So i bought a digital food scale and im really loving this thing... but today i conducted a little experiment... normally when i cook chicken on the george foreman grill it does get smaller but i dont think too much of it... today i weighed the chicken before cooking it and it camee out to 8oz-8.2oz.... after cooking it... it came out to 5oz-5.2oz.... thats 3 oz difference... which is close to 100 calories!!! so here is my question... Should i weigh my food before i cook it or after? im mostly concerned with meat products.... also for like brown rice or beans, if it says 1/2 cup.. do i measure it before i cook that to? ( most of the time it says dry) any other tips on weighing food? thanks in advance!
how are you supposed to weigh food? Label has the calories for unprepared/raw food. Unless stated otherwise. For chicken breast, at least the way I prepare it, 115 kcal per 3oz (cooked) gives me a good approximation to 100 kcal per 4oz raw.
how are you supposed to weigh food? Weigh everything BEFORE cooking. Unless other wise noted on label, everything is pre cooked/the way it comes packaged.
how are you supposed to weigh food? For instance, take your example: 8oz x 100 kcal / 4oz = 200 kcal RAW 5oz x 115 kcal / 3oz = 192 kcal COOKED
how are you supposed to weigh food? Weigh it before cooking. 8 ounces of chicken will have the same macros of it's 5 ounce cooked weight. The weight loss is water. You're not cooking out the calories, protein, etc.
how are you supposed to weigh food? The lost weight is pretty much water, unless i'm mistaken. The calories and everything else stick around in the chicken - just everything's now in a more 'concentrated' product. It's not something to sweat over. Weigh your chicken before, or after - it's personal preference really.
how are you supposed to weigh food? Of course you weigh it before. If you get rid of all the water in 200g of raw chicken during cooking, the nutrient content will still be pretty much the same even if the chicken has shrunk to 85g. You can cook 50g of raw oats to 500g with water and it will still have the same nutrient content.
how are you supposed to weigh food? OKAY THE BIG THING IS..... HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO KNOW??? i mean when the label or any nutrition info says 4 oz = 100 calories or something, why would they count water weigh? i mean are they talking about just pure 4z of chicken? or did they even include the water weight into it? and how can they know how the chicken will be cooked? 5oz vs 8oz is a huge difference when your cutting/bulking to make sure you meet calories and macros
