When you start out on your fitness journey, one of the first things you’ll should be looking at is your nutrition.
Why?
Because your nutrition is the single most important thing when it comes to getting results.
Ever heard the phrase; “You can’t out train a bad diet”?
It’s true!
No amount of training will overcome eating poor nutrition habits.
Which can be a hard pill to swallow, but once you understand how to manage your eating, your journey becomes a lot easier.
And for a lot of people starting out, this means tracking food… and a lot of confusion!
Which is why I’m going to take a moment to help clear up any confusion you might have.
Firstly, it’s important to be aware that the macros for cooked vs raw foods can vary for the same volume.
WHY IT MATTERS
When we cook most foods, they either gain or lose water content. Therefore, the macronutrient profile of a serving that is the same weight will differ if you compared the cooked vs uncooked food.
What I mean by this is, if you were to cook meat, a certain percentage of its’ total water content is lost through evaporation. Therefore, 4oz of raw steak would have less calories than 4oz of cooked steak.
Think of it like this;
Once a 4oz raw steak is grilled, it probably only weighs around 3oz. However, that 3oz cooked steak still has the same caloric content and macronutrient composition as the original 4oz raw, as all you’ve lost is water content.
So, what about other foods, like rice or vegetables?
Well, lets take a look…
Unlike the above, these foods gain water when cooked, meaning they have less calories per unit of volume when cooked, compared to uncooked.
Whats the point of knowing all this?
Well, when it comes to adding your food into MyFitnessPal (or whatever tracking app you use), make sure that if you weigh your food uncooked, the calories and macros you’re entering are also for the uncooked version and vice versa.
Otherwise, all your hard work may be undone by a simple slip of the finger!
If you need advice on what to eat to see results, why not try our 8 Week Challenge and get on the path to success!