Weighing your food?

I don't have time to weigh all my meals. I have a basic idea on portion size and I just wing it from there.

Posted by: @jem92

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okay so I'm about to get a scale for my food and was wondering if anyone had any tips? i know its good to log what i eat and i notice a difference in my physique when i log things down too. so correct me if im wrong but i weigh my food: after its cooked, for the gram values of both carbohydrates and protein, and to log the amounts relative to how much i need for whatever im doing )i.e. cutting, bulking, whatever). Also how would one weigh fat? does this mean the meats have to be as lean as possible?

You weigh your food BEFORE you cook it. You type in the name of the cut of meat you're using online and look up the nutritional values for it (e.g. top round, with 1/4 inch fat) and then multiply it by the weight you got. It's hard work getting started, but once you've been doing it for a while, you'll know off the top of your head that every 100g of boneless/skinless chicken breast has 27-8g protein, 2g fat etc. There are measurements for chicken with the skin, beef with different amount of fats on it, etc. So no, they don't have to be super-lean!

Sounds like Rainier gots you dialed in bro, I'm with Deja Vu I don't weigh it out at this point just go with portion sizes. I watch my better half weigh hers and she does it before cooking.

Posted by: @rainier

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You weigh your food BEFORE you cook it. You type in the name of the cut of meat you're using online and look up the nutritional values for it (e.g. top round, with 1/4 inch fat) and then multiply it by the weight you got. It's hard work getting started, but once you've been doing it for a while, you'll know off the top of your head that every 100g of boneless/skinless chicken breast has 27-8g protein, 2g fat etc. There are measurements for chicken with the skin, beef with different amount of fats on it, etc. So no, they don't have to be super-lean!

SWEET! thanks bro, but doesnt weighing it after you cook it make a difference as it should lose some amount of weight? maybe before and after? like how they say cooking vegies kills its nutritional value (in terms of certain vitamins and minerals)....and why exactly am i multiplying with the weight i get to the nutritional values? (i.e. grams: 20 x 5 g protein = 100) 100 what? is it a fraction of the calories? also do you happen to know any reliable and good sites that have nutritional values (besides bodybuilding.com) ? Thanks RAINier, i dont wanna seem like a total noob, but i got a competition coming up and ive never weighed my food and i know that im going to have to start soon. this being my second competition im super amped up and im getting everything dialed in, i just want as much info as possible to really dominate every aspect of this prep and competition!

Posted by: @jem92

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SWEET! thanks bro, but doesnt weighing it after you cook it make a difference as it should lose some amount of weight? maybe before and after? like how they say cooking vegies kills its nutritional value (in terms of certain vitamins and minerals)....and why exactly am i multiplying with the weight i get to the nutritional values? (i.e. grams: 20 x 5 g protein = 100) 100 what? is it a fraction of the calories? also do you happen to know any reliable and good sites that have nutritional values (besides bodybuilding.com) ? Thanks RAINier, i dont wanna seem like a total noob, but i got a competition coming up and ive never weighed my food and i know that im going to have to start soon. this being my second competition im super amped up and im getting everything dialed in, i just want as much info as possible to really dominate every aspect of this prep and competition!

most places that have nutritional values of stuff is for raw meat, thats just the standard to weigh before cooking.

your multiplying by the oz's you have, for instance... 1 oz chicken has 7g protein(this is off the top of my head may not be accurate) so you have 8 oz of chicken... 7x8=56g of protein...

calories are determined by adding all macro nutrients together... 1g protein=4 cals, 1g carb=4 cals, 1g fat=9 cals.

hope that helps

Posted by: @jem92

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SWEET! thanks bro, but doesnt weighing it after you cook it make a difference as it should lose some amount of weight? maybe before and after? like how they say cooking vegies kills its nutritional value (in terms of certain vitamins and minerals)....and why exactly am i multiplying with the weight i get to the nutritional values? (i.e. grams: 20 x 5 g protein = 100) 100 what? is it a fraction of the calories? also do you happen to know any reliable and good sites that have nutritional values (besides bodybuilding.com) ? Thanks RAINier, i dont wanna seem like a total noob, but i got a competition coming up and ive never weighed my food and i know that im going to have to start soon. this being my second competition im super amped up and im getting everything dialed in, i just want as much info as possible to really dominate every aspect of this prep and competition!

Cooking may reduce vitamins and minerals for vegetables, but it doesn't significantly affect protein or carbohydrate content (if you use a fat-stripping cooking method like BBQ, where all the fat falls into the flames, that's another story). What it does do is remove lots of water from things like meat, so it ends up weighing less after you cook it. i.e. 100g of cooked steak has more protein than 100g of raw steak, but it took something like 120g of raw steak to make that cooked steak.

Just make sure the place you're getting your nutrition info from specifies "raw" or "cooked/fried/baked/broiled/grilled/whatever."

Go to www.fitday.com and register. They have a huge database of different foods (when raw/cooked) and you simply search the food, type in the weight of the food, and it does it all for you, including your total macros for the day so far.

If you have 630g of raw salmon, that you're cooking, you'd type in salmon in the search bar and find this salmon^^ which is listed as raw. Then you'd choose the "100g" serving size measurement and multiply by 6.3 to get what there is in 630g raw salmon. So if it has 20g of protein per 100g, 20x6.3=120g protein per 630. Fitday will do all this for you though, which is why I recommend that instead.

If you use 2tbsp olive oil to cook it in, look up "olive oil" and get the macro measurements and add it.

I measure everything. As far as chicken goes, I know what 4oz versus 6oz just by looking at it. I track every single macro, sodium, fiber, everything, and have for 3 years. I dont know life any other way.

I weigh all my food cooked for the most part. I also use measuring cups for rice or oats. As far as fat I use a tablespoon of PB or weigh raw almonds.

Posted by: @heavyiron

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I weigh all my food cooked for the most part. I also use measuring cups for rice or oats. As far as fat I use a tablespoon of PB or weigh raw almonds.

I did the same thing with brown rice until I had the eye for it in certain bowls & tupperware. Now I don't have to measure unless an unfamiliar bowl is being used. I always measure my oats!

Posted by: @rainier

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Cooking may reduce vitamins and minerals for vegetables, but it doesn't significantly affect protein or carbohydrate content (if you use a fat-stripping cooking method like BBQ, where all the fat falls into the flames, that's another story). What it does do is remove lots of water from things like meat, so it ends up weighing less after you cook it. i.e. 100g of cooked steak has more protein than 100g of raw steak, but it took something like 120g of raw steak to make that cooked steak.

Just make sure the place you're getting your nutrition info from specifies "raw" or "cooked/fried/baked/broiled/grilled/whatever."

Go to www.fitday.com and register. They have a huge database of different foods (when raw/cooked) and you simply search the food, type in the weight of the food, and it does it all for you, including your total macros for the day so far.

If you have 630g of raw salmon, that you're cooking, you'd type in salmon in the search bar and find this salmon^^ which is listed as raw. Then you'd choose the "100g" serving size measurement and multiply by 6.3 to get what there is in 630g raw salmon. So if it has 20g of protein per 100g, 20x6.3=120g protein per 630. Fitday will do all this for you though, which is why I recommend that instead.

If you use 2tbsp olive oil to cook it in, look up "olive oil" and get the macro measurements and add it.

lol sorry, so my scale will measure it in ounces not grams? well thats where i had that wrong then lol...ill use the fitday calculator but eventually i wanna do it all on my own, do you have the formulas or is that it? any other mathematical formulas worth mentioning....i already know the ones for macro grams to calories so no need to elaborate on that. thanks

Thank you

Posted by: @rainier

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Cooking may reduce vitamins and minerals for vegetables, but it doesn't significantly affect protein or carbohydrate content (if you use a fat-stripping cooking method like BBQ, where all the fat falls into the flames, that's another story). What it does do is remove lots of water from things like meat, so it ends up weighing less after you cook it. i.e. 100g of cooked steak has more protein than 100g of raw steak, but it took something like 120g of raw steak to make that cooked steak.

Just make sure the place you're getting your nutrition info from specifies "raw" or "cooked/fried/baked/broiled/grilled/whatever."

Go to www.fitday.com and register. They have a huge database of different foods (when raw/cooked) and you simply search the food, type in the weight of the food, and it does it all for you, including your total macros for the day so far.

If you have 630g of raw salmon, that you're cooking, you'd type in salmon in the search bar and find this salmon^^ which is listed as raw. Then you'd choose the "100g" serving size measurement and multiply by 6.3 to get what there is in 630g raw salmon. So if it has 20g of protein per 100g, 20x6.3=120g protein per 630. Fitday will do all this for you though, which is why I recommend that instead.

If you use 2tbsp olive oil to cook it in, look up "olive oil" and get the macro measurements and add it.

I use measuring cups and scales daily. If I drift off so does my numbers and results.
I also use LoseIt.com app on my iPhone. It's great as it is FREE and cool thing is
many times you can just scan the bar code on a product it it matches perfectly.
Note: you don't need iPhone to use the app. It is also web app too

For cuts like meats etc I love it. Even I happen to buy a pre-seasoned roast
somewhere and the nutrition info is on there I dial that into my app and then
weight accordingly.

One really cool thing about the app is when you make a big batch of something
say xlean Turkey Chili you can add all your ingredients together and then divide up
into whatever portion size you want. I love this for my high protein pancakes as
well.

My wife does the same. She is diabetic so she is used to measuring things out
and having to always know carbs and fiber in order to know how much insulin to
give herself.

So all this now comes naturally for me to do as well. I stay within the 40-40-20
while leaning down prior to summer and maintained all summer within that ratio.

Not sure what other ratios people like using when bulking or cutting. I should
start a thread on this to get some feedback.

JohnyB

This topic can def be a thread of its own. I've just been eye balling measurements but weighing it out does seen interesting if it can make a difference.