Is Tracking Your Food Raw Ruining Your Gains?

[@Felu]

Premium extra virgin olive oil: petrousaoil.com/en/products/extra-virgin-oliveoil My cookbook: payhip.com/b/7ubMY Nakiri style Knife: felu.co/products/the-felu-knife

[@billkillernic]

That's like a non issue, unless stated otherwise by the publisher the calories are meant for the dish you google and not derived by the raw materials in their raw state e.g if you google for "rotisserie chicken calories" credible sources will come up with 195 calories per 100g while doing the same google for raw chicken the result will be 165 calories per 100 grams.

[@ady_kotidou]

Tracking everything raw will always be the way for me. So much easier and more accurate. Great video! 👍

[@bibihassberg1570]

but its inaccurate at chicken and co, depends on quality ya lost good 30% of weight after cooking

[@ady_kotidou]

@@bibihassberg1570 The change in weight after cooking doesn't matter. If you're tracking nutrition post-cooking, you should use the nutritional information for the cooked food, not the raw. However, tracking it based on the raw weight is more accurate, as you don't need to account for any additional ingredients or changes that occur during cooking.

[@Kem3s]

​@@bibihassberg1570are you special kid?

[@maktiki]

@@ady_kotidou Yes some people think toast bread is less calories because it weight less stupids

[@rick9705]

The Nutrition label on your chicken breasts when you buy it says (raw) on the label. If you want accurate macros weigh your portion, plug into your tracker, then cook. Really simple.

[@miguelito0716]

I don’t even weigh shit I just buy meat by the pound and read the label lol

[@rubenuribe]

Meat almost never has nutrition labels though.

[@SeleneSalvatore]

Nutrition tables on meat depend on country you live in. I think EU countries have nutrition tables for it.

[@Joniyeee]

@@SeleneSalvatoreyessir that’s right

[@mauricioalejandro74]

Exactly. There’s no need for this guy to make a video on this.

[@adrienmanjikai6146]

TLDR : just specify whether the weight is from raw or cooked food. Myfitnesspal will take care of the rest

[@Michael_Schumacher]

But depending on how the final internal temperature of your cooked food is, results may vary a lot

[@levischittlord6558]

Macros app too

[@Als1822]

just read the label

[@ady_kotidou]

​@@Als1822Meats and stuff like that pretty much never have a nutritional label here.

[@joelmatthews5697]

@@Als1822what part of the cow is the label on? Asking for a friend.

[@TitoDespacito]

This is something I’ve been worrying about since I started tracking calories, glad someone finally made a video about it! 😎

[@Fake_ass_Pepe_Silvia]

ditto. I tend to overthink everything, but at some point i realized exactly what he mentioned.... getting the exact number is impossible and pointless, so all i can do is be consistent on my end.

[@Felu]

Glad it was helpful! Trying to make more educational content and I hope people like it

[@oatznsquats]

man i'm glad i'm not th only one who thinks about this stuff. what's even worse is that i like to have boneless skinless chicken thighs. i track it as the macros listed on the package, but i also trim off any big chunks of fat i can, plus some of the fat melts off in the cooking process. how much fat am i actually eating? no idea, but i just be consistent with it and try not to worry about it like you said.

[@ZiggyZoopZap]

I love this channel, I've recommended it to many. Very underrated, Thank You Felu

[@nataliab.9725]

Great video, I guess these are the most common doubts when starting to track! Thanks Felu!!

[@kvpc11]

Love the videos Felu, they are such a great resource! A good tip I always did was when cooking veggies or chicken with oil, I would pour the oil in a bowl on a scale and weigh it, and then toss the veggies/chicken in it to coat them. Made it so much easier than trying to guess how much oil I put in the pan. Thank you for all your content!

[@MrMaximllian]

Just wanted to say that it`s a very important topic, every person trying to lose weight should watch this video, it makes things much more simple!

[@bnanderson117]

amazing video. Such a great way to explain this difficult situation. For me, I usually weigh veggies raw, but with meats, I typically do cooked weight x 1.33 to get the raw weight. It's not always perfect, but it's a way to stay consistent as you mentioned!

[@gosiam4910]

This took me a looong time to figure out when I first started tracking. 3 years later I can confirm it works

[@ditz3nfitness]

Dried fruits are REAL KILLERS too when doing a comparison just like raw/cooked, but with their fresh/dried weight! I see SO MANY people snacking on dried fruit, thinking it's better, but those dried banana slices for example have SO MANY calories per 100g! And worst part of most dried fruit is, they usually have way less fiber, and way more simple sugars per 100g, making you way hungrier so much faster than their original fresh state! A similar video just like this could be done on that topic! Raisins VS Grapes is a good example too! 👆

[@truestrength-oz5kk]

great for bulking though

[@jibijay]

I always track uncooked unless I'm cooking something with more fat like grilled chicken thigh fillets for example, then I will track the cooked weight. If I'm using the thigh fillets in something like a curry or paella then I go with raw as all the fat stays in the dish.

[@freakppl]

No one asked, everyone needed. Great video short simple and to the point, thanks :D

[@Felu]

Thank you!

[@jeff_costarica]

RAW thats it , finish of the discussion

[@DannyT123]

I've never once thought about this, thanks for making me stress about this now

[@Makenor13]

Something that sometimes confuses me a lot is related to food that has both edible and inedible parts, or parts that usually people don't eat. Basic example: chicken legs (thighs and drumsticks). It should have something around 200/210 cal per 100g, skin included. But is this referred to the total weight, bones and cartilages included, or just to the edible part? Same thing if I'm eating a whole roasted chicken, should I consider the weight of it with the carcasse when I log it into my food app or not? The edible part should be something like 66%. Same goes for fish btw. Some other minor and more insignificant examples could relate to fruits and vegetables with a skin that is actually edible (potatoes, apples, pears etc), if you should account for its weight in the calorie count or if it's "free" because it's just made of fiber basically. But that's very minor because it'll impact the tracking very very marginally.

[@Sirvalian]

Not the bones included. If you want to be accurate you'll have to weight the bones after eating.

[@cuppacheese]

The real problem is when dealing with proteins with a higher fat content. If measuring raw, it includes the fat (think ground beef for example), most of the fat gets rendered out and discarded when making a dish such as tacos. This changes the macros significantly.

[@cuppacheese]

@nattyfatty6.0 Because I’m trying to lose weight, not eat all the fat just because it is accounted for at some point. If you are counting points or some other metric, it will make more sense to you. By the way, your username checks out for that comment.

[@panagiotislepelis8177]

When i first started counting i did both raw before and cooked after for the foods i ate most until i knew exactly the macros. After i got used to it, i just calculate it by raw grams when i cook or meal prep and i just know the approximate difference from experience. To be honest after doing it for years i don't even really count calories anymore i know roughly how many calories i'm eating since i have had the same diet for ages. If i decide to try some new recipe or do a meal prep then i do calculate it for each meal. But yeah if you're starting out i would say do both for a bit it's annoying but will help in the long run.

[@ILPanino]

That's way easier to calculate, you just weight the fat because you either burn it or have it as a liquid in the pan

[@freddywalter8605]

Just count those fats and if anything its extra deficit.

[@AbdullahArguer]

Just remove 100 calories lol

[@MrNotlistening]

one of your best videos yet! Thanks a lot, this makes sense

[@mrbobo86]

Just cook chicken in bulk and store it in fridge. And when it comes down to eating, measure it cooked.

[@jerensteffen]

Water absorbtion and retention during cooking varies greatly.

[@qckalvin]

Thanks for sharing this info brother! This is something I recently started pondering

[@AngelWings-r4v]

I look up the nutrition of my food as cooked, and measure my portions, it helps me better track my calories and macros.

[@TinaSpencer-w6o]

Thank you so much for this video. It was very informative.

[@TheBestTuber396]

Did Jeff Caveliere write the title of the video?

[@Felu]

Yes, I hope he is ok with it :)

[@8-bite393]

I always track uncooked ingredients. So I never lose overview

[@Maurus200]

This is a 101 on how to overcomplicate things.

[@conkirk9362]

Gorgeous rendition! I’ll be seeking out Chris’ music 🤙

[@dytakeda]

Tracking everything in the state in which I eat it seems the best way.

[@liquoricewhip7760]

Short answer: raw

[@robbie726]

Very well explained.

[@carlolaput2597]

OMG! I needed this

[@douglasmurphy3266]

Cheap commercial chicken breast in the US is particularly shady. The amount of water and chemical added can vary drastically, so you need to measure your yeild after cooking, and compare the before and after if you are curious or want to compare different sources. So weigh cooked is the answer. Other meats like ground beef and turkey usually cook down consistently with the label. You can toss it into a batch of something and do the math after. Cooked weight pretty much turns out 3/4 of raw unless you're adding a bunch of stuff or cooking it to death. So either way is fine. Rice, oats, pasta, anything dry that gets boiled I always weigh dry. Again, you know what you put into your batch as you cook it and can weigh the whole thing after and divide it if need be. Bacon just assume any accuracy in your macros just got wrecked. It's really chicken and anything with fillers or additives that pose issues. The stuff with junk added you should ideally not eat. The sodium solution chicken you just need to know is about 33% more expensive than it is labeled because you are getting less actual lean protein.

[@WaterFAK]

The US food industry is doomed let's be honest, in the European Union the food quality and standards are way superior than in the US. Fun fact, I ordered some hersheys chocolate coated cookies, and read more than 20 ingredients on the label (I'm being generous) and most of the ingredients i've never heard of, while in Europe the same sort of food has max 10 ingredients, and stuff like: Sugar, milk powder, milk concentrate, cocoa powder, non hydrogenated palm oil, etc.

[@FightRants]

very insightful thoughts, thank you very much!

[@misterbulger]

Some of the fat runs off too. Always wondered if 93/7 was worth the extra cost when 80/20 is half the cost and theres all the fat that still drains off. Does the protein grams go down from cooking it? It's just water and some fat you're losing right?

[@leneeanderson4848]

This is exactly what I do. I weigh out, say, 115 grams of cooked chix every time. But if I want to cut, I'll weigh out 100. It takes some juggling, but once you know portion size, portion control and have some appetite control, it's easy!

[@hanxa_dj]

How protein grams increased after cooking chicken?

[@MiKappa360]

Perfect video!! Thank you!!

[@Felu]

Glad you liked it!!

[@affanshaikh5423]

I've always found it more efficient to weight food cooked then raw even though it takes a bit more time

[@robins162]

I think the title of the video is funny, because I think tracking the raw food is so much more accurate then tracking the cooked food. Cooking temperature and time makes a huge difference in the weight after cooking. Lets say you have pasta and one day you cook it for 8 minutes and the other for 12 they’re Booth cooked pasta but one will probably weigh more then the other if you track them both with the same nutrients per 100grams at least one must be incredibly inaccurate, meanwhile you can weigh the raw pasta and get rid of both factors for mistakes and know exactly the calories that went into your pot and therefore in the case of pasta it’s also the calories that come out plus the water they soak in. Maybe on things like burger patties that loose a lot of fat while cooking it might make sense to weigh the fat that remains in the pan after cooking but in cases like that I assume the nutrients in the worst way for my diet so that if I’m mistaken I have eaten less calories then I tracked. E.g. when I make a burger I assume it has the nutrients of the raw meat knowing I probably eat a little less fat but if I plan to be in a calorie deficit when I ate the fat it lost while cooking I’m definitely in one when I didn’t ate it.

[@zanzabar7878]

Thank you!

[@mertcandemirkay9448]

really beneficial video. thanks!

[@munishchopra-evans4419]

Great explanation

[@ballagh]

Scanning barcodes into apps can be an issue. I’ve made the mistake of assuming they are referring to the raw ingredients while the given macros refers to the cooked value. Rice was the one that caught me out and it didn’t seem that clear on the label.

[@Zenmasterleaf]

So much easier to track food cooked. Lol. Which is why i looked for “cooked” cals online and not raw

[@kruner]

It doesnt matter the weight change on cooking. If you hace 200gr of chicken breast it is around 40gr of protein. After cooking you will have just 160gr of chicken breast, but the same 40gr of protein, it will lose just water

[@umadbro4493]

3:07 why does the second chicken breast RAW have 31 grams of protein?

[@BoshSoldierCarp]

I always do it cooked as I don't eat it raw!

[@DWQMusic]

Calculate everything raw for all calories, cook it, portion it out based on original calories. 5000 calories raw ingrediens, end result, 2.4kg, that makes for 6 x 600g portions being roughtly 850kcal per portion.

[@vernonboy1]

What app do you use for your tracking?

[@AnarchyEnsues]

He is using my fitness pal by the looks of it. It's pretty good, use free account, no benefits with paid accounts

[@Felu]

MyFitnessPal or Yazio are both good

[@ellipses6963]

I mean, yeah measuring everything you cook raw makes sense in theory, if you’re only cooking for yourself. This doesn’t seem like practical advice for people who are cooking for multiple people, like their family, for example. That being said, as long as you know the difference between raw and cooked and make a good faith effort to track consistently, that should be sufficient for the overwhelming majority of people who are bothering to weigh their food and track CICO.

[@Hilllochflyfisher]

Ok then what of you cut off all visible fat then boil the chicken breast what would the calorie comparison be then

[@Sirvalian]

Chicken breast, like all other meats, vary by country. Where I live it's 23g protein and 2.1g fat.

[@cyborgy8163]

Great video❤

[@joecolletti]

Thank you for this video-- I have wondered about this question myself. From a real world perspective, do you think this measuring difference makes that big an impact in someone's results? Seems to me that switching from a SAD / Std American Diet-- and giving up / limiting beer, candy bars, etc.-- is gonna create results, even if one's measurements aren't precise. I sure hope so anyway-- those Oreos ads are *everywhere* on KZbin!

[@Felu]

Changing lifestile habits and having a balanced diet will have a much higher impact, abolsutely but I still think that tracking food, at least in the beginning, is a crucial part to a healthier life and doing it at least consistent is important.

[@DelTaco6]

What do you do if you live in a place that pumps water into the raw chicken and doesn't have nutrition labels for raw meat? (USA)

[@TheSenhorcaioo]

Chatgpt help me with this one some months ago 😅

[@felipearbustopotd]

Raw chicken if purchased from the supermarket are pumped with water and salt. If you breed your own and then eat the meat - you'll be surprised how much smaller and denser the meat is and how little water if any is released. Tracking weighing per se, can be problematic - best to keep a food log / diary.

[@Kem3s]

Maybe in usa

[@Mctriotv]

Is this sight to weight the uncooked good if te measure this before cooking

[@johnweig4667]

BTW if I buy your book can I download it for offline reading?

[@Felu]

Yes, sure! You have it on your phone

[@metalsteel5631]

what about ground beef, ribs, brisket, aka fatty meat? the fat leaks out as oil and gets drained.

[@HansHeinrich-t9m]

Which app is used for tracking?

[@ChrisBars88]

I have an air fryer that drains the fat as it cooks. So would raw still be better?

[@mikaelrosing]

u cant track it a 100 p. But weigh you food and try your best. if your not loosing weight after 1-3 months. Try eating 300-200 kal less per day, and try track every single thing except spices ofc. Cooking oil has to be tracked too. dont go ocd take your time and be patient.

[@cctvmanbob]

? Not able to get my head around this ! If you only take away water and add NOTHING , how does the protein change ? If you start with 22g you must still have 22g for the same weight of chicken ... What am I missing ?

[@jibijay]

He compare 100g of cooked with 100g of raw. 100g of raw when cooked would shrink to about 70g cooked. 100g of cooked would have been something like 140g of raw. so 140g raw/100g cooked = 33g protein 100g raw/70g cooked is the 22g.

[@drb5538]

The OP is correct, there is no loss of protein and only a little run off of fat so a chicken breast raw or cooked still has 22g of protein. Fats and proteins are measured directly from raw food and are not calculated as a percentage of mass so a change in mass during cooking will not change the mass of protein. Losing water doesn't make protein or fat appear out of nowhere.

[@lavagelada]

muito bom esse video, parabens

[@mm1k3y]

This a common error I have seen fitness vloggers making. The macro nutrients in the chicken breast do not change because a bit of water evaporated.

[@lilrosebush]

I like weighting my chicken raw because if I add an extra ounce or so, I know subconsciously that it won’t effect my calories goal massively.

[@juliannopmo8019]

I made the mistake with weighting oils wrong. Because a lot of oil nutrition is set in milliliters and not in gram. 100 ml of oil is equal to 90g and not 100g. Might help someone.

[@Sirvalian]

Not a huge mistake. Over counting the oil amount is better than under counting it.

[@tessawessa5417]

This video could also be called 'Is Tracking Your Food Cooked Stalling Your Fat Loss?'

[@festaragazzo]

Gibt es dein E-book auch auf deutsch?

[@bibihassberg1570]

Idealy track everything that "grows up" before (rice, noodles, etc) and everything that shrink (meat, vegetables, [....]) after cooking, isn't?!

[@Kem3s]

No? Why would i track meat after cooking

[@Kizzaru03]

So all this time im at 1300 cal deficit rather than 1000 since i trac the chicken raw….. with 165cal per 100 gram

[@devilsadvocate2643]

So basically 100g of cooked chicken means more raw product, since the raw product loses weight ? 100g of raw chicken would give 70g of cooked chicken; so you need to add an extra piece of raw chicken. Video doesn't mention what is mentioned in the nutritional values though. 100g of rice, behind the box, is it cooked or raw ? Same for pasta ? It's not always written behind :/

[@juliannopmo8019]

Nutritonal values should be like always on the raw food item and not in cooked form. I think the amount of water and therefore weight loss depends on how long you cook something.

[@Maurokostaki7]

what's that app that you are using in your videos to track macros?

[@Kingtot]

Not sure what he is using (does he show?), but FitnessPal is a pretty good app for keeping track of food, macros, protein, etc.

[@Felu]

MyFitnessPal or Yazio are both good

[@ekay4495]

Other Meal Prep KZbinrs who use cooked food macros for raw weights: "I'ma pretend I didn't see that"

[@thegrimreaper7]

TLDR: weigh it raw, the water content most foods lose when cooking won't affect your calories in a noticeable way. Most of the apps will ask you if it's cooked or raw anyways, so there's not much point on anything else.

[@Dad_Lyon]

An even more nuanced opinion on rice. You should do your best to measure it dry, that final weight will depend on how much water you add. Some like doing 2:1 water:rice, while others go as low as 1.25:1. Each grain of the 2:1 rice will weigh more than 1.25. Hell this even translates to meat. If you sous vide chicken to different temps or different dwelling times, the water extracted will be different.

[@happyotakumanmike]

To be fair, most meats cooked vs raw won't throw your calculations off a ridiculous amount. If your deficit of 500+ calories a day being 30-150 calories off causes you significantly less weight loss you probably want to up your deficit a bit anyway. Also any app that does calculations per that will compensate provided you are consistently giving it weight and foods consumed data to work with.

[@linkunarre]

"Should you weight your food raw or cooked?" Doesn't matter if you specify when noting it

[@hirotakasugi4891]

If I'm making it myself, I use raw. If I'm buying already cooked, I use cooked weight and specified.

[@jurbua]

Thank you very mcuh Thank you very mcuh Thank you very mcuh Thank you very mcuh Thank you very mcuh

[@Priya3]

You had 5 chances to spell "much" the correct way

[@drb5538]

There is no good reason to use values based on cooked food, it adds unnecessary complication to working out how much raw ingredient is needed. With raw values you weigh your raw ingredient and know exactly how much of each macro is present, simple.

[@Yamaazaka]

Also dont count protein as calories

[@colejames423]

Yeah, and don’t include the cheesecake you eat standing at the fridge at 2 in the morning. If no one sees you consume it, your body doesn’t use the calories like normal.

[@ryanreviews8566]

weight it cooked ofc.

[@akabearman_]

Just calculate all your foods/products when they raw (not cooked), that's all you need to know.

[@yasminaboobaker-g6p]

It’s the Water weight

[@Sercil00]

I'd always go with the label if it exists. Calorie counting is already built upon countless inaccuracies and guesswork. Many of them are unavoidable and negligable on their own, but something like this is 100% avoidable. All these inaccuracies will add up, so why would you want to make it even worse? The label will only help you if you weigh it raw.

[@SougeyT]

not true for rice unfortunately 😢

[@ady_kotidou]

​@@SougeyTWhat are you talking about? The nutritional label for rice refers to raw weight. I have never seen a packet of rice that specifies "cooked product".

[@tyukikiquinchi7367]

Good morning pineapple

[@MyLegsAreKindaLong]

nice video

[@riskez]

Hey Felu, which apps do you use to track your calories?

[@Felu]

MyfitnessPal and/or yazio

[@SonaKono]

Well , i don't eat raw chicken so i do not count raw chicken , it's that simple

[@Gdoggybee]

This is why I weigh raw because its much more consistent

[@hypernewlapse]

Track raw because the meat you buy is raw so the nutritional information table is accurate to raw

[@ady_kotidou]

That's totally true, unless the nutritional label specifies otherwise. But where I live, none of the meats have nutritional labels. Personally, I like to conduct my own research and create "Personal Foods" in MyFitnessPal (I never use the public database for anything) and I always work with raw food.

[@ady_kotidou]

@nattyfatty6.0 Like I said, I do my own research and create the food myself.

[@red2432]

Meat is weighted raw and the nutritional label is weighted raw

[@MrBopper2888]

Always better to track how much you’re going to eat raw

[@uplandarch697]

i question the calorie measurement of protein. its not fuel and depends on if you lift

[@Zang3tsu66]

only clicked on this because i saw my fricking scale

[@codedusting]

I calculate raw. Approx 1400. Then cook it. Then realise it's too much to eat in a day 😂