measure food?

mattquit
mattquit Posts: 175
edited October 6 in Food and Nutrition
I am confused when to measure the food. normally, i measure the foods i eat in grams when it's cooked but my dad told me it's suppose to be BEFORE its cook. When am i suppose to measure it?

restaurant meaning take out. sorry for the misunderstanding and the question has been solved.
there isn't always a single answer =) sometimes there's two.

Replies

  • xstarriexeyezx
    xstarriexeyezx Posts: 29 Member
    before sweetie x
  • mattquit
    mattquit Posts: 175
    noooo waaaaayyyy but what if i eat in a restaurant? I also don't cook my food...
    Why should it be before?
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,222 Member
    Why ask the question then? Weighing food is to determine how much food is going down the hatch.
  • tinytubbs
    tinytubbs Posts: 54
    you should weigh after.....so that you account for shrinkage of the food
  • mattquit
    mattquit Posts: 175
    Why ask the question then? Weighing food is to determine how much food is going down the hatch.

    I don't understand. what i meant to say earlier is that it's a take out from a restaurant and it's not in mfp

    that's what i thought. i thought you should weigh it after but i'm not sure. tried google-ing it but couldn't find an answer
  • xstarriexeyezx
    xstarriexeyezx Posts: 29 Member
    Haha, that I don't know fir sure - I think it is because cooking it can change the weight but often doesn't alter nutritional value if that makes any sense.
    Lots of people do weigh it afterwards and to be honest I doubt it will make all that much difference.
    In a restaurant most are getting quite good now and have calorie content and nutritional value available even if it is just via their website in which case knowing the weight isn't essential.
    In regards to you not cooking your own food I think most stuff kind of gets explained by like cupfull's so it is easy to guess fairly accurately on how much you are getting (although to be honest how big is a cup?!)
    Sorry I can't be of more help x
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,423 Member
    You can do whichever you prefer - just check the database for the raw or cooked item and pick the appropriate one.
    There is no right or wrong!
  • mattquit
    mattquit Posts: 175
    thanks everyone it's after. source:
    http://caloriecount.about.com/weigh-food-cooking-q8450
    don't know if its reliable or not but i'll go with that it makes sense. kk thank you

    ps. i asked this question because my dad cooks a skinless breast chicken steam. when measured raw its 100 grams when it's cooked 50 grams. so i think it is a big difference
  • taxidermist15
    taxidermist15 Posts: 677 Member
    you just gotta gues it then mate, if your at a restaurant, then you cant help it really, not like your going to bring measuring cups to a take out anyway! always measure before cooking, spinach for example, HEAPS beofre cooking, cooks down into a mouthful after cooking. to be safe, just dont eat takeout, if that doesnt help, guess the approximate amount, but always guess over your limit just in case
  • raisingbabyk
    raisingbabyk Posts: 442 Member
    I think it would depend on the food. If you look on the packaging some of it will say for prepared which means you should weigh it cook. You can also look things up in MFP differently. Chicken for example MFP has tons of entry for either raw weight, cooked, baked etc.. Or rice you can look up as cooked rice etc.
  • capriciousmoon
    capriciousmoon Posts: 1,263 Member
    You weigh before. If you measure certain foods enough (precooking) you can get used to how they look after they are cooked and be able to judge your portions that way too. If you eat rice or pasta and measure that after cooking you wouldn't get your full serving because the weight would be changed by the water it absorbed.

    You aren't going to be weighing your food if you go out to eat anyway, it's more likely you'd look up the nutrition information online and this would be the calories for the portion served.
  • lessac
    lessac Posts: 105 Member
    Since we, homo sapiens, have the tendency to eat our meat cooked (with a few exceptions) calorie data you find regarding meat is almost always for cooked. For veggies both cooked and raw data are usually available and for fruits it's mostly data for raw (and dried). Grains usually come with uncooked and cooked data as well.
  • mattquit
    mattquit Posts: 175
    some answers confused me again. if it absorbs water it would have more weight.Then its not like im underestimating my calories. its still good right?
  • lessac
    lessac Posts: 105 Member
    some answers confused me again. if it absorbs water it would have more weight.Then its not like im underestimating my calories. its still good right?

    If you measure uncooked pasta of 100kcal and cook them, even if you get heavier pasta, there won't be a noticeable calorie difference so you can stick to your uncooked measurement (and add the calories of any other ingredients you add). If you measure your pasta after it's cooked then you just take pasta (cooked) calories as your reference.
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,423 Member
    The reality is that most entries in the MFP database are added by users and if they haven't been specific, then you have no way to know what rule they are following.
    The easiest way is to look for "pasta cooked" or "pasta dry" or " chicken breast raw".
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