counting calories in raw or cooked meat/chicken/fish

  • I was wondering if y'all are weighing meat/chicken/fish raw or cooked? It seems there is a big difference--as much as three or more ounces when weighing chicken breast for example raw and then cooked. Btw, my preferred method of cooking is steaming so I am assuming I am losing a lot of water? Confused. I remember reading somewhere it was important to always weigh and calculate calories when the food is raw. Thoughts?
  • Hmm I usually weigh the food when it is raw if I am making chicken breast for dinner but if I make something like chicken salad I actually weight the chicken after it has been cooked. I knew there was a difference but I didn't realize it was that much.
  • Always raw if you want to be more accurate, but you can weigh it cooked if you have to.
  • Some of the calorie apps have cooked weight counts and raw weight counts. If they do not specify, it is almost always raw.

    If you almost always cook it the same way,then just once or twice you can weigh raw and weigh cooked and come up with your own conversion factor.