The Benefits of Tracking Your Nutrition

The benefits of tracking your nutrition

Reasons to Log Your Food

Identifying Patterns in Your Diet. For example, do any of your meals consist of only one single macronutrient? Maybe you ate a bowl of oatmeal topped with blueberries and a drizzle of honey for breakfast. While oats contain a small amount of protein, the overwhelming macronutrient presented in this meal is carbohydrate. Ideally, we'd try to balance the three macronutrients within each meal. How could we make it more balanced? Add in some scrambled eggs with turkey sausage for a boost in protein and sliced almonds on top of the oatmeal for healthy fats and now we leave breakfast satisfied and fueled for longer. 

Making the Best Decisions for Your Future Self. If we're committed to journaling everything we eat and drink, this can help us make choices that align more with our goals. When we start to see how the office candy bowl, donut box, or soda machine negatively impact our daily intake, we can then begin to make positive changes and more informed decisions. We can take a moment to think about our hunger and thirst levels, available options, and which foods and beverages can serve us best. 

Building Awareness. You will begin to think more about how you feel and listen to your hunger cues. While no food is "good" or "bad", each food does have a value in terms of macronutrient content (ex: 4oz. of chicken breast has about 35 grams of protein) and caloric density (196 calories). Seeing these values as energy and assessing our personal energy demands helps us determine what foods are required to help us thrive. Because you're giving extra attention to everything you eat and drink, you'll be more in-tune with how you feel. This can help you notice any negative or positive responses to foods like feeling bloated, energized, lethargic, nauseous, alert, happy, etc. Take notes and make changes, as needed.

Understanding Nutrition. If we're using an app, we will have a visual of how much fiber, sodium, sugar, and cholesterol we're consuming in addition to our main macronutrients. This can reveal deficiencies or imbalances in our diet and allow us to make improvements to see more health benefits. 

Achieving Your Goals. Whether your goal is to lose body fat, gain muscle, improve your health or performance (or all of these), tracking your nutrition can be instrumental in that process. Tracking your daily diet in conjunction with consistent training and regular InBody Scans, you can see the changes in your body composition which can lead to better health and performance outcomes. With InBody Scans, we're able to assess your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), water weight, lean body mass (LBM), muscle mass, and body fat in pounds. This data helps us calculate your specific needs based on your personal activity level, lifestyle, and goals. 

Planning Ahead. When you have a clear understanding of your personal nutrition needs, you can create weekly meal plans and track your nutrition in advance - eliminating all of the guesswork or decision fatigue that might make it more challenging to reach your goals. If you've ever spent a day just "winging it" and still had 50 grams of protein left to eat at 9pm, you know what I mean. 

Checking In. It's a way to check in with yourself every day and evaluate if your actions align with your goals. Sometimes these check-ins can be harsh. Maybe there was a birthday or an office party or a family barbecue. It's about progress over perfection and doing your personal best to care for yourself. 

It's Only Temporary. You don't have to track your food until the end of time. Anytime I feel like progress is stalling or my activity level or body composition has shifted, I use tracking as a tool to assess this vital piece of the puzzle - my nutrition. 

Start Now! When starting, don't focus on making any immediate changes. Simply log everything you consume for 2 full weeks, then analyze the data or hire a coach (like me!) to help you. From here, you can begin identifying patterns and habits, making tweaks, and seeing positive changes - track these too! Don't let this overwhelm you. Need help? Call or text me today at 229-977-5707. I'd love to help you get started!

"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today." -Chinese proverb

Stay strong!

Coach Abrie Sellers

Precision Nutrition L1 Coach

Have questions or comments about this topic or would like to meet with a coach? Please reach out to us! If you found this information helpful, please share it with your friends and family.

The information in this article is not intended as medical advice, but for educational purposes - feel free to reference it when consulting with your physician and remember to advocate for your health.