Calorie-Macro Counting

[Rasheed]

I am trying to count macros, but I got little bit confused. 

- Should I measure food raw or cooked? 

- Why there is difference between macros in cooked food vs uncooked (like for example: Lentils uncooked have 25 grams of protein vs. Cooked lentils which have 9 grams of protein)

- How to do it properly?

[TrynaBeTurquoise]

1) Measure it cooked because raw will give you a lot of water weight you shouldn't be counting. 

2) The grams of protein isnt changing, its just the weight of the food because of water after its cooked. So just weigh it after. 

From personal experience, I used to count macros all the time and got very neurotic about it. It started becoming just another thing I was stressing about and it became to me about hitting numbers which turn out to not be as meaningful as you thought they were. It does teach you valuable lessons though on learning how to eyeball certain portion sizes of foods for certain amounts of calories/macros. Use it for a period of time but don't do it for the rest of your life. After a while you can learn to eat intuitively based on how much food your body needs by eyeballing portion sizes and being educated on the caloric and nutrient densities of individual foods. Once I gave up counting I actually started to eat healthier, shed more body fat and learn more about which foods are best for me. 

[Nash]

Quote

10 minutes ago, TrynaBeTurquoise said:

From personal experience, I used to count macros all the time and got very neurotic about it. It started becoming just another thing I was stressing about and it became to me about hitting numbers which turn out to not be as meaningful as you thought they were.

 

Nutrition can be more confusing than people give it credit for. Even if you eat a certain amount of protein from one food, the protein quality of each food differs. Your best bet is to use a trustworthy nutrition tool online that will create a meal plan for you. Learning to strict your diet gets easier with habit. When you start, it may seem like it is extremely difficult or unsustainable. It gets easier with time. It doesn't help that it's hard to find reliable sources of information in this day and age.

[Michael569]

Macros do not get altered by food cooking. There are some alterations in molecular integrity such as high heat for a long time denaturates protein and breaks down resistant starchy carbohydrates like amylose but overally the value will not change. So ideally you want to measure raw weight whenever possible unless the nutrition table on the label says otherwise. 

Micronutrients may get altered to some degree. Vitamin C and B1 get depleted rapidly during frying and roasting, somewhatless by boiling. Most minerals don't with exception of magnesium I think. All the metallic ones like iron and zinc will be fully preserved. 

16 hours ago, Rasheed said:

- Why there is difference between macros in cooked food vs uncooked (like for example: Lentils uncooked have 25 grams of protein vs. Cooked lentils which have 9 grams of protein)

This is because cooked lentils (and other legumes) become soaked with water which adds to their weight. So 100 grams of raw lentils and 100 grams of cooked lentils do not have the same ratio of macronutrients anymore because you have to account for the added water weight. Notice how bulky they become after cooked? That's why  

The easiest method is to use an online tool like cronometer.com. You can measure food by cups (check the standard cup unit), or by grams for which you need a culinary weight scale. Cronometer allows you to use both. Smaller foods like seeds are best measure by spoon sizes (tablespoon, teaspoon etc..) these can be purchased online to get the adequate measure. 

One final note I am going to make is that macro counting unless you are diabetic or undergoing some sort of body transformation program is usually pointless , becomes obsessive and makes people neurotic. It is good to self-calibrate but don't allow it to become an obsession. Rather see how you feel. If you are gaining weight and feel sluggish, reduce food intake. If you are tired and libido is low, add more food. 

Edited November 25, 2019 by Michael569

[MartinMaggio]

Always count your macros on raw food. 

Macros stay the same, they don't change when cooked. Only thing that changes is the food chemistry/ composition. 

Get a digital scale and measure your food prior to cooking. Also you can use an app like my fitness pal to keep count of your macros

 

[TrynaBeTurquoise]

44 minutes ago, MartinMaggio said:

Always count your macros on raw food. 

Macros stay the same, they don't change when cooked. Only thing that changes is the food chemistry/ composition. 

Get a digital scale and measure your food prior to cooking. Also you can use an app like my fitness pal to keep count of your macros

 

Do you mean count them cooked?

You won't be consuming them raw so the macro count will be more accurate after the food is cooked which is the portion you eat.

[Rasheed]

Thanks. Very helpful. 

What I will do is: Measure my foods raw. Only cook foods which I measured and as a result, everything will be accurate...