Macros 101: Your Cheat Sheet To Tracking Foods

From Kait Callahan ( @kaitannmichelle )

How many of you avoid certain foods when it comes to meal prepping because you aren't sure how to convert it properly?

Trust me, I've been there. I actually NEVER used to eat rice because when searching "cooked jasmine/basmati/etc" you'd get SO MANY DIFFERENT OPTIONS!

In order to accurately report what you are eating you'll want to understand a few things:

1. An item's food label will ALWAYS reflect the nutrient profile AS IT IS PACKAGED. This means frozen items should be weighed out frozen, raw as raw, etc.

2. Weight cooked IS NOT the same as the weight raw. Meats will LOSE weight due to the water being cooked out of them and starches like rice will INCREASE in weight as they are absorbing water during the cooking process

Now, the idea of portioning things out EVERY TIME can be annoying which is why I bulk prep my starches and proteins so that I have the converted amount ready to portion out for the week

PSA: Do not get caught up in "perfection" there's no such thing. THE MOST important thing in your tracking endeavors is taking the education away from it

LASTLY, always remember that consistency will win over perfection every single time. Utilizing the same inputs each time you have something prepared the same way is going to do just fine. Take the lessons and do not get too caught up in the numbers.

Stay connected with blog author Kait Callahan on:

Want to be featured by ICON Meals? Submit your stories to info@iconmeals.com or send us a DM on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook!