Measuring Food & Calories

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Tinmari
Tinmari Posts: 15 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been doing MFP for about a month now. I love this site, it's so easy to track what I'm eating.

I also just bought a body bugg last week and based on calories burned against what I track, I should be deficiting 1200-1300 calories a day, but only lost .5 lb. Now it's saying that I consumed double my calories because I didn't lose. I realize some of this could be water, and some could be toning (since I walked a lot this past week). But, it does make me question how accurate my counting is. Most food for me gets weighed after cooking, excepting for the things I eat raw (like carrots).

Is the weight/portion before or after cooking? On prepared foods, it's easy I just read the label. It's on foods like baked potatoes, cooked veggies, steak, chicken, ground beef, etc. that I'm struggling with.

I'm assuming that "grilled" chicken is cooked. The same for "baked" potatoes. The description implies cooked, but i'm wondering if I'm making a bad assumption.

Replies

  • brooke0206
    brooke0206 Posts: 255 Member
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    Im not sure if your suppose to weigh before of after cooking but I always weigh my stuff before.
  • rabbit99_47203
    rabbit99_47203 Posts: 85
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    I think it depends on how you are counting it. Most the times they do have calories for prepared food. certain foods do make a difference when you cook them. Like your pastas and rice cook up and your meat and vegetables cook down. So if you count somethings before hand you don't get the same after the cooking process. I count it after. Went to a weight loss center and they say to weigh the food after because of this.
  • Michelle_M2002
    Michelle_M2002 Posts: 301 Member
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    I also use a Bodybugg. My goal burn is set at 2600 a day, and my goal calorie intake is set at 1600 a day. If you're working out, then the daily 1,000 calorie deficit should equal about a 2 pound fat loss per week.

    Foods that are typically eaten raw (celery, most fruits, salad greens etc), are weighed before cooking.
    Cooked foods can go either way... typically the weight is done before cooking, but if you look up your item in the database you can type in "chicken, cooked." to get an accurate reading.

    And if you're typing in "baked potato" or "grilled chicken" then I think it's safe to assume that the calories for your portion size are after cooking. That's what makes sense to me.

    It's kindof difficult to follow the MFP guidelines for calorie intake when you're using the Bodybugg. I just went into the goals and manually moved my goal calorie intake to 1600. Then if at the end of the day my Bodybugg says that I surpassed my calorie burn goal, then I eat a little extra if I want to.

    Also, I like logging food at MFP better than on the Apex website, because it's just easier. So I log at MFP FIRST, then I go over to Apex and just make the calories match, so that my Bodybugg will show me the correct deficit.

    Hope that helps.

    God bless!
  • Tinmari
    Tinmari Posts: 15 Member
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    I don't like the APEX food logging either!!! I too log it here and then re-do it over there. I struggle with the exercise calories now too because my HRM overstates the burn according to what is on BB.

    If I wait to measure after and it cooked down, but the calories is for pre-cooked...aren't I then underestimating the calories I ate? On the flip side, if I measure it first, then I could be overstating my calories (if it's for cooked food and I measured raw) and then not eating enough.
  • Melanie12081
    Melanie12081 Posts: 62
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    I would assume your HRM is a better guide to calories burned, since it's tracking your heart rate specifically. Trackers like MFP, etc. just estimate.
  • Tinmari
    Tinmari Posts: 15 Member
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    What I did find the couple times that I tried to compare the HRM to the BodyBugg is that the HRM is what I burn while I'm exercising, but it is also counting what I would be burning if I did nothing at all.

    So, say I walk a moderate pace for 30 minutes. HRM says I burned 260 calories. If I sit and watch the BB for 30 minutes, I might burn 80 calories in 30 minutes. So, I really only burned 180 "extra" calories walking. This partially explains why there is a huge difference in what MFP says I burn when walking for 30 minutes and what the HRM says.
  • stuffinmuffin
    stuffinmuffin Posts: 985 Member
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    I always weight my food before cooking & during prep - using the calorie amounts on the packets or finding a sensible average for 100g of produce on the internet. Also weigh everything where possible and use measuring spoons for jams/cream cheese etc.
  • Melanie12081
    Melanie12081 Posts: 62
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    Good point, I never thought of that....BUT:

    You probably stop your HRM when your exercise is over, but your body will continue burning at a higher rate for a while after your workout. So I think in the grand scheme of things, if you plug your HRM calories, it'll all balance out in the end.
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
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    You should always weigh your food before cooking and use the raw data entries by weight. Meat loses moisture as it cooks, so 4oz of cooked meat will be more calories than 4oz of uncooked meat because the weight is composed of more flesh than moisture after it's cooked. And weight after cooking isn't consistent. If you cook a 4oz chicken breast one night and weight it after cooking, maybe it'll weight 3oz. But maybe the next night you accidentally overcook your 4oz chicken breast, then it may only weigh 2.5oz, but it has the same number of calories as the previous nights piece, because all it lost was moisture. This same thing goes for veggies as well.

    The opposite is true for pasta though. Because you're adding water weight to the product. Al dente pasta will give you more pasta per ounce than overbooked pasta will because of the amount of water absorbed.

    So to be as accurate as possible, use pre-cooked weight, because it's far more consistent.
  • Tinmari
    Tinmari Posts: 15 Member
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    It's just not possible to measure all my food before cooking. I do it when I can, but it's impossible to do all the time. In these cases, I want to find the best way of calculating my calories and how I tell if what is listed is before or after cooking.

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