I think this is a great questioned to be asked. There’s a lot of information everywhere and it can be really confusing to navigate through. So, I’ve done some research for you to find the answer to this question.
I’ve heard so many times to weigh your food. Okay… simple enough, but how do you weigh meat protein? I’ve always been under the impression to weigh it cooked. I did not hear a lot about specifically weighing your meat in its raw form. I’ve never given it a second thought, until I had an idea one night to weigh my steak raw and then cooked. I was sure that the steak had to weigh less after pan searing to a medium done steak due to the evaporation of liquid. Was I correct? YES, I WAS! My raw filet mignon weighed a whopping 8.5oz. Once I cooked it in a half tsp of olive oil, salt and pepper to a nice medium, the cooked filet mignon now weighed 6.2 oz.
I thought my little science experiment was so cool and I decided to do more research on the subject of meat weighing less when cooked. During the middle of my research, I discovered some shocking information. It turns out that you SHOULD weigh your meat protein raw before you cook. Steve Taylor, MS, RD from 3dmusclejourney.com says “It’s a common misconception that meat’s nutrition facts labels, are based upon the product’s cooked weight. People will cook food, and THEN weigh-out the portion size they want, for example 4 oz. However, because meat on average typically loses about 25% of its weight during the cooking process, if you weigh your meat after you cook it, instead of consuming the protein, fat and calorie amounts listed for 4 oz., you are actually consuming quite a bit more than this, equal to that of around 5 or 5.5 oz. (more or less depending on the type of meat, and the method you used to cook it).
If you do this every meal, by the end of the day, week, month, you may end up consuming significantly more calories than you thought you were, which can absolutely affect your ability to lose weight. To some of you, this must be shocking new information. I know it was for me. I was doing this wrong the entire time. I’m so thankful that I stumbled across this article from 3dmusclejourny.com. Message had been received loud and clear!
Reference:
3Dmj, T. (2017, November 22). Should You Weigh Your Meat Cooked or Uncooked? By Steve Taylor, MS, RD. 3D Muscle Journey. https://3dmusclejourney.com/should-you-weigh-your-meat-cooked-or-uncooked/
