Community » Get Advice » Diet and Nutrition » Weighing food/Pre-morning workout food

I have a couple of questions, but thought it would be easier to post them in one message.

First, when tracking food on here, does it make a big difference if you put the weight of the meat when it's raw vs cooked? I don't have a scale to weigh my food after it's cooked, so I went by the weight on the store label, and divided it by the number of meals I got from that package of chicken. The number of calories seems EXTREMELY high to me considering that I only buy skinless, boneless chicken. What I thought was a very healthy meal (marinated chicken, brown rice and steamed carrots) ended up being over 600 calories, almost half of which was from the chicken (without the marinade calories being added in). Is there a way that I can estimate how much it weighs once cooked? Is the difference even measurable?

Another topic is pre-morning workout food. I wake up at 5:30am and I'm at the park to run/walk by 6am. I can't eat too closely to my workout or I get really bad cramps, but I've been feeling really drained during my workouts. I don't want to sabotage my workouts or lose motivation because of this. Last weekend, I drank a sports drink then waited about an hour before going to the park, and I felt great during my workout. Unfortunately, during the week, I don't have the luxury of that extra hour in the morning. I've been mixing up the sports drink at night so I can start drinking it as soon as my alarm goes off, but it doesn't seem to kick in that quickly. Is there anything that anyone has found that does not cause cramps if eaten within 1/2 hour of working out?

I workout every morning at 7am. I always eat oatmeal (lower sugar microwave brand...kroger is really good) before I work out...between 1/2 hr - 1 hr prior. I never cramp from this. It keeps me full and comfortable until I am back at work and am able to eat a mid-morning snack.