Calorie Counting 101

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  • beavislong
    beavislong Posts: 46 Member
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    Do you guys weigh meat before or after cooking?
  • Tanie98
    Tanie98 Posts: 675 Member
    edited November 2014
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    beavislong wrote: »
    Do you guys weigh meat before or after cooking?

    For me I always weigh it after cooking since I usually make allot to last me few days so I won't have to cook every night.I find that when its cooked most of the entries are in ounces instead of grams so i convert from grams to ounces .That's just me though. Not sure about others

  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    beavislong wrote: »
    Do you guys weigh meat before or after cooking?

    Weighing it raw will be the most accurate. If you need/want to weigh it after cooking that's fine as long as you choose an accurate and appropriate entry in the database (ie don't use a boiled entry if you grilled it, etc ).
  • nick40vmi
    nick40vmi Posts: 70 Member
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    beavislong wrote: »
    Do you guys weigh meat before or after cooking?

    Do you have an iPhone? If you do, have you downloaded the iOS8? If you have I use the 'Health Kits' app. You can link it to MyFitnessPal app, and when you punch in your weight it takes into consideration not just the date, but the time of day as well. So anytime, is fine. I would do one in the morning though to get the closest actual weight you are without consuming. But afterwards you can see how much you gain through a day, or lose, or fluctuate. I usually increase in weight. For example, I weighed 223 this morning, and weighed 226 this evening. Its neat to see how your body changes through the long run, and thats most important but throughout the day is also interesting, in my opinion, as well.
  • JessaLee0324
    JessaLee0324 Posts: 118 Member
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    Great post. I just bought a digital food scale last weekend and was unsure of what setting to weight my food on. I figured ounces. But I am totally going to start weighing in grams and see if that helps!
  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
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    diannethegeek wrote: »
    beavislong wrote: »
    Do you guys weigh meat before or after cooking?

    Weighing it raw will be the most accurate. If you need/want to weigh it after cooking that's fine as long as you choose an accurate and appropriate entry in the database (ie don't use a boiled entry if you grilled it, etc ).
    This. More often then not, if meat comes with nutritional info attached to it, it's based on raw weight unless it specifically states otherwise. If you are going to be weighing it cooked, you much search the database for entry that is based on cooked meat. Otherwise, you'll have a pretty big discrepancy.
  • beavislong
    beavislong Posts: 46 Member
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    vismal wrote: »
    diannethegeek wrote: »
    beavislong wrote: »
    Do you guys weigh meat before or after cooking?

    Weighing it raw will be the most accurate. If you need/want to weigh it after cooking that's fine as long as you choose an accurate and appropriate entry in the database (ie don't use a boiled entry if you grilled it, etc ).
    This. More often then not, if meat comes with nutritional info attached to it, it's based on raw weight unless it specifically states otherwise. If you are going to be weighing it cooked, you much search the database for entry that is based on cooked meat. Otherwise, you'll have a pretty big discrepancy.

    After I posted this I found a site that gave some multipliers to use if you can't weigh your meat before cooking. Thanks for the replies!
  • jasonweremy2012
    jasonweremy2012 Posts: 16 Member
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    Thanks for the awesome post that you posted. I have only been here a month and I haven't read a lot of advice that others have posted throughout their journey of weight loss. 7 Years ago I was doing everything by pencil and paper. I was tracking every single thing I ate. I was eating 800 calories by dinner time(eating breakfast and lunch and the only liquid I had was water). In that year that I did that diet I lost 20 pounds(had only vegetables and water). Just before I got this App I was doing the something. My roommate told me about it and I started using it. Even though I have a cheat day, I still put it in. It holds me more accountable to what I am eating. By guessing and not measuring what you're eating and drinking is going to skew the results. The first cheat day that I had 5 days into this App I got my usual meal at a fast food restaurant. Since I was knew that was my cheat day, I ate a little bit less and had just water. Well the meal that I got, I never knew the nutrition facts of it until I put it into the App. It was 1700 calories and I am a 2000 calorie diet a day. It was a really hard pill to swallow looking at the meal that I ate on a regular basis before taking a diet on. I almost throw up where I was sitting because I never realized. Basically what I am trying to say is "thanks to the people here with all their words of wisdom and the App." I've lost between 1-2 pounds of weight every week for the last 4 weeks I've been doing this. It's been 3 weeks since my last fast food meal. I weight, measure and have been cooking at home every night. With the help of this board, app and my determination, organization and making sure everything is accounted for. It's going to be a great road to travel on, even though it's not the easiest. Thanks again everyone.
  • anashnyc
    anashnyc Posts: 39 Member
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    Great advice and I've been doing this with great success so far. I've lost about 20 lbs in 10 weeks with no exercise. (I'm starting to lift this week) I also put in a buffer of about 10 % to account for inaccurate weighing.
  • Lnature71
    Lnature71 Posts: 84 Member
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    Thanks for the info. I have always measured in cups and tablespoons except for meats. I will start weighing everything as I am not getting the results I want doing the measuring method.
  • Steph1015
    Steph1015 Posts: 119 Member
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    Bump
  • Jeanat147
    Jeanat147 Posts: 17 Member
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    Counting calories (this time around). It's sooooo slow..... (weight loss). Scale didn't move today (after being so good all weekend) I want to go in the kitchen and eat everything I see!
  • lcm55
    lcm55 Posts: 6 Member
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    I am new to MFP and I too am counting calories this time. I already have a digital scale to weigh things and have pre-planned some calorie-content lunches so I'm not caught unaware.
  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
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    Jeanat147 wrote: »
    Counting calories (this time around). It's sooooo slow..... (weight loss). Scale didn't move today (after being so good all weekend) I want to go in the kitchen and eat everything I see!
    Results don't come over the weekend. Day to day weight fluctuates a ton. I try not to compare my weight in terms of comparing one result to the next. I weigh daily and then take averages and track the trend. This will allow me to see my actual progress despite the fluctuations of day to day changes. In the long run, your trend should be downward, if it is not, you are eating too many calories.
  • Jeanat147
    Jeanat147 Posts: 17 Member
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    Thanks. I didn't succumb. I did eat something that wasn't great but I did track it and stayed on goal. I did go back and look at the week and had lost 2 lbs so I did feel better. Even though I weigh daily I will still go back and look at the week!
  • eslcity
    eslcity Posts: 323 Member
    edited November 2014
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    In my humble opinion... someone that is making so much effort to get every calorie to the point of using a scale to measure Ketchup...is trying to get to a low BF% but for most of us... trying to lose 10kg or more wouldn't have to be so strict in our counting... weigh the big stuff.. and exercise...

    Clearly missing counting 5 carlories of mustard on our double cheese hamburger is not the problem...

    I know.... that for some calorie counting is almost a religion and to say you can eyeball it ...is almost as bad as killing a baby seal... however for most of us losing weight is about changing our life style... eating smaller portions... pulling away from the table... putting down the bag of potato chips and walking instead of watching tv or staying on the computer....
  • csever82
    csever82 Posts: 17 Member
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    I have to say I agree with vismal on most of his post...but I don't weigh anything. I eyeball it and overestimate if I'm not sure (e.g. at a restaurant). I've only weighed food for two weeks - the first time was the week before I started to track, and the second was the week after I hadn't lost much compared to previous weeks...just to make sure I was not inadvertently increasing my portion sizes.

    Long story short, I have lost 28 pounds in 16 weeks by ONLY counting calories, which puts me more than halfway to my goal. Beginning next week, I plan to add strength training in because I am beginning to lose some muscle, but otherwise, I have not exercised one bit. I have gained weight ONE week, and I fully expected it because while I had a "bad" week, I tracked every bite very honestly. This eliminated the surprise and disappointment for me that week.

    The bottom line is that if you have MFP configured for the rate at which you want to lose AND you are (accurately) tracking everything you consume, you will lose weight!
  • Jeanat147
    Jeanat147 Posts: 17 Member
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    My problem is (well it's not as much a problem as it is a weight problem) I'm a short woman who has genetics NOT on her side (I have 14 Aunts and not one of them is under 200 lbs). I want to refute all of that by losing this darn weight!!! I know I can but the only way has been watching every single thing I put in my mouth and logging it. When I quit doing this, I go back to that bad word (obese). If I log it I lose. And it seems the only time I lose and log is if I overestimate a little. If I eat out I try to drink much more water because of all the salt they add to the meals.
  • sonjabowler
    sonjabowler Posts: 9
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    THIS WAS GREAT!! Very useful information--thanks..
  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
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    eslcity wrote: »
    In my humble opinion... someone that is making so much effort to get every calorie to the point of using a scale to measure Ketchup...is trying to get to a low BF% but for most of us... trying to lose 10kg or more wouldn't have to be so strict in our counting... weigh the big stuff.. and exercise...

    Clearly missing counting 5 carlories of mustard on our double cheese hamburger is not the problem...

    I know.... that for some calorie counting is almost a religion and to say you can eyeball it ...is almost as bad as killing a baby seal... however for most of us losing weight is about changing our life style... eating smaller portions... pulling away from the table... putting down the bag of potato chips and walking instead of watching tv or staying on the computer....
    In the final thoughts of the original post I said that those who do not have ambitions of body building style leanness do not need to be super strict and do things like weigh condiments or bring a scale to restaurants. I don't do those things. I also said if your goal is to be as accurate as humanly possible, you need to do those things. Past that, it's a personal choice how strict you want to be. If you are struggling with stalls when you are eating a level of calories that should yield weight loss, I always recommend becoming more strict. If you are losing weight fine without being super strict, then I wouldn't change a thing.

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