Weighing Food - cooked or raw?

[Jon_Bing]

Dear all - need a quick help with food log. 

When logging food in the fit bit app, should I use  cooked or raw food weight? ((I’m mostly on to home cooked meals). Thanks 

[BASILCHIVES]

I weight in the form I am eating it,  sometimes the food database states, raw, boiled, broiled, other times it just lists an 8 oz pork chop, so it is the weight of the cooked item.   Note this on items such as rice, and other grains, a big difference in a cup of cooked vs a cup of uncooked rice

[MayaCM]

I always weigh raw. You can underestimate a lot of calories if you weigh cooked. For instance chicken weighs a lot less after you cook it. I weigh it raw, look up the calories in the app, and then weigh it cooked. So if a pound of boneless chicken thighs is around 450 grams/600 calories raw it's usually around 325 grams/600 calories cooked. I stick post its on the tupperware with the cooked weight and calories if I'm going to use it in multiple meals. So in this example approx 83 grams cooked chicken = 150 calories. When I log it into my daily food I would log 150 calories of raw chicken and don't worry about the weight.

[JimC_99]

If I can't weigh raw before cooking I use 25% loss as a guide.  As an example would be a 4oz chicken breast would be 3oz cooked - 25% weight loss but use the raw calorie count.

[AndreaFitbit]

Thanks for visiting our community! 

I was checking this post and got the same question as you @Jon_Bing. I also eat mostly on home cooked meals and found out that you can weight your food raw or cooked but you can use the loss guide @JimC_99 mentioned.

I also found this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs2Sde6qZN4.

Thank you for sharing how you weight your food @BASILCHIVES and @MayaCM. 

Have a great weekend! 

[RubyHunter4]

I do a little bit of both actually.

French fries in the air fryer? Cooked!

Vegetables to be sautee'd? Raw.

Steaks? Raw.

Chicken teriyaki? Cooked.

I think it's circumstantial.

[AndreaFitbit]

Thanks for sharing how you weight your food @RubyHunter4. I think it's like you mentioned,  it depends on the situation and both ways can work depending  of the food your weighting. 

Have a wonderful day!

[emili]

I weight everything raw, but it is easier for me because I don't really eat "made" meals. For example, my go to dinner is stir fried veggies with either egg whites or crab and kasha or black beans or quinoa. Everything is weighed raw. I add spices which do not add calories, I cook with spray olive oil which does not add calories and I use mustard or balsamic vinegar or asian spices which add minimal calories- also can be weighed individually. I keep it simple so when it gets complicated like takeout or dinner not at home, I don't worry so much about the overages.  

[AndreaFitbit]

Thanks for sharing how you weight your food @emili. You eat really healthy. I'm starting to cook by myself and at the beginning it's a challenge because I keep calling someone else for advise but I will take some of your examples since they look yummy. 😋

See you around.