Today I Didn't Do Anything Stupid- Accountability in Nutritional Tracking
If you are struggling with your nutritional plan, and the track you are taking for better eating, I hope to offer some advice. Stay tuned to future
posts for more specific thoughts and details. Right now I’m going to talk about staying on a positive nutritional path.
Today I didn’t do anything stupid. Except of course, I think I got a little excited on my run. I was having a ton of fun on the path at the park, and decided to push it really hard. Usually that’s a great idea. Pushing hard on a run will burn more calories and make me faster. When I’m in the kind of mood to push past some pain and suffer a little more, its good to take that opportunity to build confidence for the tougher times, in and out of my running shoes. But even though I’m a personal trainer, I also have one of my own. My trainer Greg is a dear friend, (and, I joke, is super mean), and tomorrow morning at 6am he’s going to give me another killer gym workout, for which I am going to start off already sore because of my run. My performance might suffer and I’ll just have to let that go.
So is the same with a diet/nutritional plan. When I say I didn’t do anything stupid today, I mean with my diet. Yesterday, I made a bad choice. I was eating well, and the right amounts, when I became completely mindless about an afternoon snack. I should have measured out a portion, or just stopped when I saw what I was doing, but instead I kept snacking until I didn’t have room for my more nutritious dinner. I had been stewing on it the rest of the evening when my husband finally told me to get over it. And so I did, and so I let it go. A sidebar here is that it's great to have a buddy, a spouse or friend, to stand behind you. Had he been there at snack time he probably would have asked me what I was doing. Nevertheless, I learned from the experience and had a good day today because I pushed away the previous bad choice and didn’t let it own me. Sometimes we need a little set back to motivate us back on track. It can be called, “getting back on the wagon,” and it’s important that it happens as soon as possible. A party is always more fun when you leave it early, so certainly don’t linger at your own pity party. Now I told you that I left my pity party, but I do have a reminder. My reminder is not my counterproductive and uninformative personal upset, it’s my nonjudgemental, totally factual and honest calorie counting app.
So you want to eat clean, eat more reasonable portions, have sustained energy, maybe lose weight. The first thing I’m going to suggest is to be accountable to an app for calorie counting and nutritional balance. Your calorie burn through exercise must be supported by solid nutrition in order to achieve your goals. You are best equipped for the long run if you pay attention and learn along the way by logging your food/fuel intake. FitBit users can easily interface with the Lose It app, and Garmin users can easy sync up with My Fitness Pal. In this way, you can more seamlessly coordinate calories-in and calories-out by integrating your steps and/or workouts right into the app. I log all my runs with Garmin and Strava, so my choice is easy. But there is no one app that is really better than the others. Check them all out and see what works for you and which format speaks to your esthetic. The app you use should have a function by which you can enter your height, weight, age, gender, and general activity level. It should allow you to set a weight goal, and advise you safely in that goal’s timing. If your goal is to lose weight, your app should advise you away from losing more than 2 pounds per week, which is not only for safer weight loss, but also more sustainability in the long run. The best apps allow for you to enter full recipes, scan bar codes on packages, and even search from nearby restaurant menus. They also display plenty of nutritional data for your foods and provide continuous data on the macronutrients of your daily intake. Additional foods are updated the the app as users add their favorites. How much you want to use the data beyond counting calories is up to you, but you should be able to see the percentages of your daily consumption that account for proteins, fats and carbohydrates. At the most basic level, approximate thirds of each macronutrient is a good place to start. You may have another suggestion from your physician or other plan, but the important thing is to have a goal and be able to make good observations about your habits. Aim for your macronutrient balance goal and let the app guide you toward your weight goal in terms of caloric intake. Don’t forget to use the function that tracks glasses of water. Drink at least half of your body weight (in pounds) in fluid ounces of water, plus at least another cup (8oz) per half hour of exercise. If you are seeking help in weight loss goals, it’s a great idea to log your food the way you have been normally eating for a few days, without necessarily making drastic changes, so that you can show your nutritionist, physician, or trainer. They will be able to guide you better toward your goals when they know where you are starting. You will have time to rid your pantry of food you don’t want in your diet, as well as get that honest look so you can move on informed.
The next step is to invest in a kitchen scale. You can get one for under $15, and it will be fine. Weighing your food, especially the proteins, will help you understand your proportions, as well as make your food log more accurate. You don’t have to go crazy weighing everything, just be sure that you use the scale as a tool to your best possible understanding. Notice that if you have more foods to weigh, it is also quite probable that you are including more whole foods in your diet, and less food with packaging. That's a great thing, as already the tracking is helping you make better choices.
How long you choose to log your food is up to you. I think you will find that even a week or two of food logging will teach you a lot about how you eat. If you are maintaining weight, it’s good to log food for one week at a time in order to stay informed and attuned to how you are eating. When you need a reminder or seem to be getting off track, just start logging again to adjust your habits. If you are losing or gaining weight, you will need to log until you achieve your goal before switching to an intermittent schedule. Give yourself a break while on vacation so you appreciate your vacation, the value of nutritional tracking, and also the importance of being kind to yourself. Enter your data at times when it does not distract from family duties so that your family stays in your corner!
Don’t be hard on yourself, just honest. “Being true to yourself” isn’t just knowing who you are and remaining there like a stubborn bull dog. It’s embracing where you are and where you want to go. You are where you are, in eating habits and weight. You know you are going to improve and stay on track. So resolve to do it and put the best tools under your belt. Therefore, my next piece of advise is to get on the scale. There are even some smart scales that will sync up with your fitness apps! Gadget geeks rejoice! I am not one of the people that think the way the clothes fit is more important than the number on the scale. The way your clothes fit is wonderful and powerful motivation, but it’s too subjective to keep you accountable. Your numbers are honest and objective just like calories-in and calories-out. The scale is a great piece of the puzzle in understanding where you are at each day. You’ll start to notice what your fluctuations mean so you can fine-tune things like hydration, salt intake, sleep, and the quality of your food. On the day to day, you must not obsess on a pound here and there as long as you are tracking where you want to go overall.
If you are putting in the effort to lose weight, than weighing in from the get-go will be a confidence builder for you along the way, so get on the scale as soon as possible. Drop that fear, and dial yourself into the purpose. Weigh yourself at the same time each day, and under the most similar circumstances, like right out of bed without clothes after you pee. You already know you need to move on when you have a set back, so those days you step on and see a number you don’t like will become more informative than upsetting. You may have had a reasonable caloric intake over the past couple days, but be holding onto water. Now you have the information to ask yourself about the habits that led to water retention. You may have had a lapse in food logging, or reflect that you haven’t been honest with your journal, in which case you can splash some cold water on your face and get back to reality. Remember, the pity party can last a few minutes, then it’s time to come home. Weigh in at least once a week to stay honest, and with greater frequency to have those deeper understandings into your overall health.
Our weight goals do not travel on a straight path, but honesty about and commitment to a strong nutritional profile will keep you running on the nicest trail. By adding food logging and weigh-ins to your daily and weekly habits, you will be a part of blazing the best trail under your feet. Stay on it, be true to yourself, and the vista will be the beautiful accomplishment of your goal.
