SHOULD YOU TRACK YOUR FOOD?

Hey, hi, what’s up?!

So, you want to know if you should track your food to help you reach your fitness goals? Well let’s dive into it!

Tracking your macronutrients (protein, fats, and carbs) or your caloric intake can be an excellent tool to help you reach your fitness goals. It is just that though, a tool. Not the only tool. Not the miracle tool, just a normal tool that can be used in your toolbox.

For some people, tracking their food can have a negative impact on their mental health or just not work for their lifestyle/be sustainable. With that being said, if you struggle with a healthy relationship with food, this may be a tool that you keep in your toolbox, but don’t necessarily use.

Tracking what you eat is the only true way to have an idea on how high (or low) your caloric intake is. This means this is the only true way to know if you are in a caloric surplus (bulking), in a caloric deficit (cutting), or in maintenance calories. It won’t be perfect, no matter what method you use, you will never be able to track to an exact 1 calorie, but the important thing (I bet you could guess) is being consistent.

If you weigh out your proteins raw, then always weigh them raw. If you weigh out your rice cooked, always weigh it cooked. Make sense? Consistency--when it comes to tracking food--means more than just doing it daily, but it means staying consistent with the method being used too.

If tracking seems to be too time-consuming or too much for your lifestyle and you are struggling on staying consistent, I want you to consider maybe only tracking one element to your diet (such as protein) and seeing if that makes it easier for you! Many people find that just tracking their protein or just overall calories can make it more simple and still help them see the results that they want!

When is it time to bring out this tool? Or how will you know it is time?

The thing is, there is no exact time to implement this tool. It is going to be dependent on you individually.

Maybe you want to start out as soon as you start your fitness journey tracking, which would be great! Give it a try right away and see what you think; I always recommend tracking for two full weeks before giving it up to give yourself time to get into the swing of it.

Maybe you want to start out eating intuitively and making lifestyle changes instead of tracking and that is also great! But, let’s say a couple months into your journey you realize you hit a plateau. You feel like you’re doing everything right, but not getting any results.

THIS is a great time to pull out the tool of tracking your food! Not only does this show you where you are with your caloric intake, but it will help you see where your macros are coming from. Maybe you aren’t eating enough protein or maybe you notice that you are eating way too few carbs. Whatever it is you’ll be able to see exactly where you need to make an adjustment.

Tracking is also just a great tool to bring out during your journey to check in with your body. If you are feeling down and sluggish or just mentally/physically off, tracking can help you see if there are things going on in your diet that are contributing to those feelings. It would allow you to see if maybe you’re eating too little calories or maybe you’re eating like a ridiculous amount of carbs. You can then make adjustments to what you are eating and see how you mentally and physically feel after a week or so with those changes in your diet and then evaluate if those changes are working.

What is most important is that you decide if tracking will work for you. There is very little, if any, evidence that says tracking your food won’t get you results, but that doesn’t mean it is right for you.

If you are interested in tracking macros, but need more information to start, like what exactly they are and how the heck do you know what your macros should be, check out my YouTube video - Tracking Macros 101( https://youtu.be/rTUmK5c5nwI ) where I teach you about macros and how to calculate/adjust them according to your own individualized goals.

If you want more personalized help, Cassie Nugen Fitness offers one-on-one coaching that includes nutrition coaching, and I would love to help you become the healthiest and happiest you! (:

I hope this helps you decide if tracking is something that you want to try!

xoxoCassie

** disclaimer ** this blog post contains my personal opinion, I am not telling you this is the only way to reach your goals, not that you have to or should do this, or that this is the only way. If you choose to implement anything from this blog post, you do so at your own free will. If you don’t agree with this blog post that is okay, take what you can and leave what you can’t. thank you. (: