How to Track Your Food & Not Get Overwhelmed
There are so many different diets and meal plans out there it can be insanely overwhelming to sort through them all and find what’s best for you. A lot of the times people say they want to start one, but don’t know how to or feel overwhelmed by the whole process. So, I’m super hopeful that this post can help guide you on where/how to start a new meal plan or tracking process!
First things first, how do you know how much you’re supposed to be eating a day and where do these numbers come from? Here’s the bottom line with this, it’s all super specific to what your personal goals are, your body type, your exercise routine, etc. All of these are factors we need to consider when looking at nutrition. BUT, the bottom line is always calories in = calories out.
A simple calculation you can use to find your daily caloric intake is one like this:
Current Weight (lbs) x 11 = Caloric Baseline
Caloric Baseline - 400 = Daily Caloric Intake
**If you workout you can add 300-400 calories depending on how vigorous your workouts are. If you’re caloric intake is below 1200 bump it up to at least 1300**
Every person is very unique and different and needs a specific plan for them. So that’s a simple way to get your baseline caloric intake goal. Next, we need to figure out how much of each food group we should consume in a day. My favorite app to track food is MyFitnessPal, it’s super easy to navigate and has every food known to man on there. I personally find it easiest to pick either to track your food via MyFitnessPal or measure it via category and portion sizes like these containers here. The container system via Beachbody was a super helpful system that I adopted for years, and now that we are plant based, I still use it just not as strict. Here is an example of what that system would look like:
This system is all about portioning out your food in order to reach your nutrition goals. Once you consume all of your allotted food, you’re done for the day. Now, this also doesn’t mean you eat 2 cups of processed potato chips as your carbs. These foods need to be nutrient dense, whole foods.
One thing I hear all the time is that tracking food is just too time consuming and stressful, but it doesn’t have to be! It does take time and practice, so you have to be diligent and patient with yourself. Once you find a system that works for you and can be sustainable, you’ll be so thankful you stuck with it. I’ve been doing it for so long now that I don’t track anything in an app etc, because I just know what my body needs and what my portions look like. In the beginning tracking and measuring things out is time consuming, yes. But like anything new it will become second nature and you’ll be able to do it so fast and it’ll be so worth it!
It can seem overwhelming in the beginning, but you’ve got to at least start. If you’re just starting your nutrition journey you really need to give it a good 6 months of pure dedication to nail things down. If you need help please reach out to me and let’s do this together! I’m definitely not here to push a certain lifestyle or tracking process on you or tell you what to eat, that wouldn’t be fair. But through my own personal experiences, I know that I can happily enjoy all of the foods I love while still reaching my personal fitness/health goals. If you would like some one-on-one help please let me know! I would love to chat with you and formulate a meal plan that works for you and your personal goals!
