If I had to give just one tip for anyone looking to get into better shape, it would be to track one’s food for a week. Seven days. That’s it. Every bite and every sip. Download a free food tracking application. MyFitnessPal is great, although it was recently hacked... so if that’s a problem, there are many others from which to choose. Create an account. Download it to one’s smartphone and start with the current day.
(Incomplete data entry. Example only.)
Remove all judgment. Just track freely and honestly. Every single bite or beverage that goes into one’s mouth for seven days only. The discipline required to enter this data will inform the rest of the journey, and help to build possibly dormant muscles of personal accountability. It is certainly tedious and annoying at first. It gets easier. If one eats similar foods each day, which most do, it won’t be long until the application remembers frequent foods and meals, and it’s as simple as a few swipes. After a few weeks or months of tracking, it becomes easier to make healthy choices without tracking each morsel... and the results motivate most to improve nutritional composition immensely and continuously.
Enter the data AFTER completing each meal. It’s easier to remember exactly what was consumed immediately, rather than waiting until the next day. Entering the data following the meal also prevents estimation or guesswork... which, when it comes to calories, is not so dissimilar from “estimating” one’s expenses. Better not to guess. Better to know. Exactly. At least for one week.
At the end of the week, if the exercise proved fruitful, and provided insight into where one might make some slight improvements, fantastic. Keep going! Reach out to a professional for help creating appropriate and reasonable guidelines for a healthy meal plan going forward. This does not have to mean chicken and asparagus five times daily. At all. Most professionals agree that flexibility with meals and ingredients is critical for success, for all kinds of reasons.
If the exercise proved unhelpful, and gave redundant feedback, then no one died by tracking, and one now has seven more minutes each day to figure out the meaning of life.
I’ve never had a client who didn’t learn wildly from tracking for the first week. They wanted to know more. They wanted to know how to lower sugar intake, how to increase protein, fiber and fluid intake and how to make sure they were getting enough micronutrients. Oh, and whether or not sodium was important, and how to monitor other electrolytes.
Measuring input (calories) is much more effective than trying to estimate output. One person burns more calories running than another because of their body specifications, running style, speed, etc. Even the most high-tech fitness monitoring systems are not 100 percent accurate, so trying to “outwork” one’s diet truly never works. It is much more effective to focus on improving one’s nutrition and caloric composition, in order to achieve greater health and fitness, than it is to attempt over exercising. One can only train for so long before injury or fatigue sets in... or obligations like food, work, sleep, family, or activities with friends curtail endless potential cardio sessions.
Again, try to refrain from judging oneself through the process of tracking. There is no good or bad. Each body is different and has different requirements. Everyone starts somewhere. Better to start off with an abundance of calories... for multiple reasons.
Comment below or reach out with questions. I’m taking on a couple new clients for transformation consulting. And enjoy the process! Nothing happens overnight, but things do happen with consistency and positive habits. Anyone can change anything, and can do anything! Anything is possible.
With enthusiasm and gratitude,
Kate