....
  • melonclarinet
    melonclarinet Posts: 163 Member
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    If you measure it after cooking, you are underestimating the amount of calories (and nutrients you are taking in). Think about it this way: If when you cook meat all you're losing is water...why would the 4 oz you end up with be less calories than the 5 oz you started with? You're not cooking calories out. I did a lot of research on this topic and even when you look at packaged meats it tells you how much that meat weighs before cooking and a lot of times include nutritional information for that weight.
  • jp8810
    jp8810 Posts: 5
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    I always measure food raw for one simple reason. How long you cook your food alters how much water (and water weight) you have cooked out of your food. The nutrition info for raw chicken, for example, should be consistent whereas the cooked weight could factor 80% of the water cooked out instead of the 50% (making up numbers) of the water I ACTUALLY cooked out depending on how long the food is cooked thereby throwing off the nutrition info.

    At least that is the way I see it -- someone please correct me if I am mistaken.
  • Troublemonster
    Troublemonster Posts: 223 Member
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    I weigh it after cooking then search the database using the cooking method (i.e. grilled chicken breast, sauteed vegetables etc)
  • ShannonMpls
    ShannonMpls Posts: 1,936 Member
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    I always measure food raw for one simple reason. How long you cook your food alters how much water (and water weight) you have cooked out of your food. The nutrition info for raw chicken, for example, should be consistent whereas the cooked weight could factor 80% of the water cooked out instead of the 50% (making up numbers) of the water I ACTUALLY cooked out depending on how long the food is cooked thereby throwing off the nutrition info.

    At least that is the way I see it -- someone please correct me if I am mistaken.

    Exactly.

    Take 6 ounces of raw chicken. Cook it beautifully, so it's moist and delicious. Now weigh it. Then throw it back on the grill, and cook the hell out of it so it's dry. Weigh it again. The water you've cooked out of it doesn't have calories, but it definitely weighs less than the perfectly-cooked piece despite having the same calorie count. You will be underestimating calories based on the way you cooked it.

    Raw is more accurate when it comes to meat.
  • kimothy38
    kimothy38 Posts: 840 Member
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    I've always been told by nutritionists to weigh or measure my food in the state I eat it. If I eat it raw - measure it raw; if I eat it cooked - measure (or weigh) it cooked. One exception is pasta - always weigh it before cooking as the amount of water it absorbs will vary a bit each time.

    Hope that helps....

    This is the approach I use too - weigh/measure in the state you intend to eat it. I'm not gonna rip myself off by weighing raw meat then eating less because it weighs less when cooked.
  • erikapereira
    erikapereira Posts: 196
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    depends what the nutrition facts in the package says.....

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