Why does the same weight mean two different meals?
Because a reference table has one line for dry pasta and another for cooked, and they are more than a factor of two apart. Dry pasta is about 371 kcal per 100 g in USDA FoodData Central, read 15 September 2026; cooked, without salt, about 158. White rice is about 365 raw and about 130 cooked. Nothing was added: the grain took in water, and the same calories now sit in two to three times the weight.
Meat runs the other way. A raw chicken breast is about 120 kcal per 100 g, meat only; roasted, about 165. About a quarter, up to 30 %, of the weight left as water in the oven, so 100 g cooked is what roughly 135 to 145 g raw became. The difference is smaller than the grain's, and it goes in the opposite direction, which is why the two are treated differently below.
The cooked and raw weight of a food is one of the few things that moves a figure a long way, next to the portion and the cooking fat. A table cannot tell which one you meant. Your sentence can.
Which weight do you say, and how?
The one you actually took, with the state in the same breath. If you weighed the pasta dry before it went in the pot, say "80 g of pasta, dry". If you weighed what landed on the plate, say "200 g of pasta, cooked". Both are right; only the silent version is wrong. The assistant is then asked to value the item from the matching line of the table, and the receipt shows the item, its grams and its source; a measure the assistant converted, a cup or a piece, is kept in your own words beside the grams.
| What you weighed | Say | How it is valued |
|---|---|---|
| Pasta or rice, dry, before cooking | "80 g of pasta, dry" | From the dry line, about 371 kcal per 100 g for pasta |
| Pasta or rice on the plate | "200 g of rice, cooked" | From the cooked line, about 130 kcal per 100 g for rice |
| Meat raw, before the pan | "150 g of chicken breast, raw" | From the raw line, about 120 kcal per 100 g |
| Meat cooked, on the plate | "110 g of chicken breast, roasted" | From the cooked line, about 165 kcal per 100 g |
| A potato, whole, baked | "a medium baked potato, skin on" | About 173 g and 160 kcal, an assumed size the receipt states |
| A dish from a pot shared by four | "about a quarter of the pot; 300 g of dry rice went in" | The dry weight divided by your share, recorded as an estimate |
Bottom line: the state of the food is part of the weight; say both and the table has one line to read.
When a batch was cooked for several people, the dry weight is the easier number: 300 g of dry rice into the pot, a quarter of the pot on your plate, is 75 g dry, and the assistant is asked to record it that way, as an estimate that states the share it assumed. Weighing the cooked pile on your plate works too, and then you say cooked.
What does the assistant ask when you leave it open?
IZeat is the calorie tracker inside ChatGPT, Claude or any other assistant. Tell the assistant you already use what you ate instead of searching for foods and entering them one by one. Its protocol has the assistant ask, in one message, about the missing details that would materially change the estimate before anything is recorded. For pasta, rice, grains, pulses and oats, raw or cooked is one of them: the factor is two or three, and a guess either way is a wrong meal.
For meat, the assistant is asked to take the likely reading, weighed cooked, and to say so in its reply, because the difference is within a third rather than a factor of two; say "raw" and the raw line applies instead. What the assistant assumes, it states; what it records, the receipt shows with the source of each item. A plain food you weighed is recorded, whichever state you said, with the source reference, a standard table for the grams you gave; a portion nobody weighed carries the source estimate. Both show in the receipt.
Lunch, said in a chat: "Pasta with tomato sauce, 200 g, and 120 g of chicken." The assistant, following the protocol, asks whether the 200 g is cooked or dry, and what the sauce was made with; you answer cooked, and a tablespoon of olive oil in the sauce. The receipt comes back with the pasta from the cooked line, the chicken assumed cooked and said so, the oil as its own item, and the day so far. "The pasta was 90 g dry, actually" the next day is one sentence; the row is corrected, the earlier state stays in the meal's history, and the day total follows.
One caveat on the table: the table's line is for plain pasta, plain rice, plain meat. Butter stirred into the rice, the oil the chicken was fried in, the sauce, are items of their own, and the cooking fat article says how to say them.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers to the questions people type, each one sourced above.
Do you count calories for pasta cooked or uncooked?
Either, as long as you say which. Dry pasta is about 371 kcal per 100 g and cooked pasta about 158, in USDA FoodData Central, because cooked pasta has taken in water. Weigh it dry before the pot if you cook for yourself, and say dry; weigh the plate if you share a pot, and say cooked. Through IZeat, the assistant is asked which one you meant when you leave it open.
How much does pasta weigh after cooking?
Two to three times its dry weight; the calorie figures in USDA FoodData Central, 371 per 100 g dry against 158 cooked, imply a factor of about 2.3 for spaghetti. So 80 g dry lands as roughly 190 g on the plate, more or less with the shape and the cooking. The factor is not fixed, which is why saying which weight you took beats converting.
How much does rice weigh after cooking?
Roughly three times its dry weight: white long-grain rice is about 365 kcal per 100 g raw and about 130 cooked in USDA FoodData Central, a factor of about 2.8, and a cup of cooked rice weighs about 158 g. Absorption varies with the rice and the method, so the dry weight you measured is the firmer number when you cooked it yourself.
Should I weigh meat raw or cooked?
Whichever is easier, and say it. Raw chicken breast is about 120 kcal per 100 g and roasted about 165, because about a quarter, up to 30 %, of the weight leaves as water. A packet of raw meat is sold by its raw weight, so raw is easy before cooking; the plate is easy after. When you say nothing, the assistant is asked to assume cooked and to say so; "raw" in your sentence switches the line.
Why is cooked chicken higher in calories per 100 g than raw?
The calories did not change; the water did. Roasting drives off about a quarter to a third of the breast's weight as water, so the same protein and fat now sit in fewer grams, and each 100 g carries more of them: about 165 kcal against 120 raw in USDA FoodData Central. Frying in oil adds calories on top, and that oil is an item to say.
What if I cooked a pot for four people?
Say what went into the pot dry and what share was yours: "300 g of dry rice for four, about a quarter mine" is enough. The assistant is asked to divide, record about 75 g dry as an estimate and state the share; the receipt shows the item and its source. Weighing your cooked portion on the plate is the other way, said as cooked; both beat a silent number.