Thread: Measuring Oatmeal

Originally Posted by dreamer144

Hey all!

Just wondering how you all measure your oatmeal? I know the best way is to measure it dry....BUT, there is still something about that, that doesn't make sense to me.

See, if I measure 3/4cup DRY, that usually will make close to 1 1/2cups COOKED..yet when you plug both those numbers into Fitday.com, you get two totally different ratios. Actually the COOKED oats has less cals and carbs, than the dry...why is that? In reality it should equal the same, should it not???

Fitday isn't really to accurate with anything. Try other sites such as http://www.nutritiondata.com/

Just as long as you remain consistent then no worries you can adjust cals later.

Yeah I have the same problem.. Even on nurtitiondata.com, the calories/carbs etc in 1cup of uncooked brown rice is less than 1 cup of brown rice cooked.

Its almost like brownrice looses most of its nutrients when you cook it, if thats the case, anyone got any tasty recipes for raw brown rice?

Just look at the package.....it is all measured dry and the nutrition facts are for the dry amount.

Originally Posted by ForemanRules

Just look at the package.....it is all measured dry and the nutrition facts are for the dry amount.

yeah but it changes when cooked.. and does rice really split? like if you cook 3 grains they become 6 ?

Originally Posted by juggernaut2005

yeah but it changes when cooked.. and does rice really split? like if you cook 3 grains they become 6 ?

Nothing changes when cooked.

Originally Posted by juggernaut2005

Yeah I have the same problem.. Even on nurtitiondata.com, the calories/carbs etc in 1cup of uncooked brown rice is less than 1 cup of brown rice cooked.

Its almost like brownrice looses most of its nutrients when you cook it, if thats the case, anyone got any tasty recipes for raw brown rice?

Yes brown rice and oats are different....so when you take the same measurment of both they will be different. If they were identicle there wouldn't be two names.

All properties change once heat is introduced but nothing worth losing sleep over. So just keep all your measurments consitent and you'll be fine.

Originally Posted by DeadBolt

Yes brown rice and oats are different....so when you take the same measurment of both they will be different. If they were identicle there wouldn't be two names.

All properties change once heat is introduced but nothing worth losing sleep over. So just keep all your measurments consitent and you'll be fine.

not true!! My man tool expands when heat is introduced and shrivels when cold!!!!! LMAO

Originally Posted by juggernaut2005

not true!! My man tool expands when heat is introduced and shrivels when cold!!!!! LMAO

lol nice.

Originally Posted by dreamer144

Hey all!

Just wondering how you all measure your oatmeal? I know the best way is to measure it dry....BUT, there is still something about that, that doesn't make sense to me.

See, if I measure 3/4cup DRY, that usually will make close to 1 1/2cups COOKED..yet when you plug both those numbers into Fitday.com, you get two totally different ratios. Actually the COOKED oats has less cals and carbs, than the dry...why is that? In reality it should equal the same, should it not???

Anything that alters in volume or weight when you cook it you are better off measuring dry first - because the degree to which it swells (or, in the case of meat, the degree of water loss that occurs) is partially influenced by how you cook it.

eg: If we both use 0.5 cups dry oats but I add 1 cup water and someone else adds 1.25 cups water then, at the end of cooking, we will both still have the energy/nutrients from those 0.5 cup oats - but the volume created will be different due to the amount of water added.

So that 0.75 cups of DRY oats you are talking of might not come to 1.5 cups cooked.. You could end up with 2 cups cooked or you could end up with 1.75 cups cooked... it is all too variable to be accurate.

Same with meat - if we both start with 4 oz of meat and I grill it but you boil it - the rate of dehydration that occurs will be different - so we might end up with different weights afterwards, even though the amount of calories/protein etc in the foods will still be the same.

Originally Posted by juggernaut2005

not true!! My man tool expands when heat is introduced and shrivels when cold!!!!! LMAO

Your awl?

ok so what you're saying is that if three people all scoop .5 cup oats dry...
person 1 eats .5 cup oats dry - 150 cals
person 2 eats .5 cup oats 1 cup water - More cals?
person 3 eats .5 cup oats 2 cups water - More cals yet?

does increase in volume = increase in calories? and is the nutrition data (.5 cups - 150 cals) only dry? I always thought that if I scooped .5 cup oats with X amount of water it would be the same caloric intake no matter what.

Originally Posted by juggernaut2005

Yeah I have the same problem.. Even on nurtitiondata.com, the calories/carbs etc in 1cup of uncooked brown rice is less than 1 cup of brown rice cooked.

Its almost like brownrice looses most of its nutrients when you cook it, if thats the case, anyone got any tasty recipes for raw brown rice?

get vegetta
and boil the rice for about 5-10 minutes ad vegetta and stirr and let boil some more...mmmm good my mom makes it for me

Originally Posted by cpush

ok so what you're saying is that if three people all scoop .5 cup oats dry...
person 1 eats .5 cup oats dry - 150 cals
person 2 eats .5 cup oats 1 cup water - More cals?
person 3 eats .5 cup oats 2 cups water - More cals yet?

does increase in volume = increase in calories? and is the nutrition data (.5 cups - 150 cals) only dry? I always thought that if I scooped .5 cup oats with X amount of water it would be the same caloric intake no matter what.

No she's saying that person 1,2,and 3 all eat .5 cups of dry oats.

Persons 2 and 3 also intake the added volume that water provides. So that if you went to measure these quantities on fitday after cooking.....it would seem (based on weight....and only due to water) that person 3 ate more oats than person 1.....in reality.....they all ate .5 cups of dry oats.

An easier explanation might be: 2 people are on different trains travelling west. One train is travelling at 60 mph and the other at 80 mph the first train leaves at 3:00pm.............

(sorry, bad math humour). For all I know, I don't have a handle on it.

Originally Posted by cpush

ok so what you're saying is that if three people all scoop .5 cup oats dry...
person 1 eats .5 cup oats dry - 150 cals
person 2 eats .5 cup oats 1 cup water - More cals?
person 3 eats .5 cup oats 2 cups water - More cals yet?

does increase in volume = increase in calories? and is the nutrition data (.5 cups - 150 cals) only dry? I always thought that if I scooped .5 cup oats with X amount of water it would be the same caloric intake no matter what.

Umm.. No.

I was saying all three will be eating 0.5 cups dry and therefore all three will have:
153 cals, 27g carbs, 5g protein, 2.5g fat

What I was saing was that, as the excess volume is created by the added water - and this is calorie free - it does not alter the macronutrients of the oats you started with.

HOWEVER - those online databases do not take into account the different volumes of water or the different ways people cook the oats. They just make an asumption that everyone who cooks 0.5 cups of oats will be using the same amount of water and will cook it for the same amount of time so they all end up with the same amount of volume at the end of cooking.


So, just say person 1 has 0.33 cups of dry oats (100 cals, 18g carbs) and cooks this in 0.33 cups water so they end up with 1 cup cooked... They have, in essense, only eaten the calories that were from that 0.33 cups oats (100 cals, 18g carbs) - so this '1 cup cooked oats' = 100 cals and 18g carbs.

But, say person 2 takes 0.25 cups oats (78 cals, 14g carbs) and they cook it in 0.5 cups water, so they also end up with 1 cup cooked.. Now, they have only eaten the calories from those 0.25 cups oats (78 cals, 14g carb) so their '1 cup cooked oats' = 78 cals and 14g carbs.

Now - if the enter the data based on the DRY weight - they will calculate correct calories:
person 1 will eat 0.33 cups dry = 100 cals
person 2 will eat 0.25 cups dry = 78 cals

BUT - if they were to enter their 'cooked weight' then both would enter 1 cup cooked oats..... So which one would be correct?

Well - if you take a look at the data at nutritiondata.com then BOTH would end up with the wrong calorie content as nutritiondata assumes that it takes just under 0.5 cups dry oats to make 1 cup cooked!! So you can see that you get into all sorts of trouble.


So in order to avoid all that confusion - simply go off uncooked weight/volume and you will not have an issue!

Originally Posted by Emma-Leigh

Umm.. No.

I was saying all three will be eating 0.5 cups dry and therefore all three will have:
153 cals, 27g carbs, 5g protein, 2.5g fat

What I was saing was that, as the excess volume is created by the added water - and this is calorie free - it does not alter the macronutrients of the oats you started with.

HOWEVER - those online databases do not take into account the different volumes of water or the different ways people cook the oats. They just make an asumption that everyone who cooks 0.5 cups of oats will be using the same amount of water and will cook it for the same amount of time so they all end up with the same amount of volume at the end of cooking.


So, just say person 1 has 0.33 cups of dry oats (100 cals, 18g carbs) and cooks this in 0.33 cups water so they end up with 1 cup cooked... They have, in essense, only eaten the calories that were from that 0.33 cups oats (100 cals, 18g carbs) - so this '1 cup cooked oats' = 100 cals and 18g carbs.

But, say person 2 takes 0.25 cups oats (78 cals, 14g carbs) and they cook it in 0.5 cups water, so they also end up with 1 cup cooked.. Now, they have only eaten the calories from those 0.25 cups oats (78 cals, 14g carb) so their '1 cup cooked oats' = 78 cals and 14g carbs.

Now - if the enter the data based on the DRY weight - they will calculate correct calories:
person 1 will eat 0.33 cups dry = 100 cals
person 2 will eat 0.25 cups dry = 78 cals

BUT - if they were to enter their 'cooked weight' then both would enter 1 cup cooked oats..... So which one would be correct?

Well - if you take a look at the data at nutritiondata.com then BOTH would end up with the wrong calorie content as nutritiondata assumes that it takes just under 0.5 cups dry oats to make 1 cup cooked!! So you can see that you get into all sorts of trouble.


So in order to avoid all that confusion - simply go off uncooked weight/volume and you will not have an issue!

Ahh that makes sense.. so the dry weight is for sure.. and it changes depending on amount o water used or milk etc.. ofcourse if you add milk the carb/protein/fat/cals change..