calories / grams before or after cooking

katbean12
katbean12 Posts: 45 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi All,

I am trying to decipher the most accurate way to calculate my intake.

I am perplexed, when the quinoa says it is 170 calories for 1/4 cup dry (44 g)... this means for a 1/4 cup of raw quinoa it's 170 cals.
Do the calories lessen after I've cooked that 1/4 cup?
and If so, how do i equate that? do i say it's 1 cup of cooked quinoa (because 1/4 cup uncooked will likely swell to fill 1 cup after it's cooked).. ?

Also for weight the Ounces of meat, do i log the weight the chicken was Before it has been cooked, or after?

I'm sorry if these are silly noob questions., but appreciate your wisdom none the less.

Thx Paaaals!

Replies

  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    If you're going to cook and eat 1/4 cup of dry quinoa then log it as 1/4 cup dry for the 170 calories. It's much easier and more accurate to measure things like quinoa, rice, oatmeal and pasta by dry weight.
  • tanayar
    tanayar Posts: 6 Member
    the way i do it is i just look for the cooked option on here such as cooked rice, pan grilled chicken, beef chuck steak (1oz cooked) etc... it works for me and if something just seems way too low i will try to research it online or original packagaing, and if that doesnt work i will just up my portion count on here but not in real life lol :)
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,412 Member
    I measure everything uncooked.

    If you use the database here, always use the entries in the database that have been entered by the MFP Staff. They are entered correctly, and they give options of ounces or grams.

    You can find these by looking for the entries in the database that have NO ASTERISK ( * ) in front of them.

    When it comes to any fruit or vegetable, the easiest way is to enter "Avocado raw" - if you always enter "raw" it cuts the list way down and makes it much easier to find the no asterisk ones. Meat is easiest this way, too.

    Also, if you enter your own food, or EDIT any foods they will also appear with no asterisk (and can also then be found quickly in MY FOODS).
  • Mrgoodkat007
    Mrgoodkat007 Posts: 1
    I weigh all of my meat after cooking...
  • wibutterflymagic
    wibutterflymagic Posts: 788 Member
    For pasta, grains etc I usually take the dry measurments....water doesn't add calories so the amount of calories for 1/4c of dry quinoa, for example, is going to be the same before and after cooking. For my meat I weigh it before cooking. If you're off by an ounce or so it's not going to make a difference.

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