Weight of food raw vs cooked

Ashleighech
Ashleighech Posts: 6 Member
edited December 26 in Food and Nutrition
I have a food scale that I use for chicken. My husband baked me some chicken breast in the oven with only seasoning. I went to go weigh the chicken so I could have the serving size of 4 OZ. But I then wondered if I should be weighing the food raw instead!
Would it matter if baked vs grilled vs sauté with cooking spray. I want to make sure I'm tracking accurately.
Thank you!

Replies

  • MsCzar
    MsCzar Posts: 1,073 Member
    I always weigh my chicken cooked and make sure that the calorie count referenced is for cooked chicken. I count the cooking spray separately.

    On the other hand, I always weigh pasta dry (uncooked).
  • Ashleighech
    Ashleighech Posts: 6 Member
    That makes a lot of sense. Apparently I was eating more calories and protein than I thought. Not a huge deal considering it's a healthy food. Thank you!
  • fstrickl
    fstrickl Posts: 883 Member
    I’ve been told by a fitness coach to weight everything raw.
  • wilson10102018
    wilson10102018 Posts: 1,306 Member
    Never weigh chicken raw unless it is cut up and put into a dish like stew or casserole where the liquids are captured in the dish.
  • Ashleighech
    Ashleighech Posts: 6 Member
    wilson10102018 wrote: »
    Never weigh chicken raw unless it is cut up and put into a dish like stew or casserole where the liquids are captured in the dish.

    What do you mean? How much liquid can possibly drain from chicken?
  • Ashleighech
    Ashleighech Posts: 6 Member
    fstrickl wrote: »
    I’ve been told by a fitness coach to weight everything raw.

    So you would weigh your raw chicken breast and then input just "chicken breast " in MFP and use that info, correct?

    I found "cooked chicken" and adjusted my diary. When I put 4 oz of chicken breast it was around 120 calories, but cooked chicken breast is about 185 calories. I assume "chicken breast "is considered raw in MFP.
  • Nony_Mouse
    Nony_Mouse Posts: 5,646 Member
    Ashleighech wrote: »
    fstrickl wrote: »
    I’ve been told by a fitness coach to weight everything raw.

    So you would weigh your raw chicken breast and then input just "chicken breast " in MFP and use that info, correct?

    I found "cooked chicken" and adjusted my diary. When I put 4 oz of chicken breast it was around 120 calories, but cooked chicken breast is about 185 calories. I assume "chicken breast "is considered raw in MFP.

    Add the word 'raw' to your search term.

    Weighing uncooked is preferable, because different cooking methods and times will cause variation in the cooked weight.
  • Fflpnari
    Fflpnari Posts: 975 Member
    Always raw
  • wilson10102018
    wilson10102018 Posts: 1,306 Member
    Ashleighech wrote: »
    wilson10102018 wrote: »
    Never weigh chicken raw unless it is cut up and put into a dish like stew or casserole where the liquids are captured in the dish.

    What do you mean? How much liquid can possibly drain from chicken?

    If you baked or roasted chicken you would know. Chicken fat melts at 200F and unless you are drinking the liquids and licking the pan, you are counting fat at 9 calories per gram that you are not eating.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,097 Member
    wilson10102018 wrote: »
    Ashleighech wrote: »
    wilson10102018 wrote: »
    Never weigh chicken raw unless it is cut up and put into a dish like stew or casserole where the liquids are captured in the dish.

    What do you mean? How much liquid can possibly drain from chicken?

    If you baked or roasted chicken you would know. Chicken fat melts at 200F and unless you are drinking the liquids and licking the pan, you are counting fat at 9 calories per gram that you are not eating.

    Water also cooks out of chicken during cooking. And OP's husband didn't cook a whole chicken, which has lots of fat deposits. He cooked a breast. If it was a skinless breast (not clear in the OP), what cooks out would be almost entirely water. There's not much fat in a skinless chicken breast, but it loses about 40% of its water weight in roasting.
  • hawaiimana
    hawaiimana Posts: 1 Member
    So if its Meat and you are baking you usually would weigh it cooked only because it does loos the weight so in which then you wouldn't be getting the correct nutrients as if you where to weigh it raw. on the other hand if you are doing a stew type dish you would weigh it "Raw" because it will retain the liquid and that is the only way you can gauge your meal as a whole protein, carbs, fat's ect..... if that makes any sense. "At least that is how i learned and how i do mine". Also if you are doing pastas, rice ect. you either want to use something like fitness pal to find it cooked because those thing's will expand and will not be accurate to "Dry" weight count. Hope that help's
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,986 Member
    Ashleighech wrote: »
    I have a food scale that I use for chicken. My husband baked me some chicken breast in the oven with only seasoning. I went to go weigh the chicken so I could have the serving size of 4 OZ. But I then wondered if I should be weighing the food raw instead!
    Would it matter if baked vs grilled vs sauté with cooking spray. I want to make sure I'm tracking accurately.
    Thank you!

    Yes, it totally makes sense to weigh raw.
    Meat loses water when cooked and every type of cooking and the duration changes the amount of water lost. Sure there are entries for cooked, but you don't know how long and at what temperature. Btw, fat also has calories, thus your spray should probably be logged as well, especially if you use it for more than 1 second.

    The other way around is also true, btw. Pasta and rice take up water when cooked, but also the amount depends on the type and how long it's cooked. Al dente pasta takes up a lot less water than pasta cooked to mash. Thus always weigh dry
  • Bluetail6
    Bluetail6 Posts: 2,990 Member
    Ashleighech wrote: »
    I have a food scale that I use for chicken. My husband baked me some chicken breast in the oven with only seasoning. I went to go weigh the chicken so I could have the serving size of 4 OZ. But I then wondered if I should be weighing the food raw instead!
    Would it matter if baked vs grilled vs sauté with cooking spray. I want to make sure I'm tracking accurately.
    Thank you!

    This might make things a little more interesting.....
    https://3dmusclejourney.com/should-you-weigh-your-meat-cooked-or-uncooked/
  • jondorf13
    jondorf13 Posts: 9 Member
    It will be make sense to weigh the raw rather than the cooked one. preparing food is weigh and measure with raw.

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Ashleighech wrote: »
    I have a food scale that I use for chicken. My husband baked me some chicken breast in the oven with only seasoning. I went to go weigh the chicken so I could have the serving size of 4 OZ. But I then wondered if I should be weighing the food raw instead!
    Would it matter if baked vs grilled vs sauté with cooking spray. I want to make sure I'm tracking accurately.
    Thank you!

    If you weigh it cooked you need to make sure your entry is for cooked. In general, calorie counts are for raw/uncooked unless otherwise specified on the package. Bacon is one of the few foods that give you a calorie count on the label that is cooked.

    4 oz cooked chicken weighed more than that raw...so if you weigh it cooked, the entry from the database needs to be for cooked for greater accuracy.
  • MsCzar
    MsCzar Posts: 1,073 Member
    hawaiimana wrote: »
    ... Also if you are doing pastas, rice ect. you either want to use something like fitness pal to find it cooked because those thing's will expand and will not be accurate to "Dry" weight count.

    True that 2 oz. of dry pasta will not have the same calories as 2 oz. cooked pasta cooked, but if you use the dry measurement, you won't have to wonder about the amount of sauce or water in the cooked food which can vary the weight as well as the calories.

    The trouble with pasta is that we rarely cook one serving and by the time we plate it, there are added things like sauce and veg which will add weight and can be tough to measure. The dry pasta measure is always the most accurate. Just don't think that dry and cooked are interchangeable calorically.
  • LushFix
    LushFix Posts: 303 Member
    edited November 2020
    I weight raw and log as “raw boneless skinless chicken breast usda” ect. In a perfect world.

    But if it was already cooked and someone prepared it for me I would just weight it and log it as cooked “ boneless skinless chicken breast. No big deal.

    If it is something you eat regularly I would say pick one method and stick to it, if for some reason you are not seeing the results you expect, then you can look back and have an idea what may be the cause if you’re keeping things consistent.
  • Lolinloggen
    Lolinloggen Posts: 466 Member
    Raw measurements here. Yes I do realise the drained fat if it is whole chicken etc, but I just clock that up I'd rather overestimate than underestimate
    Oh and you'd be surprised how much water can get pumped into a chicken at the slaughterhouse - Depends on the Country of Origin of whether it is allowed and/or happens.
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