You’ve been told that food tracking will help you lose weight, but unfortunately you’re not seeing results, and you’re obsessively counting calories, and feeling guilty for missing your calorie goals or forgetting to log the ketchup added to your eggs.

The first few days went well, an eye-opening experience as to where your diet may fall off track. Surely, after a week or two of careful tracking, you should be seeing results on the scale.

But you’re not.

And then you cut back. At first, you aim to stay a hundred calories below target, then two hundred. More must be better, right?

Your next weekly weigh-in is a bust, and things get shady from there. Suddenly you wonder whether trying to lose weight is worth feeling hungry all day, daydreaming about food and going to bed hungry.

 FYI, it’s not.

You’re mentally exhausted, physically deprived and ready to delete that app. I don’t blame you! It’s time to rethink food logging.

Why track at all?

Losing weight is mostly a numbers game. At the end of the day, a person needs to be taking in less calories than they burn off. This tells the body to pull energy from fat storage, creating weight loss.

Historically, people are not good at estimating their calorie intake. When doing a simple recall from the day before, portions are grossly miscalculated, snacks are forgotten.

An edge of consciousness

Simply being more aware of what’s going in naturally improves our choices. Keeping an inventory of portions and servings, what, when and where of eating curbs overeating and reduces mindless grazing. Even if you aren’t trying to hit a certain calorie goal, you can easily reduce overall calories by tracking.

Use logic to lose weight

Tracking food intake can give us a pretty good idea whether we are in a weight loss, maintenance or gain state. From here, we can find ways to adjust calorie levels to our goals, and if a reduction is in order, how to make simple cuts and swaps to make that a reality.

Once at an optimal calorie level, you can then monitor your food choices, hunger levels and other factors to maintain this calorie deficit consistently, leading to weight loss in time.

If only it were that simple.

How we fail at food tracking.

We get impatient. A bigger calorie deficit means faster weight loss, right? Wrong! Cutting calories too much causes the body to pump the breaks on generously burning calories and ramps up hunger cravings.

Plus, making cuts probably means skipping some of your favorite foods. Depriving yourself leads to resentment around the process, and sets up for a much larger failure in the long run.

We over analyze. After a few days, we begin playing ‘the game’. Thinking things like, “This breakfast satisfied me until lunch the other day, so I’ll eat that and have nothing else until lunch”. Or, “I had ‘enough’ according to calories for lunch, so I won’t eat any more, even though I’m still hungry”.

The scale lies. Or at least doesn’t tell the whole truth. A weight in pounds also measures water held in muscles, food passing through the digestive tract, and fluctuates a LOT throughout the day. This number may remain the same, despite things happening internally, and we feel obligated to change the plan.  

And where does this get us?

A failed state

To an exhausted, burned out, dieting state that leads to total annihilation.

No, that’s not being dramatic, it’s 100% true. Facing the idea of doing this dance until the end of days is a deal breaker for most. Getting to a lower weight doesn’t seem worth all of the trouble. And I would agree!

But instead of giving up on the process altogether, we must find ways to monitor food intake that doesn’t cause obsession, guilt, fatigue and utter dread.

I DO recommend tracking, and for many is a way to remain accountable and conscious of their food choices long term. Many of my patients use tracking intermittently for this purpose, and regularly skip days.

How to log without the drama

Be a food and nutrition robot.

Emotions cloud your judgement when it comes to food logging. You must simply eat to physical contentment, keep track of the data, and let it go.

The info kept within your food diary should be used logically, and to determine the next habit to work on. It’s NOT to berate yourself for overeating or obsess over ‘bad’ food choices.

If you cannot remove your emotions from the logging equation, seek the help of a registered dietitian to objectively go through logs with you.

Find an alternative way to log

Just like living and dying by the number on the scale kills your motivation, so does counting every calorie.

Try to focus on a new metric, and modify your diet from a new viewpoint. Most apps, like My Fitness Pal have helpful goals set for protein, fiber, fat and added sugars to help guide your food decisions. Check with your registered dietitian for suggestion of metrics to track, what to look for and learn why they are important to you.

Slow and steady wins the race

Aim for slow weight loss to ensure you’re making the lifestyle changes necessary to continue losing long term. Aim for sustainable down the road, not fast. For apps that suggest a calorie deficit number for you, set the bar lower.

Aiming to lose more than one pound per week drastically cuts calories to an unrealistic level. For dieters close to their ideal body weight, consider just half a pound per week! Not sure where to start? Set up a consult with your dietitian.

Food tracking is a short-term solution

For most, food logging will not be done long term. Sure, it’s great for continued accountability, but logging gets tedious, especially if you eat many of the same foods day to day.

Instead, log a few days periodically to analyze your current habits, and to pinpoint habits that may be slowing your weight loss efforts. If your habits have been slowly slipping, log for a day or two for renewed focus.

What comes next?

Keeping a food diary is great for immediate accountability, but unless it’s clear how to make lifestyle changes based on the data, it’s basically useless.

That’s where I come in.

For help analyzing your logs and finding simple ways to modify your eating habits accordingly, get in touch! Schedule a 60-minute consultation to start your wellness journey.

Not sure if my program is right for you? Book a complimentary call with me to discuss your goals and figure out the best course of action.