Weighing Meat

I believe the calories are for raw unless otherwise stated.

I was taught uncooked.

Uncooked would make sense, given that the weight of the meat in the package is uncooked, and that's what the serving sizes are based off of. I never realized this until weighing out an entire five pound package of ground beef before and after cooking. Yeah...pretty significant difference there.

Ive been toying with weighing my food but is this not bordering on obsessive?
Correct me if I am wrong - if its right, Ill do it.

Weighing your food is about the only way you are really going to know how much you are eating. You have no idea how many people I have seen claim 'this doesn't work, that doesn't work' and suddenly start dropping weight once they buy a food scale.

Ive been toying with weighing my food but is this not bordering on obsessive?
Correct me if I am wrong - if its right, Ill do it.

Weighing your food is about the only way you are really going to know how much you are eating. You have no idea how many people I have seen claim 'this doesn't work, that doesn't work' and suddenly start dropping weight once they buy a food scale.

^^^^^^^^^^SOOOO true!!

I try and weigh mine raw whenever possible. But if i don't I either chose a cooked meat option (some of the options on MFP will specificy how it has been cooked) or over-estimate.

you really only need to weigh meat though, right? I use measuring cups for things and then convert it into oz if I have to

It depends on the serving type listed. For example, butter's servings are usually listed in tablespoons. As such, measuring that by weight won't give you the information you need to determine the number of calories in what you are eating. Liquids are different as well, and usually measured in fluid ounces, milliliters, liters, etc.

When in doubt, check the serving size on the label to know which measuring method you would need to use.

Weigh meat or any food as you will eat it. I find that raw meat will loose 25 to 59 percent of it's weight in cooking. Is there an industry standard? I have been dieting since I was diagnosed with diabetes 39 years ago, but I don't recall anything but weighing meat cooked.

I mostly weigh meat, cheese and nuts. If the food is listed as a weight, I weigh it most of the time. I don't always bother with really low calorie stuff like spinach. I did, however, weigh spinach a few times so I can see what a serving looks like.

I weigh my meat cooked but I know that is incorrect.

There are so many guesstimates to things, particularly restaurant meals living abroad and even the packages of food bought can be off as much as 20%, so I try to reduce the guesstimates where I can. It may seem obsessive but it really isn't that hard and people's eyeballs tend to vary depending on how hungry they are.

Scales are easier and more accurate than measuring cups. If you put whole strawberries in a cup, that will be much different than if you slice it and different still if you dice it. One may think strawberries aren't a big deal but I'm speaking generically here.

I weigh my meat fish etc raw - unless it clearly says roasted, cooked etc....

I always weigh meat after it's cooked. The serving size is what you would eat and I wouldn't eat raw meat so.... that's just my logic and I'm stickin with it

The nutritional information on the packaging I've seen lists a raw and cooked value. Tonights chicken listed a serving as 4oz (112g) raw/ 3oz (84g) cooked. Both were listed as having 120 calories.

And why it should be weighed raw, unless otherwise stated. Protein and effectively calories don't disappear when the meat is cooked.