Help with measuring food!

escloflowneCHANGED · January 2012

Hey Guys!

I am just starting to measure and weigh food I eat, I realize now I have been eating way too much!

My question has to do with calories. I bought a scale and measured a chicken breast to be 4 oz. from that I went on to the calculator and found the calories for that food. I measured it raw because my way of thinking is... cooking it will remove water and will make it weigh less and if I measure it after it is cooked I will under estimate the calories. Now I saw in the calorie calculator there is a raw and cooked version.

My problem comes from this morning making oatmeal for the first time. I measured 1/2 Cup dry oatmeal (not instant) and cooked it. My logic is that the oatmeal, no matter how much comes out of the pot, once cooked has a total calorie count of 150 calories even though once cooked 1/2 a cup is more like 1 cup. So that 1 cup of oatmeal is 150 calories....right???

doornumber03 · January 2012

what i do is measure meat, chicken , etc...raw. Pasta, rice, oatmeal etc and things like that you weigh before because they absorb water and will way a considerable amount more. Waters not adding any calories to it.

I could be wrong on the meats, but that's what i was told so i went with it.

Lindy901 · January 2012

I measure meats after cooking right before dinner. I never thought to measure raw . Like if you're measuring 2 oz of lunch meat; it's cooked already.

The oatmeal thing does get confusing. Since the serving size is 1/2 cup dry then yes when you make it and it ends up 1 cup that would be your portion size. Only difference would be if you add milk to cook it instead of water then add that too. It can be so confusing.

js918 · January 2012

My best advice choose one way to measure raw or cooked and stick with it. I always measure oatmeal uncooked, but most things like millet, quinoa, couscous, rice and barely even pasta, chicken and all other meats, I measure and/or weigh cooked

unsure why I do it that way, probably because I eat them cooked. It works for me.

But It's tricky, take millet for example, to cook one cup dry, yields 4 cups cooked, I think when the serving size of the food changes depending on its sate of raw or cooked, then by default the calorie count will change too. So I measure a cup uncooked, cook it and remeasure out one cup to eat. It's a really tasty low carb, cal and fat grain with high protein ... if you never tried... go for it!

Hope that is a little helpful.

hbrittingham · January 2012

I weight my meat after cooking. It only makes sense to me to actually weigh what I am eating, not before cooking.

I agree on the oatmeal. The serving size is 1/2 cup dry. If you are adding milk instead of water, you need to measure that and log it, too. If you are using water, it doesn't add any calories, it just makes it expand.

Peep_chic · January 2012

Its true! Oatmeal is just one of those food that grows, rice and other foods too. Its fine to measure them raw.
Now the chicken I had always done it after cooking it. It makes sense what u said about the cooking proccess. I might
look for the cooked or raw option... that is after I buy batteries for my food scale.:grumble:.

BetterYet · January 2012

The amount 'dry' is 150 calories. Don't you just love it. The good part is that it expands. Keep up the good work. I also have steel cut oats in the morning and add ½ teaspoon of cinnamon (which is very good for you) and one teaspoon of organic honey. That brings my oatmeal to 170-189 calories. By the way, for measuring, I use the inside area of my palm as a guide (that is what my Nutritionist recommends). Keep up the good work.

escloflowneCHANGED · January 2012

Thanks for the replies everyone... I still seem to think meat should be weighed raw though. I guess it doesn't matter but I seem to think when you cook it and it reduces in weight, do to loss of juices and moisture...your are concentrating the calories.

ElizabethRoad · January 2012

Whether meat should be weighed raw or cooked, depends on what calorie count you're using for it. If the entry says there are X number of calories in 1 pound of RAW chicken, then you should weigh it raw. But if it says X number of calories for 1 pound of COOKED chicken, you should weigh it cooked.

Things like oatmeal and rice... it tells you on the box whether the calorie count is for raw or cooked.

gingerb85 · January 2012

I probably do a little of both, but I generally measure prepared food. That said, I do not eat meat, so I cannot help you with that. I will measure my beans, rice, veggies after cooking - I measure it as I serve my plate. I do eat oatmeal every morning and I put in my soy/almond milk amount, my dry weight rolled oats, and my raw fruit. That's how my breakfast is logged. When I put in a recipe, I add raw ingredient quantities.

Help with measuring food!

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