TRACKING CONSISTENCY

My experience suggests that most people are not very good at estimating how many calories they eat on any given day. Most people, it seems, think they eat less than they actually do. That’s the scary part. No one gains 30 pounds overnight. It happens gradually over time. It just takes an extra 100 calories here and there (i.e. ONE tablespoon of peanut butter, olive oil or butter). You could easily (mindlessly) eat 100-300 more calories today than you did yesterday and not even realize it. If you consistently eat 300 calories per day more than your body needs, the result would be a two- to three-pound weight gain each month! In one year you would be 30 pounds heavier than you are right now! (It takes an excess of 3500 calories to gain one pound)

Often, in an effort to eat “healthier” and / or lose weight, people will under eat which can cause hunger, mood swings, cravings, poor sleep and anxiety. Deprivation diets that restrict our daily calorie intake by 600-800 calories a day are not sustainable over time. They send a “starvation” message to the metabolism telling it to slow down. This slowing of the metabolism is what helped our hunter-gatherer ancestors survive famines. Today, these crash diets only set us up for a binge later so any weight that is lost (usually as mostly muscle and / or water) quickly returns (as fat). 

Fortunately, making a few small behavior changes at a time is relatively easy. With just a few minor adjustments you could easily cut out 200-300 calories a day. Your body won’t miss those calories and in one year you would weigh up to 30 pounds less than if you hadn’t made any adjustments. 

If I had a nickel for every time a client has approached me and said, “I eat very ‘healthy’ but I’m just not seeing results” or,“ “I’ve been eating healthy for over a month now. I lost a few pounds in the first couple of weeks but I’ve hit a plateau” or “I’ve been really ‘good’ lately. I don’t understand what’s going on.”  My first question to them is, “Are you tracking your calories and / or counting macros?” The answer almost every time is no. The phrase “eating healthy” or “being really good” does not give me enough data to be able to help the client.

If you are going to figure out what is and isn’t working for you it is of the utmost importance that you be completely honest about what your current diet looks like. The best way to do that is to track your macros / calories (even just for seven days!).

THE BASICS OF MACRONUTRIENTS & PORTION SIZING

There are multiple ways to help you track your intake and consistently eat right for your goals and needs. To track your calories and/or count your macros you can:

• Read nutrition labels.

• Use a food scale and measuring cups.

• Log your intake into a food tracking app.

• Use your hands to measure your portions (which will track and count your calories and macronutrients for you)

Or all of the above.

This can help you better understand how many calories are in foods, create awareness of macronutrients, and track your intake as accurately as is reasonably possible.

It’s important that you start keeping a detailed food log right now, even BEFORE you start making any dietary changes. Think of it as a “before” snapshot of your current diet (the one that isn’t working for you). It will be helpful to have this to look back at later.   

There are plenty of online services / applications (many of them FREE), that will give you an automatic breakdown of macronutrients (proteins, carbohydrates and fats), micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), calories, sodium and sugar! I like (and consistently use) MyFitnessPal.

WHY TRACKING WORKS

• It's a great tool for determining how what goes into your body affects body composition, mood, athletic performance, sleep habits, etc.

• It makes you more accountable (even more so if you're showing your food log to someone. I have been logging my food in MyFitnessPal for over 10 years now. I weigh, measure, and record pretty much everything I eat. Usually no one sees it except me. But it’s no coincidence that I eat better (and more mindfully) when I’m tracking my food than than when I’m not!

• It increases awareness of certain patterns, habits and triggers. Once you're aware of a destructive pattern, you have the power to change it.

• It does not depend on memory.

• Online services or applications provide accurate intake data such as calories, macronutrients and micronutrients.

TIPS ON TRACKING

• Record as you go. Don't wait until the end of the day to record everything you ate and drank. You are likely to forget something… especially if it’s something you wish you hadn’t eaten.  

• Schedule it in. Better yet, plan your meals and enter them into MFP ahead of time... This way you can "back into" your targets, as opposed to eating a meal, entering it, and then realizing you were way over or under on something (protein, carbs, fat, calories). Pick a time each day (maybe the night before or first thing in the morning) when you will enter in your food. Write it on your schedule and treat it just like an appointment.

• Remember the B.L.T. Rule: If you bite it, lick it or taste it, it should be recorded!  Most of us have good intentions when it comes to nutrition. I can assure you, it isn’t that grilled chicken over a green salad with the dressing on the side that is sabotaging your weight loss efforts. Many times it’s the mindless eating – picking off the kids’ plates, taking a piece of chocolate each time you walk by the candy dish, grabbing a cookie (“just one”) because you were hungry, you didn't have any food prepared and it’s all you had time for as you rushed out the door. Those are the things that sometimes add up to several hundred calories at the end of the day.

• Focus on portion size. Most people underestimate how much they eat. Practice using measuring cups and spoons when you're at home until you are able to "eyeball" what a half-cup looks like.  I also recommend getting yourself a digital food scale to weigh your protein sources (You can purchase a good one for $20).

• Be consistent. Whether you use a notebook, an excel spreadsheet, an app, or a cell phone camera (a photo log) be sure you are using it consistently (even on weekends).

• Don't skip your indulgent days. It's especially important to write on days you indulge in (a) treat(s) – planned or not. What gets measured gets managed.

• Cook at home. You'll have more control over what you eat – what goes into your food, and how much of it you eat!  As a result your food log entries will be more accurate.

• If improving athletic performance is one of your goals I highly encourage you to keep a detailed record of your workouts including the weight used, your personal records (PRs), benchmarks, milestones, etc.          

IDENTIFYING YOUR TRIGGERS

So many people are unhealthy and overweight because they have no idea what and how much they are actually eating or why they are eating it. They repeat the same destructive habits and behaviors day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year, sometimes without even realizing it. 

Triggers influence not only our desire to eat, but also what we eat, how much we eat, and how fast we eat. The triggers that we are particularly interested in are the ones that encourage mindless eating, poor food choices or consumption of large quantities of certain types of food. Our goal is to identify those triggers and remove them or at least reduce our exposure to them.

Sometimes triggers that stimulate a particular food response are obvious, but other times the triggers are not so obvious. For example, keeping an uncovered bowl of chocolate on your desk is an obvious trigger for anyone who enjoys chocolate. But did you know that such things as the placement of the food on the dinner table, the size of the plates you eat off of, the type of lighting in the room, and even the music that’s playing during your meal can all be very powerful triggers causing you to eat more/faster?

As adults, most of us eat based on social norms, advertising, what’s around us, and our family/friends/peers. We eat when…

• It’s a certain time of day

• It’s a certain event (or no event in particular)

• It’s a certain emotional situation (or we’re bored); or

• We’re reminded of food (which is nearly always)

Simply jotting down what you had for breakfast lunch and dinner is not going to be enough if you are looking to produce permanent change. You will need more data than that if you want some clues as to what is and isn’t working for you. (In a future post we’ll talk about identifying your triggers that produce detrimental behaviors as well as those triggers that produce positive behaviors.)The goal is mindfulness. Some important details to record include:

• Detailed food and fluid intake

• Portion size

• Time of day

• Where you are

• Who you are with / Social setting

• Your degree of hunger (i.e. 0 = not hungry, 1 = hungry, 2 = very hungry)

• Your emotional state

• How you feel one hour after eating (physically AND mentally)

  
  

BE MINDFUL OF THE PROCESS

Another thing that has worked well for me is to complete a Weekly Progress Report of sorts.  Each week take a few minutes to reflect on the previous seven days. Below is a list of the things I focus on. Feel free to use them as a guide:

• Describe how you are feeling (any significant thoughts, emotions, concerns, how you are feeling physically)

• Describe what is happening in your body functions, energy levels, mood, outlook, etc.

• Describe what is happening in your appearance.

• Describe any changes in symptoms or conditions.

• Describe your hunger between meals, satisfaction/satiety with meals.  Not how you felt physically after eating.

• Describe any changes in sleep (quality and/or duration).

• Describe the best part of your week.

• Talk about anything you struggled with during the week.

• Note something you want/need to improve on in the coming week.