SHOULD YOU TRACK YOUR FOOD RAW OR COOKED 🤔
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⁣Simple answer, it doesn’t matter as long as you are consistent with the method you choose. However tracking your food raw seems to always be more accurate.⁣

How you track your food intake can make an important difference to your daily energy intake (the ⬆️ your daily calorie target, the more room for room for error)⁣
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Few things to be mindful of:⁣⁣⁣
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👉🏼Unless stated otherwise, nutrition labels are based on RAW weight⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
⁣👉🏼Different cooking methods affect the weight of the end product.⁣ (DRY vs WET COOKING)⁣
⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣👉🏼The moisture content of a food predicts the % weight change once cooked: Foods with ⬆️ moisture have the greatest potential for weighing less, with dry cooking methods likely to ⬆️ with wet cooking methods.

Boiled foods like rice & pasta will absorb water⁣⁣ & swell up. So, for foods like rice, pasta, cereals and some veggies, I would recommend that you track them uncooked to ensure accuracy. But, if you have to track it after cooking, you can still adjust by accounting for the extra weight (1-3x raw weight), than not tracking at all⁣
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Typically Protein sources are likely to ⬇️ in size & wt when being cooked as the liquids evaporate⁣⁣. Ie. meat, poultry & fish I recommend to track these uncooked/raw as they are likely to experience a 20-25% water ⬇️ hence weight.

However, if you can’t do weight it beforehand, isn’t big deal either. Just make sure you put into your food log/tracker the right option whether it is for cooked or uncooked weight or ➕20-25% on top ⁣
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❇Typically 10-20% weight change in either direction after cooking⁣
❇Cooking time can impact the % weight change⁣
❇REGARDLESS OF COOKING METHOD there are NO CHANGES IN THE MACRO CONTENT of the ingredients used, just the weight.

⁣⁠👉🏼For example: 100g of RAW chicken ~23gP=cooked 23g protein, just weighs ~20% less

Be CONSISTENT with the method you choose every time or log it properly!⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣

How do you track your food? Comment below 👇