Food Weight Question

When eating 3-4 ounces of meat, are those weights counted before or after cooking? Also, is there a rule of thumb as to how much weight is lost during cooking?

I think it's a personal choice.  I always weigh everything after cooking and I find that anywhere from .5 to 1 oz. is lost during cooking for about every 3-4 oz. of protein.    

I weigh everything in its final form. 

If I'm eating something that's protein and veg separate, I weigh 3 ounces of protein and 1 ounce of the veg.  If I'm eating something that's got everything combined, I weigh 4 ounces total.  This has been working really well for me so far!

^^^  What Gwen said

I weigh it after it's cooked and shoot for about 3 ounces of protein and 1 ounce of vegetables.  The vegetables are less dense than the protein so it seems like there's more of them.  

I tend to measure after cooking.  But I shoot for 3.25 ounces of whatever.  I figure that cushions any difference between 3-4 ounces before vs. after cooking.

I weigh after I cook on a digital scale.

Its interesting.  I do it both ways.  If I'm cooking something like hamburgers, I'll make 4 ounce patties and then after cooking they will be closer to 3.5 ounces, and I log it as 3.5.  If I'm eating chicken in peanut sauce or something like that where it is easy to weigh,  I'll weigh out 3.5 ounces of the meat in the sauce.  But if its something like a casserole with meat and veggies mixed together, then I divide it into servings based on the weight of the pre-cooked meat.  So if the casserole has 2 pounds of ground beef, I divide it into 10 servings to give me about  3.2 ounces of meat per serving.  So I'm not consistent. 

I guess the answer is whatever works for you. 

best of luck,

Carol

What's funny is the dietician told us yesterday that the actual weight isn't what we are going to be measuring...it's the volume. So, they told us at our pre-op class that after the food is prepared to measure it out the following way and not weigh it....

Here's her conversion straight off my paperwork:

1 ounce= 2 tablespoons = 1/8 cup

2 ounces = 4 tablespoons = 1/4 cup

4 ounces = 8 tablespoons = 1/2 cup

6 ounces = 12 tablespoons = 3/4 cup

8 ounces = 16 tablespoons = 1 cup

My dietician said the same when I asked her about weighing foods. So based on her advice I only measure volume, not weight.  I stick to 1/4 cup per meal of protein, and 1/8cup of veggie.  Sometimes I do 3oz protein and skip the veggie.  Makes sense because it's measuring the amount of food that your new stomach can hold. I've found most people on OH believe in weighing.  I find there is such variety in the plans we are prescribed, it's probably best to stick to what your doc says (as long as you trust him)...

My Info binder also contained a conversion chart like that.