After competing at the 2022 Mr. Olympia contest in Las Vegas, NV, in December 2022, Hunter Labrada delved into what caused him to slip from fourth place in 2021 to seventh place in 2022. While chalking it up to not nailing his peak on show day, he is back on the grind for the 2023 season to return to bodybuilding‘s grandest stage.
Due to the new Olympia qualification system in 2023, Labrada will have to win a pro show to contend against reigning Mr. Olympia Hadi Choopan on Nov. 2-5, 2023, in Orlando, FL. Labrada has his sights set on at least two to-be-determined pro shows before then to test strategies for peaking correctly.
A major part of that process is managing diet in the kitchen. Labrada published a video on his YouTube channel wherein he spoke about his strategy regarding how to weigh food. Should one weigh their food raw or cooked? See what Labrada had to say below:
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Labrada’s “Tuesday Tip” video is under three minutes long, but the main message he aimed to convey was reiterated several times: be consistent. Consistency, in this case, can be done in several ways.
If one is eating similar foods routinely, then weighing raw versus cooked is less important than weighing food in the same form. For example, weighing chicken or other proteins raw before cooking them may be better for maintaining consistency if the protein is cooked differently from meal to meal.
When we cook things, all we’re doing is removing or adding moisture.
Labrada’s rationale for weighing his food is not only for measurable intake that can affect his macro count but so he can make adjustments to those measurements over time based on his goals.
If Labrada were to measure his food raw, what that food weighs after it is cooked is a relative change and wouldn’t inform his decision to add or subtract how much he eats when making adjustments.
At the end of the day, as long as someone tracking their food maintains consistency when measuring their food, they will be able to make more accurate decisions better aligned with their target, whether that be to add more calories in a bulking phase, subtract calories in a cutting phase, or maintain calories steadily.
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Featured image: @hunterlabrada on Instagram
