Calorie Tracking… Who Should, Who Should Not?

Counting Calories- Who Should, Who Should Not?

Its clear that calories play an important role in weight management but does that mean that everybody needs to weigh the food they have eaten daily and enter it to a calorie tracking app?

Here’s how to tell whether it could be a good move for you. This list, I should add is based on my personal experience of working with hundreds of people.

Who Should Track-

The “prefer to know” person- you could almost split the population into two with those who like to have all the cards in front of them and feel some control (typically this type of person likes to plan their future and know what they will be doing in advance) and those who prefer a more relaxed approach to life. If you like to have things in their rightful place tracking your food will give you more control especially when you start to learn how to make effective changes using diet.

The “its all a bit confusing” person. Nutrition is one area where two parties can have entirely polar opposite arguments and both be right, so there is really no shame in simply not understanding it all. Tracking foods and starting to get a picture of your daily intake and how varied it can be can be very valuable particularly if you have someone to help you make sense of it all.

The “maximiser” . If you want to absolutely maximise performance or get in the very best shape you can having complete control over your diet is a great place to start in my view.

The “ diets are boring” person. If you want to keep a high variety and some flexibility what you eat it can be very difficult to keep track of your daily intake (unless you are exceptionally well practised at managing your diet or working with a coach who is)

Who Should Not Track

The “exceptionally time poor” person. The claim of not having any time is something I hear a lot of and usually there is a way to create more by looking at personal priorities, but, and there is a but. Sometimes we all go through phases where we are very time poor. You can stay on track by sticking to 3-4 breakfasts, lunches etc which you know are right for you. This practise helps provide more time as you can save time on shopping and food prep. I would caution here that its good to make sure you include plenty of different foods within your “go-to meals”

The “OCD” people. I don’t mean to sound derogatory by throwing the OCD term around but if you do have a tendency to obsess about things I would think carefully before opening the Pandora’s box of calorie and macronutrient tracking. You may want to give yourself a margin of error at which you are happy to miss your target by in a worst-case scenario to prevent disaster!

The “not that bothered” if you are relatively or totally happy with your performance and your body or you are happy with your current progress you would think it goes without saying that you don’t need to track.

There are those who would consider that ALL MUST TRACK! In my view there are plenty of ways to achieve a net reduction or increase in calories but make no mistake what you put in your mouth is a big factor, this I would hope is not in question.

The question is what is the best way ,or rather most suitable way for you at this stage in your life.

Want to get your diet in order? You can reach us on info@storm-fitness.com

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