weighing my chicken breast

Options
should I weigh my chicken breast before or after cooking it?

Replies

  • yweight2020
    yweight2020 Posts: 591 Member
    Options
    I only weigh mine after cooking and just make sure I find the correct calorie intake for the portion I eat.
  • angelsja
    angelsja Posts: 860 Member
    Options
    What does the package say as sold or as prepared? Whichever it says go with that
  • nk9o
    nk9o Posts: 60 Member
    Options
    My dilemma is I eat out usually at buffets. I have been surprisingly successful at weight estimation before I enter my food when I get home into MFP. At least I still am loosing weight so I know I must be doing things right. No carbs for sure and keeping my calories below my nutritionists target set for me. Cooking weight is the only way it works for me.
  • Zedeff
    Zedeff Posts: 651 Member
    Options
    nk9o wrote: »
    My dilemma is I eat out usually at buffets. I have been surprisingly successful at weight estimation before I enter my food when I get home into MFP. At least I still am loosing weight so I know I must be doing things right. No carbs for sure and keeping my calories below my nutritionists target set for me. Cooking weight is the only way it works for me.

    Why are you paying a nutritionist for advice you are simply ignoring?
  • countcurt
    countcurt Posts: 593 Member
    edited October 2018
    Options
    Zedeff wrote: »
    nk9o wrote: »
    My dilemma is I eat out usually at buffets. I have been surprisingly successful at weight estimation before I enter my food when I get home into MFP. At least I still am loosing weight so I know I must be doing things right. No carbs for sure and keeping my calories below my nutritionists target set for me. Cooking weight is the only way it works for me.

    Why are you paying a nutritionist for advice you are simply ignoring?

    It’s inaccurate to say s/he’s ignoring the nutritionist’s advice. The poster indicates they’re using estimation to count calories. I would agree that estimation is much less accurate than weighing. And I would agree that it’s really easy to fall into a pattern of self-deception when it comes to making those estimations. OTOH, there are situations where weighing is just not doable. It’s definitely preferable to make a good-faith effort to estimate and track that estimate in those situations. And if the result is consistent (over time) with expected outcomes then it’s a practical tool. There are quite a number of people who have successfully lost/maintained using a hybrid system where weighing/measuring is done at home and estimation is done when away from home.

    Although I would also agree that if someone has only a small amount to lose, the margin of error becomes much smaller.
  • Zedeff
    Zedeff Posts: 651 Member
    Options
    countcurt wrote: »
    Zedeff wrote: »
    nk9o wrote: »
    My dilemma is I eat out usually at buffets. I have been surprisingly successful at weight estimation before I enter my food when I get home into MFP. At least I still am loosing weight so I know I must be doing things right. No carbs for sure and keeping my calories below my nutritionists target set for me. Cooking weight is the only way it works for me.

    Why are you paying a nutritionist for advice you are simply ignoring?

    It’s inaccurate to say s/he’s ignoring the nutritionist’s advice.
    ...keeping my calories below my nutritionists target set for me.

    Okay then.
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    Options
    Zedeff wrote: »
    countcurt wrote: »
    Zedeff wrote: »
    nk9o wrote: »
    My dilemma is I eat out usually at buffets. I have been surprisingly successful at weight estimation before I enter my food when I get home into MFP. At least I still am loosing weight so I know I must be doing things right. No carbs for sure and keeping my calories below my nutritionists target set for me. Cooking weight is the only way it works for me.

    Why are you paying a nutritionist for advice you are simply ignoring?

    It’s inaccurate to say s/he’s ignoring the nutritionist’s advice.
    ...keeping my calories below my nutritionists target set for me.

    Okay then.

    The "target" is presumably an upper limit with a margin of error. Very few people exactly hit their calorie goal to within one calorie. I did not read this as the OP stating that they were deliberately eating less than the nutritionist recommended, but as saying that they were eating the recommended amount.
  • motivatedmartha
    motivatedmartha Posts: 1,108 Member
    edited October 2018
    Options
    I weigh raw and use a reliable entry on mfp database. Provided I either don't add, or account for anything added during the cooking process I am good to go. Typically I weigh as much of my food as possible raw.
    ETA - I started this reply and walked away - just read the rest. Gotta do what you gotta do - if you have to use an estimate for cooked weight then go for it - if it's working then you're estimating must not be too far off.
  • Zedeff
    Zedeff Posts: 651 Member
    Options
    Zedeff wrote: »
    countcurt wrote: »
    Zedeff wrote: »
    nk9o wrote: »
    My dilemma is I eat out usually at buffets. I have been surprisingly successful at weight estimation before I enter my food when I get home into MFP. At least I still am loosing weight so I know I must be doing things right. No carbs for sure and keeping my calories below my nutritionists target set for me. Cooking weight is the only way it works for me.

    Why are you paying a nutritionist for advice you are simply ignoring?

    It’s inaccurate to say s/he’s ignoring the nutritionist’s advice.
    ...keeping my calories below my nutritionists target set for me.

    Okay then.

    The "target" is presumably an upper limit with a margin of error. Very few people exactly hit their calorie goal to within one calorie. I did not read this as the OP stating that they were deliberately eating less than the nutritionist recommended, but as saying that they were eating the recommended amount.

    A "target" and a "limit" are not the same thing. Bring on the "woo"s I guess, but don't shoot the messenger, I didn't define the words.
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
    Options
    I tend to cook it in bulk and then eat it across days, shared with others (at least when I first cook it), so I pretty much have to weigh it cooked. I buy various brands, sometimes frozen and sometimes fresh depending on what's on sale. I think it is often more accurate to weigh cooked. It is not at all unusual for one piece to have a higher water content than the next, weigh the same or more before cooking and cook down smaller.
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    Options
    Zedeff wrote: »
    Zedeff wrote: »
    countcurt wrote: »
    Zedeff wrote: »
    nk9o wrote: »
    My dilemma is I eat out usually at buffets. I have been surprisingly successful at weight estimation before I enter my food when I get home into MFP. At least I still am loosing weight so I know I must be doing things right. No carbs for sure and keeping my calories below my nutritionists target set for me. Cooking weight is the only way it works for me.

    Why are you paying a nutritionist for advice you are simply ignoring?

    It’s inaccurate to say s/he’s ignoring the nutritionist’s advice.
    ...keeping my calories below my nutritionists target set for me.

    Okay then.

    The "target" is presumably an upper limit with a margin of error. Very few people exactly hit their calorie goal to within one calorie. I did not read this as the OP stating that they were deliberately eating less than the nutritionist recommended, but as saying that they were eating the recommended amount.

    A "target" and a "limit" are not the same thing. Bring on the "woo"s I guess, but don't shoot the messenger, I didn't define the words.

    I prefer to attempt to understand what people intend to say than to pick apart how they say it.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,979 Member
    Options
    Zedeff wrote: »
    Zedeff wrote: »
    countcurt wrote: »
    Zedeff wrote: »
    nk9o wrote: »
    My dilemma is I eat out usually at buffets. I have been surprisingly successful at weight estimation before I enter my food when I get home into MFP. At least I still am loosing weight so I know I must be doing things right. No carbs for sure and keeping my calories below my nutritionists target set for me. Cooking weight is the only way it works for me.

    Why are you paying a nutritionist for advice you are simply ignoring?

    It’s inaccurate to say s/he’s ignoring the nutritionist’s advice.
    ...keeping my calories below my nutritionists target set for me.

    Okay then.

    The "target" is presumably an upper limit with a margin of error. Very few people exactly hit their calorie goal to within one calorie. I did not read this as the OP stating that they were deliberately eating less than the nutritionist recommended, but as saying that they were eating the recommended amount.

    A "target" and a "limit" are not the same thing. Bring on the "woo"s I guess, but don't shoot the messenger, I didn't define the words.

    I prefer to attempt to understand what people intend to say than to pick apart how they say it.

    I would expect that a nutritionist, if at all worth the money they're being paid, would give a patient/client a target not a limit (i.e., the nutritionist intended a limit), because a limit means anything below that number would be fine. Do you think a nutritionist intended to say, eat any tiny amount you want, or nothing at all, so long as you don't go over this limit?
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    Options
    Zedeff wrote: »
    Zedeff wrote: »
    countcurt wrote: »
    Zedeff wrote: »
    nk9o wrote: »
    My dilemma is I eat out usually at buffets. I have been surprisingly successful at weight estimation before I enter my food when I get home into MFP. At least I still am loosing weight so I know I must be doing things right. No carbs for sure and keeping my calories below my nutritionists target set for me. Cooking weight is the only way it works for me.

    Why are you paying a nutritionist for advice you are simply ignoring?

    It’s inaccurate to say s/he’s ignoring the nutritionist’s advice.
    ...keeping my calories below my nutritionists target set for me.

    Okay then.

    The "target" is presumably an upper limit with a margin of error. Very few people exactly hit their calorie goal to within one calorie. I did not read this as the OP stating that they were deliberately eating less than the nutritionist recommended, but as saying that they were eating the recommended amount.

    A "target" and a "limit" are not the same thing. Bring on the "woo"s I guess, but don't shoot the messenger, I didn't define the words.

    I prefer to attempt to understand what people intend to say than to pick apart how they say it.

    I would expect that a nutritionist, if at all worth the money they're being paid, would give a patient/client a target not a limit (i.e., the nutritionist intended a limit), because a limit means anything below that number would be fine. Do you think a nutritionist intended to say, eat any tiny amount you want, or nothing at all, so long as you don't go over this limit?
    I think that the OP at no point said that or anything close to it, so berating her for ignoring her nutritionist is misplaced.