Tracking…. One of the three daily goals of the UAC. Why tracking? Here are my reasons.
For starters, tracking a single food allows me to see the “cost” of a given item and allows me to decide the impact of that cost in the context of my overall caloric budget. Tracking helps me to keep track of that budget and allows me to make informed decisions along the way. For me, pre-tracking is even more helpful as it takes the question of “what and I going to eat next” out of the equation.

Those are my reasons, but I know there are many more! How does tracking help you?

@smoda61 i also pretrack my diary the night before where possible Xox

04/06/2021

Did I exercise for at least 20 minutes?
• 30 min “Lift and Shred” (J. Michaels)
• Walking 13.18 km in 2:19:32 (5.65 km/h)
• Fitness Age/VO2max: 20/40

Did I stay within my calorie budget for the day? Yes Fasting day
Did I keep track of everything I ate and drank? Yes
Pass days used: 0 of 3

Exercise: Yes
Calories: Yes
Tracking: Yes

Even though I met my goal for the day I didn't put a lot of effort into my fitness nor did I eat well. As they say, tomorrow is another day to be better.

I have to pre-track any meals to ensure I'm hitting my macros and staying in ketosis. I have a lot of go-to meals now to choose from that I know from having tracked in the past meet all my requirements. Even for eating out. That allows me to be flexible. Whenever I find myself eating out someplace new, I track afterwards the best I can, or right there while looking at the menu if possible. It's not too hard to keep the macro proportions right (especially keeping carbs down), in those cases the trick is how many calories?

June 4 - 3 yes day

✅ - Exercise 20+ Minutes
✅ - Calories within budget
✅ - Tracked every detail I consumed

0/3 Pass Days Used

However, as I suspected that strength workout wasn't able to get fit in.

Everything went rather well prior to my daughters dentist appt. I prepared quick, portable meals just to ensure I could eat on time without any worries. We were able to keep her away from all food and drink after 9am. I was even planning on getting a walk in while the procedure was underway.

In the end the appointment had to be rescheduled though due to a mix-up in the timing for her last food and drink.

So we're all at home now, kids are eating, and getting ready to wind down our day. I guess we get to try this all again in the future.

Personal Challenges Met: 3/4 days (4th)
✅ - Net Carbs 30g or less (23g)
✅ - Protein 180g or more (184g)
✅ - Intermittent Fasted (20 hrs)
❎ - All Scheduled Workouts Completed? (2/3)

• 27 mins Yoga
• 45 min Run
• MISSED - Strength

ETA - While I could have "unscheduled" that workout due to conflicts, which I considered doing yesterday, I kept remembering that I could probably still find a way. Like a quote that goes, "While I can not control the direction the wind blows, I can always adjust my sails".

So I set an alarm for 4:30am. That would allow me time to do it all before all of these food/drink/dentist activities.

At 1:30am I woke for a biological reason and decided to cancel that alarm.

So it was in reality a conscious miss and could have happened.

Did I exercise for at least 20 minutes? Yes. Elliptical at the gym (first time back now that I am fully vaccinated)
Did I stay within my calorie budget for the day? Yes
Did I keep track of everything I ate and drank? Yes

✅ - Exercise 20+ Minutes
✅ - Calories within budget
✅ - Tracked everything

3️⃣ Pass Days Remaining

Exercise YES (walked 3.5 miles and yoga class)
Calories YES (under 1,300)
Logged food YES

A lunch time walk of 1.75 miles in 36 minutes nice but after pizza and beer I had better take a pass day 1/3… there’s always tomorrow

😎 kid is getting married, went to the tasting this afternoon with the happy couple, oh my goodness. By how stuffed I still feel, I’m guessing I am quite over ...

Pass day 2/3

Did I exercise for at least 20 minutes? Yes, a 92 minute trail walk, and 75 minutes strength training.
Did I stay within my calorie budget for the day? Yep
Did I keep track of everything I ate and drank? Yep

Day #16 75 Hard Challenge completed.

✅✅✅

Walked 1, ran 3. Friday’s I normally run 5, but that humidity 🥵. 89%. It was killer.

Pizza for dinner tonight, as we ended up picking up one of my BFFs 10 year old from school and hanging out with him while they had a palliative care convo with the hospital about her mom. 💔 So…the boy likes pizza and video games so he got pizza and video games. I worked it into my day though, and had 2 whole calories to spare.

Tomorrow will be an intentional pass day because hubby and I are doing date night, and he picked the restaurant based on what he knows I enjoy eating. Lol. The dessert menu looks incredible, but the biggest danger…there is sweet and spicy hummus on the menu. Sweet and spicy hummus. Yup. Pass day. My goal for tomorrow is to have a good session with my personal trainer and keep the rest of the day on track, so I only go over on dinner and in the end it’s not all that bad.

June 4:

Did I exercise for at least 20 minutes? - Yes, walked for just over 1 hour.
Did I stay within my calorie budget for the day? - Yes
Did I keep track of everything I ate and drank? - Yes

1/3 Pass days used.

@SModa61 - The tracking here on MFP has been an eye-opener for me. I have tried written food journals in the past, but I have not been good about weighing items or considering portion sizes before I write the food item down. Portion sizes are my biggest issue. The MFP database and system is making me very conscious of just not what I eat but how much, and my actual caloric intake.

Yes, yes, and yes, a good day.

SModa61 wrote: »

How does tracking help you?

Absolutly essential to me, without it I am sure my calorie intake would grow quickly. I am not a person who can do the "intuitive eating" thing.

Yes x 3. All meals except for 1 were on the road today so I am quite pleased that I managed it well. I also had a 50 minute walk on a lovely beach!