Logging meat that shrinks when you cook it

misssmarita
misssmarita Posts: 130
in Health and Weight Loss
When you're dealing with meat that shrinks when you cook it (like bacon), what do you log it as, what it weighed before or after you cooked it? I know it's better to log the weight it was before it was cooked, since it's better to overestimate the calories, but I'd really like to get this as accurately as possible. Another thing is, how much it weighs when it's cooked is what I'm eating it as, so it'd make sense to log it like that... Or am I completely wrong? Please unconfuse me :)

Replies

  • SweetestLibby
    SweetestLibby Posts: 607 Member
    all meat shrinks when you cook it. 4 oz of raw chicken will cook down to 3 oz (cooking draws out the water content) so use the raw weight.

    Dry foods like beans and pasta absorbs water so the cooked weight is heavier. go with the uncooked weight.
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  • kddarrow
    kddarrow Posts: 24
    I was wondering the same thing, so interested to see other replies. Another question I have is if most meats in the MFP food log are giving us calories for the pre-cooked weight or the cooked weight. My guess is that it varies, and the only way to know would be to do a little more work & look up the nutrional facts for cooked vs uncooked....ugggh.... :/
  • lporter229
    lporter229 Posts: 4,907 Member
    Because the calorie values vary so widely on entries for meats, I always look for the "USDA raw" entries because I think they are the most acurate. Then you are sure you are using the raw weight and not cooked.
  • Gilbrod
    Gilbrod Posts: 1,216 Member
    all meat shrinks when you cook it. 4 oz of raw chicken will cook down to 3 oz (cooking draws out the water content) so use the raw weight.

    Dry foods like beans and pasta absorbs water so the cooked weight is heavier. go with the uncooked weight.

    ^^^This
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  • Davina_JH
    Davina_JH Posts: 473 Member
    Shrinking Meat!? :frown:
    Definitely see a doctor.
  • SuperSexyDork
    SuperSexyDork Posts: 1,669 Member
    When it comes to bacon, the packages normally tell you by serving. In fact, most packages will say something like, "2 pieces, cooked and drained" as a serving because they subtract the amount of fat that cooks off to make their nutritional data seem at least somewhat healthier.

    For the rest of it, in the cooking process, most of the time, not only does water cook off but to a lesser degree fat. For example, when browning ground beef, it is possible to remove most of the fat content simply by draining and rinsing the meat after cooking it. For all meats, I do not trust the label, rather I use the MFP data for it (which is based on the USDA Nutrient database). You can find this entry for either raw or cooked foods by looking for entries without the asterisks next to it while searching the food database. Most of the the time (especially with fish) the amount listed here will be more than what is on the package but I would much rather have the right numbers than lower numbers. Most of the time I use the weight after cooking because on MFP, for example you can look up cooked chicken breast and to a certain extent the way that it was cooked and get accurate data.
  • nehushtan
    nehushtan Posts: 566 Member
    It depends on how lean the meat is when you start.

    If it's just dropping water (like infused lean chicken breast meat) then the raw and cooked calorie counts are really the same.

    Bacon that shrinks is probably dropping fat -- you can see it curdle in the skillet -- which is a lot of calories.

    For ground beef, it's hard to know how much fat is expressed without measuring. Beef that's 75-80% lean is probably losing a whole lot of fat. If you're making chili or spaghetti sauce and you brown the beef then strain it, then for sure a lot of those calories are going down the drain instead if into your esophagus. The effect is as if you had started with leaner ground beef -- which is pretty cool, eh?
  • misssmarita
    misssmarita Posts: 130
    You guys think too much about things that don't matter that much. Lol. Calories are not precise. Don't get so hung up on these petty details. All things are weighed and measured in their raw form. You don't make chicken cordon bleu and weigh it when you're done, you weigh all the ingredients before you put them together and cook them. You don't weigh your spaghetti with sauce and all. You weigh each component prior to cooking. Come on now. Don't be silly about this. Seriously.

    Measuring meat cooked is so not the same as measuring cooked spaghetti with the sauce added. I had the meat on it's own, so I thought it was a completely legit question. I'd agree with you if this was around 50 calories or something, then it wouldn't be that big a deal, but in this particular instance, it made a 390 calorie difference in my lunch. I'd say that matters.
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
    You're already aware that food preparation changes the weight and therefore the nutritional information/weight of a food, so just make sure you are weighing it in the same state as it is on the nutritional reference you are using.
    If it is in a different state or you are unsure, you will have to use a different nutritional information source.
  • adamb83
    adamb83 Posts: 719 Member
    Raw/uncooked for all foods unless otherwise specified on the labeling (sometimes they'll even give you both cooked & uncooked data). I usually calculate the raw data (unless the nutritional info clearly states "cooked") and then add whatever else on top of that after cooking (seasonings, dressings, etc.)

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