Nutritional Tracking
/I get it, I know. Food journaling/tracking can be a pain. Like, a super annoying pain. Like the 19-month younger sister pain when you're rocking the only child thing (love you girl!)! But the thing is this. The more information you have, the easier it will be to determine what is (or isn’t) working! I know tracking isn’t fun. Trust me, as a trainer, it’s not fun for me to BUG you about tracking- but it’s helpful, which is why I want you to do it.
That being said, I don’t think it’s necessary that you track ever morsel of food and drink from now until the rest of your life. I DO think it’s necessary in certain situations. Some of these include:
Starting a new nutrition program
Starting a new wellness program
When you want/need to lose body fat
When you hit a plateau in your body fat loss
When you have a goal with a deadline
The more you track, the better, but if nothing else, record what you are putting in your body.
There are a lot of ways to track, and honestly it depends a lot on your goals and where you are in your health and wellness journey which method will be best for you. I've personally used a variety of methods at different times for both myself and my clients for varying reasons. I've listed below some of my favorites, and the ones I use most often with my clients.
Basic Food Journal
When you are first starting out, a basic food journal is probably the best and easiest way to get started. However, as you continue in your wellness journey switching to a more detailed tracking progress (like MyFitnessPal) can be very helpful, especially if you find that you aren’t making the progress you think you should be making. Yes, I realize that detailed tracking takes more time and energy in the meal prep process, but it pays off in the long run. Until then, start with the basics.
Get a small notebook or open a note on your phone and write down everything you eat and drink. When you begin, you don't have to stress too much about portion sizes or even specific timing, however as you go along, you'll get better results if you are more accurate to "normal" portion sizes (Yes, I put that in quotation marks, because normal can be different for everyone. However, for this particular article, we'll use the suggested serving size as "normal") or make notes of what size portions you are eating.
Photo Food Journal
This is branch off of the basic food journal, and an easy way of tracking that can be combined with any other method. Simply take a picture of everything you eat and drink. You can keep these in a folder for yourself and/or share them with your trainer or accountability partner.
**Note: It is not required that you share every picture on instagram ;)
MyFitnessPal (Tracking App)
When it comes to being as specific as possible my favorite tool is MyFitnessPal. I’ve tried several different apps over the years, but I always come back to this one. I love the fact that MyFitnessPal is accessible as both an app and a website, which makes it easy to access no matter your preferred form of technology. I also like that you have the option to allow your friends (and trainer!) to view your diary. I have my clients add me as a friend so I can view and print their diary which allows me to make notes and suggestions.
While MyFitnessPal is more difficult to use at the beginning then a notebook, the more you use it, the easier it becomes. The foods you eat often will start showing up in a list, and you can easily create meals and recipes. I’ll be doing a more detailed tutorial on how to use MyFitnessPal soon, so stay tuned!
DETAILED FOOD JOURNALING
The idea here is that you are going a little deeper into tracking your food, and how you are feeling all at the same time. When it comes to reaching your health and fitness goals, finding out exactly what, when, and why you are eating can play a huge role.
You can do this process with any of the above methods of tracking. Consider recording things such as the time you are eating and how you feel before and after your meals. Make notes if you feel overfull, hungry, nauseous or bloated after any meals. Make notes of headaches, levels of soreness, and/or joint pain. I also recommend that you add notes about how you were feeling before you ate. Did you feel rushed? Bored? Lonely? Sad? Happy?
You can do this in the side of your journal, on a note in your phone, in the notes section of MyFitnessPal, or even on a separate calendar. Just remember, the more specific you are, the easier it will be for you to figure out connections between foods you eat and how you feel.
TO SUM IT UP
As you can see, you’ve got options. Not only that, but you’ve got options that I didn’t go over here! (Weight Watchers has their own tracking system, as does Renaissance Prioritization as well as several others.) But whatever option you choose you’ve got to track everything (no judgment!) so you can see where you are starting and the small changes that can be easily made.
Don’t forget to track everything, including what you drink. As long as you know you drink enough water, tracking the amount is optional, but you should track any beverages other than water (tea, coffee, juice, alcohol, etc). I know it can be difficult at first- but it will be worth it in the long run.
As I said at the beginning, you won’t have to track forever. In fact, you’ll probably find yourself getting into a groove of eating the same (or similar) things over and over. However, that being said, I STILL recommend a minimum of 10 consecutive days every couple months just to make sure nothing has started slipping into your diet while you weren't paying attention. It happens, and even a few days of writing things down can help you get back on track. So yes, it takes some extra time, but it’s totally worth it.