How does everyone weigh their raw meat?

Chelseataylor83
Chelseataylor83 Posts: 1 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I heard that this app inputs most meats (chicken, beef, etc) as raw and that I should be multiplying by 1.5 for the true amount. What should I be multiplying by 1.5? Or should I be multiplying at all.

I’m doing keto and counting my macros and trying to see how much protein I’m at.

Thank you
«1

Replies

  • mathandcats
    mathandcats Posts: 786 Member
    When logging meat, find an entry specifying raw or cooked. It is often helpful to add key words like "USDA", or be really specific, e.g. chicken breast, raw, meat only, boneless. You can verify the information by searching for the USDA information online for meat in that form.
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
    I don’t actually eat meat, but I do cook it for the family, and I’m completely confused by this ‘multiply raw weight by 1.5’ statement.

    Where have you heard this and what is the rationale behind the idea that it somehow becomes bigger/more calorific when cooked? Meat generally shrinks on cooking, due to it releasing fat and water/moisture.

    I guess I could see that if you weigh your meat after cooking but then pick a raw entry when logging that could be a very inaccurate rule of thumb, but why not just weigh it raw and cut out the uncertainty, if that’s what you meant?
  • nighthawk584
    nighthawk584 Posts: 1,992 Member
    I prefer my meat cooked, that is how I weigh it.
  • SugaSugaNooo
    SugaSugaNooo Posts: 106 Member
    BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »
    I don’t actually eat meat, but I do cook it for the family, and I’m completely confused by this ‘multiply raw weight by 1.5’ statement.

    First I heard as well!
    Meat actually is something I eyeball. If a pack is a lb (450 grammes), and I use this for our family of 4, I would log 125 grammes for myself (I round up usually).
  • Pipsqueak1965
    Pipsqueak1965 Posts: 397 Member
    Just look for a entry stating raw. You are complicating matters. Or if it is cooked meat, find an entry stating cooked (less accurate I guess, as the amount of water lost through cooking will vary a lot).
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
    edited August 2019
    BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »
    I don’t actually eat meat, but I do cook it for the family, and I’m completely confused by this ‘multiply raw weight by 1.5’ statement.

    Where have you heard this and what is the rationale behind the idea that it somehow becomes bigger/more calorific when cooked? Meat generally shrinks on cooking, due to it releasing fat and water/moisture.

    I guess I could see that if you weigh your meat after cooking but then pick a raw entry when logging that could be a very inaccurate rule of thumb, but why not just weigh it raw and cut out the uncertainty, if that’s what you meant?

    It does make sense, I just don't know how accurate it is. Meat loses moisture when it is cooking. This is saying that 150 grams of raw meat would weigh 100 grams once it is cooked ie 50 grams of water is lost.

    To be most accurate though you would need to weigh your piece of meat raw, as how much weight is lost will depend on how long you cook it for. Rare will weigh a fair bit more than well done.
  • MohsenSALAH
    MohsenSALAH Posts: 182 Member
    Raw meat contains water, it becomes obvious when u cook it and water comes out. I guess measuring cooked meat feels more accurate
  • neugebauer52
    neugebauer52 Posts: 1,120 Member
    I ask my butcher the weigh raw meat. I tell him the portion sizes required and he weighs it accordingly. Talk to your butcher.
  • wilson10102018
    wilson10102018 Posts: 1,306 Member
    edited August 2019
    Weighing meat raw only works if the fat is rendered into a dish which is then eaten - like beef stew. However, since certain meats have very little fat to render during cooking, it hardly matters as to those - like chicken breast.

    But if you are cooking beef or pork or the fattier parts of chicken, only weighing what you are actually eating matters.

    PS: Ignore entries in the MFP database that are not product labels or USDA sourced. They are almost always wrong.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,393 Member
    I get what you’re saying and I use the 1.5 myself, and cane to it on my own. I often forget to weigh meat before I cook it, and have those head slapping moments afterwards.

    Or, like Sunday, I made a massive batch of carnitas to eat off of all week. I’ll heat four ounces of cooked carnitas to throw on top of a salad, but count it as six ounces for logging purposes.

    Ditto leftover chopped steak or other meats for my daily salad.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    There are raw entries and cooked entries. The most accurate entries (USDA) specify, and if you have a package, the information on the package will be raw unless it says otherwise. If there is some reason you cannot weigh raw (I never weigh bone-in meats raw), then weigh cooked and use a cooked entry. More accurate than assuming you multiply 1.5 (although good for you realizing you can't use a raw entry for cooked food).
  • motivatedmartha
    motivatedmartha Posts: 1,108 Member
    I mostly weigh raw - then cook it, taking into account any cals added in that process - eg sauce or oil. If you are having a piece of grilled/roast or whatever meat and forget or it's awkward to weigh before cooking look on mfp database for the cooked value. eg I weigh my roast chicken/roast beef cooked and look up the value for roast leg/breast etc according to what I put on my plate Keep it simple
  • LyndaBSS
    LyndaBSS Posts: 6,964 Member
    I don't eat much meat but weigh all my fish raw.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,881 Member
    edited August 2019
    Chelseataylor83 wrote: »
    I heard that this app inputs most meats (chicken, beef, etc) as raw and that I should be multiplying by 1.5 for the true amount. What should I be multiplying by 1.5? Or should I be multiplying at all.

    I’m doing keto and counting my macros and trying to see how much protein I’m at.

    Thank you

    Whoever told you that was misinformed. The admin-created entries pulled from the USDA database will include raw or cooked in the description.

    Unfortunately, the "verified" green check marks in the MFP database are used for both user-created entries and admin-created entries that MFP pulled from the USDA database. To find admin entries for whole foods, I get the syntax from the USDA database and paste that into MFP.

    Note: any MFP entry that includes "USDA" was user entered.

    Ex:
    • Chicken, broilers or fryers, thigh, meat only, cooked, roasted
    • Chicken, broiler or fryers, breast, skinless, boneless, meat only, raw
    • Pork, cured, bacon, cooked, microwaved
    • Beef, ribeye cap steak, boneless, separable lean only, trimmed to 0" fat, all grades, cooked, grilled
    • Beef - Ground, 85% lean meat / 15% fat, raw (hamburger)
  • puffbrat
    puffbrat Posts: 2,806 Member
    I create a recipe. Ingredients are raw meat at raw weight plus whatever oil. Cook. Weigh cooked meat in grams and make that the number of servings. Cut my portion, weigh in grams, and make that the number of servings in my food diary.
  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
    I am confused by this statement. Are you saying that if you weight something cooked, you multiply it by 1.5 to get the raw weight? That is the statement that tracks the closest to what I can think.

    The ideal thing to do is weigh your meats raw, because that is the most accurate way to get their starting weight. Let's say you have 6 ounces of raw meat. It has 240 calories. That is the number of calories it has. You don't need to multiply it by anything. When you cook that weight, it will weigh less because water cooks out of it.

    So if you weigh you meats cooked, you either have to use a cooked entry, or do math to get your raw amount. That is probably what you are hearing. But multiying cooked weight by 1.5 is too muhh in my opinion unless you cook your food extra well done. Most estimates are closer to 1.33 (3oz of cooked meat to 4 ounces of raw)

    It is recommended to weigh everything raw because that is the most accurate. How much water you lose while cooking depends on cooking method and time. So if you are weighing cooked, it will always be a bit of an estimate as to how many calories you have. But it is better to weigh cooked than not at all.
  • thanos5
    thanos5 Posts: 513 Member
    as far as the 'x 1.5' goes...i think they were doing the raw vs cooked ratio? sometimes, if i'm cooking for the kids too and can't segregate my portion our ahead of time, i'll weigh all the meat raw, then weigh is all cooked, and divide to get the difference.

    for example: if chicken is 2oz raw, then 1oz cooked, i'll multiply the cooked by 2 in order to get the correct entry weight.

    that being said, i pretty much use this exclusively now. there are generally entries for both raw and cooked.

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10621050/how-to-use-the-usda-food-database-mfp-food-database-for-accurate-logging/p1
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,393 Member
    @MikePTY Yep. What you said.

    I often flat out forget to weigh meat. Or I’ve unwrapped it when I do remember and by then it’s a PITA to weigh.

    I do like my meats well done. If I’m cooking a four or five pound piece of meat, as I did this weekend for a dinner party with intentional leftovers, a quick calculation method for cooked meats versus raw works for me and it keeps me inside my calorie allotment.

    I always have extra cooked meat in the fridge and freezer for my salads, to help meet my protein macro.

    Whether cooked meat is 1.33 or 1.5X raw meat is so little difference it’s just easier to use the rounder number.

    If I’m under, I’m probably making up for those few calories I missed somewhere else.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
    edited August 2019
    There are USDA sourced entries in the database for both raw and cooked meat, and I would assume the calorie difference tracks pretty well with this 1.5 ratio, it might actually be the source of it. All you have to do is use the correct entry when you log.

    If you weigh raw chicken, search something like "chicken thigh, raw".
    If you weight it cooked, search "chicken thigh, roasted".

    Easy peasy :smile:

Categories