Is a food journal a sustainable strategy to lose weight? If yes, how is it done right?
Over the years I have talked to many clients and friends about using a food-tracking-app to help them lose weight and improve eating behavior. And it turns out that most people have tried it - but almost nobody did it for a long. But why? Well, to sum it up: to most people counting calories is just annoying, too time consuming and pretty much impossible to maintain.
Maybe you're on of these people too, and it didn't work out for you either. Or maybe you haven't tried it yet, and are still wondering if it can help you to lose weight and get in shape.
Either way stick around, because in this blog post I will explain what the big mistake is that 90% of people make when it comes to counting calories, that prevents them from benefiting from it in the long run. If done right, using a food journal can give you real freedom and a flexible lifestyle. If done right it becomes sustainable. From using a food journal you will gain valuable knowledge about food and your own body. This knowledge enables to make better decisions about your food far beyond the duration of the use of the app, which can ultimately improve the quality of your life.
I have been tracking my food for 10 years (and I am still doing it), and in this blog post I will explain what i learnt in this period of time, how it is done in a sustainable and stress-free way and how it helped me to build and maintain the body that i have now.
The million dollar question
To improve our health, fitness and looks, we need to make smart decisions about what we eat and how much we eat.
To become able to make smart or educated decisions, we have to become educated - I think that is quite obvious. We have to learn about the foods we eat. Only then we can start to manage our food intake somehow.
If you have a goal for your health, muscle mass, body shape or whatever, you have to accept the fact that everything worthwhile takes some amount of work. Nothing worthwhile is ever gonna be achieved without any input of time and energy.
The truth is that most people hate to hear that. But it is so important to understand this and to be aware of the fact, that some effort is required. You can't look like Chris Hemsworth in "Thor" if you are not willing to put in some work for a longer amount of time.
I mention this because most people are constantly looking for shortcuts. Tracking calories and keeping a food journal is not a shortcut. But it is the best bang for the buck.
Because the million dollar question is:
How can my body- and health goals be achieved the easiest and most sustainable way?
This is what it is about. Like I said, it takes work, but it must also be DO-ABLE. It can't be too hard - because we need a strategy, that works in any life situation, that is flexible, that is easy to do and that we can maintain forever. If your diet is not fulfilling this criteria, it is doomed to fail - that's the truth.
The more extreme your diet approach is, the harder it is to maintain, and the higher the possibility that you will run into problems if you have "normal" social life and also plan on enjoying it.
Why tracking your food is actually a great idea
Alright, so now we know that we have to acquire knowledge about the food, the calories and macronutrient content of food to become able to make smart and educated decisions and to get healthy and lean (and stay like that).
When you use a calorie tracking app you will learn pretty much everything you need to know about food ( because most information about nutrition that you think you need to know is actually unnecessary - think of it in terms of the pareto principle. Knowing the relevant 20% of it gets us 80% of the results.).
Every time you track your food you will see and learn how much calories the meal has, as well as how much protein, carbs, fats, fiber and calories. You will also learn over time, how much of each food you can eat, while still maintaining or getting to a certain desired body composition.
This is powerful knowledge. Knowing this allows you to take control.
You know less about your own food than you think you do
As a coach it was always interesting to observe how many people think they know how much and what they are eating. But so many times it's simply bullshit, and people realize that once they start tracking their calories.
Yes, you have to start doing something new, you have to figure this out, and you have to put in some time (very little though, i'll get to that) into this new thing, but the benefit is massive and life changing:
You will gain more than you would expect
You gain the ability to manipulate your body composition while staying flexible in your food choices and lifestyle and while learning a shit-ton about food and your own body and metabolism.
Having a food journal doesn't limit the food variety you can choose from. By tracking your food you will actually realize that all foods can be eaten while living a healthy and balanced lifestyle.
Every food in the world can be broken down into it's nutrients and calories, and it doesn't matter if it is a Big Mac or an apple. That automatically means that every food in the world can be eaten while working towards a certain goal - as long as you know how much of it you can have while still staying healthy and maintaining a desireable body fat level.
Realizing this will help you calm down mentally. You will achieve new level of mental relaxation and the security that you can enjoy your life, but at the same time work on your goals
Thats why tracking your food actually gives you more freedom. Unfortunately most people think it takes away your freedom.
Of course you invest time, but what you get from it is so valuable.
Tracking calories for 10 years has tought me more about nutrition than getting my nutritionist certification, that's for sure. And tracking your food is like studying pratical nutrition, but without the boring type of studying.
And the best thing is, when you finally decide stop after tracking your food for some weeks, maybe even months or years, you have learned so much about nutrition. This enables you to make smarter and more educated decisions for the rest of your friggin' life. Counting calories for a period of time will change your life in the long run.
So track your f*cking calories.
What the critics say
There is criticism, and some of it seems to makes sense also, lets go through it.
To sum it up: critics claim that counting calories could lead to obsessive behavior, even to binge eating and to overthinking food in general.
But to make one thing clear, this has not been proven. There have been studies that compared calorie tracking app users and non users, and it had shown, that more of the app users suffered from eating disorder psychopathology, body image concerns and dysfunctional thinking tendencies than non-users.
But the most important thing is: These studies do not show, if these people had these tendencies in the first place, and then started to use the app, or if the app actually caused it.
It just shows, that more food overthinkers are also app users, which makes sense, but says nothing about the app.
We can't generalize things
I can tell you one thing: If done RIGHT, tracking your calories will help you to actually get away from these type of behaviors and ways of obsessive thinking. I have experienced this myself as well as clients, who have slowly moved away from obsessive thinking tendencies when it comes to food with the help of a food journal. It depends on HOW it is used, which underlying mindset you have.
Tracking food actually helped me to get away from these behaviors, which i already had before using a tracking app.
So if you are the kind of person who tends to take things to the extreme, then maybe do not use a calorie tracking app. But it is up to you.
Like I said, since i started to use the app with the right mindset (I will explain how in a second), I definitely got away from overthinking food and calories. I believe most people who are reading this and who want to improve their eating behavior will benefit from using it in the right way.
So let's talk about how to do it right so that it helps you to live a balanced fitness lifestyle without obverthinking food and without developing obsessive behavior.
How to do it RIGHT
The key is to not use it to always work towards a perfect calorie and macro goal. Do not use it to become a food perfectionist.
Instead, just look at it as a journal. Whatever you consume, you track it in that journal, as precise as you are able to in this specific situation and with your current abilities and knowledge. That's it.
In the beginning all we want to see is: how much do we eat - and as a second priority what nutrients do we get from the meals - all over a longer period of time.
Later we can think about how we can improve the process and the food choices, but step by step. Every day, every week a little bit better.
What to focus on in the beginning
The app always gives you a suggestion of how much you should eat, it suggests calories and macros depending on your stats and goals, which it usually asks from you.
Most of the time these are complete bullshit, so ignore it. What matters most in the long run is total calories and how much protein you're getting.
If you want t know how much protein you should eat, watch my video on that topic!
Allow yourself some room to play
So stay flexible, eat out, enjoy food you like, just work on making better decisions with time. Just eat as healthy as you are willing to right now, and just keep tracking. That's it.
As you keep doing that you keep getting information on the calories and nutrients you consume, and learning about these things enables you to make better decisions in the future.
A little example
Let's assume you want to lose weight, but so far it has not been going so great.
So now you are going out with your friends. You had some pasta, a dessert and two beers, you tracked it, and later it turns out that all of that was 2000 calories total.
Well now you know why you're not losing weight. Knowing this means, that now you are in the position to change that. All thanks to your food journal.
1 minute per meal
Just take 1 minute to track what you ate after each meal, or whenever you have a minute - right after, an hour after, or whenever you want to.
Many people think you have to weigh EVERYTHING, and that it must be so annoying.
You do not have to weigh everything. I have a scale in my kitchen, when I think I should weigh foods, then I do that, the scale is right there, it takes me one seconds to turn it on.
Most of the times you can easily eyeball amounts, or simply guess by looking at the amount that is in a food container. If you used a quarter of the chicken breast and it says 400g, than it is obvious how much that was. If you used a slice of cheese then most of the times you can track that. Guesstimating or eyeballing is accurate enough in 90% of the cases. If you wanna make SURE, weigh it. But it doesnt have to be PERFECT.
What to do when eating out
Same when eating out. Just guesstimate. Let's say you ate some pasta with shrimps and some mozzarella or whatever - than track a portion of pasta, a cup of tomato sauce, a spoon of oil and 150g of shrimp. That shit is gonna be 70% or even more acurate and that is more than enough! You do not want to become Mr. Olympia in 3 months, you want to achieve a decent looking and healthy physique and a balanced lifestyle that you can maintain. So it's fine, we'll take it!
And in general, what the labels say is not accurate anyways, but that alsodoesn't matter. It is always accurate enough for us.
Guess how much you had if you have to, it doesn't have to be perfect. That is how i do it! Fuck perfection. And you will get better and better with time, more accurate and faster.
If one day is gonna be off by 50% even, it doesn't matter because we will be looking at the weeks and months - one day doesn't matter.
It is NOT that hard
Tracking does not take a lot of time, it takes one minute MAX after each meal. Let's say you eat 5 meals a day, that makes 5 min of your day that you invest into your health, fiitness and sexy looks. Is that really too much? 5 minutes. Think about it.
The app saves everything you typed in or ate, so next time it is gonna be there to choose from without searching, that's why it will take even less than one minute per meal in the future after using it for some days or weeks.
People who say it’s mentally unhealthy in general are wrong. If you use it simply as a journal and just keep improving slowly over time without being a perfectionist, then there is zero obsessive behavior involved.
So do it right. The key is balance and a long term approach.
Have realistic expectations
The truth is you will miss a day, maybe two, maybe a week, but it doesnt matter. Go back to it tomorrow, nobody cares, don't be obsessed about it. Ups and downs are to be expected - it is the process.
Tracking helps you to stay consistent, it helps you to develop a feeling of control and consistency. It enables you to eat anything and stay flexible while keeping a feeling of control. You can work on your fitness while still having room to play and enjoy life. This is the true freedom.
Not motivated yet?
Invest 5 minutes per day into your body and health, which is the foundation for EVERYTHING else that you will ever do, or are planning to do, in your whole life, forever. Be aware of this.
I am sure you watched some bullshit on netflix yesterday or last week or whenever, which doesnt have any benefit for your life, health, fitness (which is also fine, don't get me wrong) - but why not cut off 5 minutes from that time and invest it into your health and future? Just a little bit of real talk and motivation for you.
Give it two weeks. You will get used to it, you will realize the benefits. And allow yourself room to play and also to fail. It is part of the process. A relaxed mindset is key.
By tracking your food you will automatically think about your food more, learn about your body and in the long run improve your body and health by making better and better decisions.
And if you are not willing to invest 5 minutes a day and you do not want to think about your food choices at all - then do not expect any results, a healthier lifestyle or a Chris Hemsworth physique.
To sum it up:
The knowledge you gain can help you for the rest of your life.
Do you have to keep tracking forever? No. Simply do it for a s long as you want to and can.
Do it, but don’t do it in a perfectionist way .
Do it to keep an overview but without too strict boundaries, especially in the beginning.
The goal is not to limit yourself too much but to achieve freedom in the long term.
The people who do not invest any time in thinking about what they eat are the ones, who will not be free later in life. They will probably suffer from health issues and will never experience true mental relaxation when it comes to their own mindset about nutrition - because they don't know what they're doing.
Action steps to get started
Download an App today (preferably MyFitnessPal because i know it works, I'm not sponsored)
You dont have to set a specific calorie goal yet. If you want to though, google "calorie calculator" and click on the first hit. Macros don't matter too much, for protein watch my video .
Tomorrow morning track your breakfast, then celebrate that win.
After every meal, take 1 minute to track it. If you miss a meal - nobody cares, If you miss a day - nobody cares. Just get back to it the next day and get better at it every week. The journey alway goes on, keep going, keep learning.
Your long term goal is to improve your decisions slowly over time. That's it.
Do it and invest 5 minutes a day into your nutrition, health, fitness and sexyness. You'll benefit from the experience for the rest of your life.