The Importance of Tracking your food (aka calories "in" )

Some benefits of tracking include:

Increasing mindfulness. Can you remember what you ate for dinner last night? Often times we forget everything we put in our mouths. Tracking helps you remain mindful of what you eat because you have to log it. I've learned to either pre-log, or log what I'm eating immediately before I eat it. There's been a few times that I've eaten first, and then when I logged it, I found that I was OVER my goal for the day!!

Tracking provides you with a better understanding of your current eating habits. In order to reach your nutritional goals, you need to know what your starting point is so you can make an attainable plan with steps to reach your goal. For instance, you need to know how many calories you’re currently consuming, from what sources, and what ratio of macronutrients before you can tweak anything to make progress towards your goal.

Tracking informs you how nutrient dense your food is. Tracking your food helps you determine what foods are “worth it” for you to meet your goals/nutritional needs (after a few days, you may think, “Wow, those donuts from the breakroom are really difficult to fit into my nutrition plan and they aren’t that satiating. I think I’d rather eat something else.” OR something like, “Cake is my favorite dessert. I know I’m going to have to balance the rest of my day because of it, but I’m ok with that because I don’t eat cake that often and I really love cake, so this is worth it to me.”) Likewise, it helps you realize what foods are inhibiting you from meeting your goals (and therefore help you reduce the amount of consumption or even eliminate). For example, a latte with whole milk and syrups can add an extra 500 calories to your day. If you consume that latte everyday, that’s an extra 3500 calories each week...that’s equal to 1lb of fat...every week.

Tracking holds you accountable. By logging, you are aware when you near your daily calorie limit.

It helps you balance your total calories and macronutrients throughout the day. By logging each meal, you can see how balanced your meals are and this can help you make better choices in the future or ensure you continue to make balanced choices for sustained energy.

Tracking helps you reach your goals, and allows you to make informed decisions of foods you enjoy. Once you know the caloric density of your food, you can’t help but use that information for the future to help you reach your goals. For example, while out to eat at The Cheesecake Factory you are debating what appetizer you want to order. Before making a decision, you check to see how many calories are in the Grilled Chicken Lettuce Wraps and discover that they contain a whopping 1000 calories. You also notice that would put you way over your calorie limit for the day and decide to go with a different appetizer.

Tracking actually gives you options. You can feel empowered that you have control over incorporating a variety of your favorite foods, in moderation, into your diet. (Pre-logging helps in this area as well).

Tracking allows you to plan ahead. Decide what you’re going to get at the grocery store while at home or pre-read the menu and log those foods in advance. If you aren’t able to do this, learn after you make a choice why it was good or bad (moving your towards or away from your goal) and how to improve your choice in the future.

There are many benefits to tracking your food... but the key is to be honest with yourself. For me, that includes weighing most of my food - even my coffee creamer, because I've found that I'm very "heavy handed". Lol.

What have you found out or learned about yourself when it comes to your tracking?

Did I exercise for at least 20 minutes? Yes.
Did I stay within my calorie budget for the day? No.
Did I keep track of everything I ate and drank? Yes.

Exercise was 30 minutes of walking at work.

Pass Days Used: 2