Weighing help please

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twistedwoman
twistedwoman Posts: 47 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, I have taken the plunge and bought a super duper digital food scale but have some questions. Do I weigh veg before or after peeling and raw or cooked?? Same with meat?? Before or after? What is better? Thanks in advance.

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  • MissusMoon
    MissusMoon Posts: 1,900 Member
    edited June 2016
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    Congrats on purchasing a food scale! It will change your life!!!

    Weigh meat uncooked. Try to find USDA entries in the database or go by the label.
    Weigh only the edible parts of fruit and veg. Raw is good with those, too, but I have found accurate entries for cooked, depending on the item.

    Adding: artichokes are tough, but the USDA info has you enter a weight for the whole artichoke and gives a calorie estimate for edible parts only.
  • twistedwoman
    twistedwoman Posts: 47 Member
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    So what if I'm eating leftovers that are cooked? I often do that for lunches at work?
  • MissusMoon
    MissusMoon Posts: 1,900 Member
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    twistedwoman wrote: »
    So what if I'm eating leftovers that are cooked? I often do that for lunches at work?

    Find a cooked entry and make sure it reflects how it was cooked (steamed, grilled, fried, boiled). It might be a little off but it's better than not weighing!!!
  • sunnybeaches105
    sunnybeaches105 Posts: 2,831 Member
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    twistedwoman wrote: »
    So what if I'm eating leftovers that are cooked? I often do that for lunches at work?

    Track the weight differences between cooked and raw and make an educated estimate by adding weight to cooked food.
  • twistedwoman
    twistedwoman Posts: 47 Member
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    Thanks so much, so confusing but I will get used to it
  • amyr271
    amyr271 Posts: 343 Member
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    I would recommend weighing everything raw as that is usually what the nutrition label on the pack is representing (unless stated otherwise). If you do weight something cooked or peeled etc, search the database for an entry that makes what you're weighing that seems accurate e.g. if you have just grilled a chicken breast, search 'grilled chicken breast' and use those entries, there are also several websites that will tell you the calories in cooked foods.

    I hope I've helped!!
  • MissusMoon
    MissusMoon Posts: 1,900 Member
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    You will get used to it and be glad you did. Packaged foods are so different that what the label says and estimating meat is all over the place!
  • twistedwoman
    twistedwoman Posts: 47 Member
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    Thanks so much, I guess it will get less time consuming when I have entered all the things I usually eat
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,222 Member
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    Here in the UK all meat I buy has the calories given on the package as cooked (usually "oven backed" or "cooked per instructions") so I weigh it after I cook it. For this reason many entries here are for cooked meat but don't specify this. In the UK all nutrition labels explicitly say if the calories are for raw ("as sold") or cooked and if cooked - how. For example I had frozen beans, carrots and broccoli yesterday. The beans where given as raw, the carrots and broccoli calories were given for microwaved on their respective packages.

    In the database here the calories could be given for either cooked or raw so make sure you check if unsure. Also a word of advice if you are relatively new - since the entries are made by other members very often they are wrong. Yesterday I was searching for my chicken breast and found an entry (for my particular brand) for 40cals for 100 grams... And then people start asking here why they don't lose weight. :) Double check if you use other's entries. If it sounds too good to be true - it isn't. Unless it is cucumber :)
  • 2011rocket3touring
    2011rocket3touring Posts: 1,346 Member
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    Make it as a recipe.
  • skyhowl
    skyhowl Posts: 206 Member
    edited June 2016
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    twistedwoman wrote: »
    Thanks so much, I guess it will get less time consuming when I have entered all the things I usually eat

    i create recipes for the food i cook.

    how do i weight?

    i sometimes will weight before and after, here's my reasoning:

    for example, i cooked a recipe the other day which is about "270 gm of basmati rice-uncooked-" and "200 gm mixed frozen veggies -uncooked-"
    searching online or here on MFP or using the calories on the package. add up the calories of all your ingredient -it was 1092 calories-.
    after the rice and veggies are done and they are mixed together well, i weight all of the cooked portion -it was around 1200 gm-

    so now i can say that 1200 gm of this recipe -cooked- is 1092 calories
    then 1 gm is 1.098 calories

    then i eat whatever i want and just multiply grams by 1.098.

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