when do you weigh your food?

Amandanicole222
Amandanicole222 Posts: 5
in Food and Nutrition
When weighing food for calorie count purposes , am I supposed to weigh before or after cooking it to get an accurate weight for the suggested calories? Also , if you say you are have a 4oz pork chop for dinner. Is that four oz of meat or 4 oz including the bone in? Sorry if these are stupid questions I'm just not sure n want to be logging accurately.

Replies

  • ValerieMartini2Olives
    ValerieMartini2Olives Posts: 3,024 Member
    It depends on what I am eating. For things like cheese and fruit, I weigh before. For things like meat, I weigh after cooking, except like if I am making chili or something where everything is thrown together, I weigh before.

    For something like a bone in pork chop, weigh the pork chop with the bone in, then eat what you can off it and reweigh it after to subtract the bone.
  • The_Enginerd
    The_Enginerd Posts: 3,982 Member
    For meat, before. There are entries for the cooked weight as well as raw, but the final weight will depend on the cooking style and how well done the meat is, so using the raw weight is more consistent and accurate.

    Unless it states it is for "bone in", the entry is should be for the weight of the meat itself. User entered entries may not always state this however. You can check it against the USDA nutrient database

    http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list
  • emAZn
    emAZn Posts: 413 Member
    I found that I was eating almost 250-500+ calories by not weighing my meat raw before I cooked it. Try weighing your meat raw first then weigh it again after its cooked to see how much weight it loses.. it varies on the type of meat and how you cook it.
  • GingerLolita
    GingerLolita Posts: 738 Member
    Since I don't like putting raw meat on my scale, I usually just estimate based on how much was in the package, the weight of the package (which is listed on the front label), and the percentage that I ate.

    For anything else, I just weigh it before cooking. I use measuring cups instead whenever possible though.
  • SadFaerie
    SadFaerie Posts: 243 Member
    Since I don't like putting raw meat on my scale, I usually just estimate based on how much was in the package, the weight of the package (which is listed on the front label), and the percentage that I ate.
    You can put a plate on your scale, hit "tare", then put meat on.

    I weight meat before cooking, I usually fry or grill meat, it loses water, but not calories, so it's less accurate to weight it after.
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  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
    Since I don't like putting raw meat on my scale, I usually just estimate based on how much was in the package, the weight of the package (which is listed on the front label), and the percentage that I ate.
    You can put a plate on your scale, hit "tare", then put meat on.

    I weight meat before cooking, I usually fry or grill meat, it loses water, but not calories, so it's less accurate to weight it after.

    This^
    I use a small plastic plate so that I can still see the numbers, tare it and voila!
  • Minks_esposa
    Minks_esposa Posts: 54
    I always weigh my meat after I cook it and not before. Weighing before involves dirtying a dish and I have enough dishes dealing with 3 kids and a husband.
  • andresconejo
    andresconejo Posts: 264
    I always weigh and log everything raw, if i use any dressing or all the marinade i add it later but i mostly use spices so i don´t log them
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
    I am a perpetual misbehaver. I do not weigh my food.
  • Debbie_Ferr
    Debbie_Ferr Posts: 582 Member
    Since I don't like putting raw meat on my scale, I usually just estimate based on how much was in the package, the weight of the package (which is listed on the front label), and the percentage that I ate.

    Plastic wrap / Saran wrap as a barrier works great.
  • manda1978
    manda1978 Posts: 525 Member
    Before :)
  • beccadaniixox
    beccadaniixox Posts: 542 Member
    Always before. I put a piece of foil on my scale so it doesn't get dirty. :)
  • Sbrn_
    Sbrn_ Posts: 351 Member
    I weigh my food before cooking normally. I put an empty bowl/plate on the scale and weigh that before I do whatever it is I want to weigh. For example, the empty bowl weighs 50g, when I place the raw chicken in it the scale reads 200g. So, 200 - 50 = 150 Therefore the chicken weighs 150g! :indifferent:
  • Amandanicole222
    Amandanicole222 Posts: 5
    Thanks for all the awesome advice. I typically weighed after but I think I'm going to start trying before n see if it makes a difference.
    :wink:
  • Lochlyn_D
    Lochlyn_D Posts: 492 Member
    I always weigh before.
  • AmykinsCatfood
    AmykinsCatfood Posts: 599 Member
    There's a BIG difference between 3 slices of bacon raw, and 3 slices of bacon cooked. I always weigh after because, MORE BACON!
  • auntygill
    auntygill Posts: 108 Member
    Always before , cooking can change the composition of the food ,so always raw if you can .
  • glin23
    glin23 Posts: 460 Member
    90% of the time, before cooking.

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