Question about Oatmeal!

So on this site, it says that Oatmeal cooked with water (1 Cup) is 166 calories. It also says that dry Oatmeal is 300 calories.

I buy the 100% Natrual Quaker Oatmeal and on the nutrition label it says 300 calories in one cup.

When I make oatmeal I put water in it and then in the microwave

So which amount of calories am I eating, 166 or 300? (I'm hoping it's 166, hahah)

If you pour 1 cup of the dry oatmeal and add water, it's 300.  If you make 1 cup of oatmeal with the water and the oats mixed, then it's 166.  Although it depends on how much water you added.  You should just measure how much (dry) you put in, and get your calorie count off of that.

Original Post by white_sakura:

If you pour 1 cup of the dry oatmeal and add water, it's 300.  If you make 1 cup of oatmeal with the water and the oats mixed, then it's 166.  Although it depends on how much water you added.  You should just measure how much (dry) you put in, and get your calorie count off of that.

 Yes - oatmeal expands with moisture - which is what makes the discrepancy.

Wait...are you saying 1 cup of dry oats at 300 calories when cooked with water (0 calories) is 166 calories?  That doesn't make sense...

My understanding has always been 1/2 cup dry oats (150 calories) cooked with water makes 1 cup oatmeal with 150 calories.  Am I wrong?

If you measure out 1 cup of dry oatmeal which is 300 calories you are saying, if you cook that in water then the end result will be 300 calories. Water adds no calories, if you cooked it in milk then you would have to add extra.

weigh it.

about 30-40 grams of oatmeal DRY falls between 120-180 calories depending on the kind you get

an entire cup of dry oatmeal would make a huge bowl... usually I have about 1/3 cup dry oatmeal (35g), and it comes to about 1 cup when cooked with water... 1 cup of dry oatmeal (~120g) would yeild about 3 cups cooked

Original Post by swimfan93:

Wait...are you saying 1 cup of dry oats at 300 calories when cooked with water (0 calories) is 166 calories?  That doesn't make sense...

My understanding has always been 1/2 cup dry oats (150 calories) cooked with water makes 1 cup oatmeal with 150 calories.  Am I wrong?

your understanding is correct. 

in my world, 1/2 cup DRY oats is 150 cal. 

i add more or less water depending on how hungry my belly says it is. based on amount of water, oats may make one or more cups. this will all have 150 cal until i start adding other things like fruit, yogurt, or flax oil. 

measure your oats dry, then add up other calories that go in the pot. 

I'm saying that if you cooked whatever amount of oatmeal with the accompanying amount of water, if you measured BOTH AFTER cooking, the oatmeal would have expanded, and only 166 calories would be in one cup...

1/3 cup of dry oats (any kind) is 102 calories.  Cook that with a cup of water and you have about a cup of oatmeal.

http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-oats-r egular-quick-instant-unenriched-i8120?user_si ze=1&size_name=.33+cup&size_grams=27. 0

I log it just like that and don't log the water because water has no calories.  Sometimes I cook it in milk and I log the milk separately.

Basically, if you're making the oatmeal yourself, measure the dry oatmeal and log that.  If you're out somewhere eating oatmeal that you did not make, so you never saw the ratio of oats to water, CC gives info for cooked oatmeal that is probably not 100% accurate because the oat:water ratio will vary, but it's better than not logging the calories.