Need help understanding food weights

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Karmynzahringer
Karmynzahringer Posts: 192 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So recently I purchased a package of lean pork loin that was 1.3 lbs for the package, thinking that would be plenty for the 4 of us that were going to be home for dinner that night to have 4 oz serviings. After broiling it however, there were only about 8 oz of meat total, which gave us each 2 oz. each. Sooo my main question is, do I log 2 oz of pork loin or 4? I wonder the same with ground turkey, because 4 oz raw is usually around 3 oz cooked, so on and so on. I have been weighing my steaks etc once I pull them off the grill and think maybe if I am supposed to be weighing them before, I may be underestimating my calories and I would like to know for sure!

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  • VeganInTraining
    VeganInTraining Posts: 1,321 Member
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    I have no clue! I would assume that the calories are generally before it has been cooked. That being said, if you grill/broil it a decent amount of the fat drains off so maybe somewhere in between?.....I'm just guessing though
  • Karmynzahringer
    Karmynzahringer Posts: 192 Member
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    Well with some meats it seems to weigh almost the same, I just could not believe that "Lean" pork loin weighed less than half its original weight. Wondering if I am underestimating calories by weighing things cooked and that might be why I have not had the greatest success since starting here. I just wondered how everyone else does it?
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
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    It depends on the person who entered it in the database, of course, but generally, the weights should refer to cooked meat unless they say otherwise. (Some of them do say "raw".)
  • Karmynzahringer
    Karmynzahringer Posts: 192 Member
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    Well I read in another spot that the weights should refer to raw meat, because most of what is cooked out is water, and that does not lower calories in the meat itself, just reduces the water in it. I am soooo confused!
  • VeganInTraining
    VeganInTraining Posts: 1,321 Member
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    raw makes since to me. I tried to campare the clories in 3oz raw as opposed to 3oz cooked and they were about the same...so that didn't help at all lol
  • Phrak
    Phrak Posts: 353 Member
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    raw makes since to me. I tried to campare the clories in 3oz raw as opposed to 3oz cooked and they were about the same...so that didn't help at all lol

    I measure food in its natural state. So for meat it would be raw, unless specified on the label that the nutritional infomation is for cooked.
  • Jenatello
    Jenatello Posts: 35 Member
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    I know that all restaurants go based on precooked/raw weight. Some meats weigh the same after being cooked and some don't. But if I were going to start weighing meat, I would weigh it before cooking it and log it that way.
  • MissAlexxMarie
    MissAlexxMarie Posts: 171
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    You log the raw meat weight. That's what counts. The calories aren't lowered.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    Always weigh raw. The amount of water that cooks out varies depending on about a million different factors (actual cooking temperature, method, humidity, starting temperature of the meat, final meat temperature, and on and on,) but whatever calories you start with are still there at the end. If a 4 oz raw piece has 100 calories (theoretically) then if you cook it and it weighs 3.5 oz, 3 oz, 2 oz, or 2.3 oz after cooking, it's still 100 calories.
  • Karmynzahringer
    Karmynzahringer Posts: 192 Member
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    Okay so that may be part of my problem, I have been weighing and logging for the weight after cooking and think I am putting too few calories for what I am eating. Definitely something to change! Thanks for the help!

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