If you’ve been on a diet and reached your goal then hopefully you’ve invested the time and effort to learn about your nutrition and managed to pick up some really important skills along the way.
Skills that are about creating new habits, which are going to prevent you from putting the weight back on.
If however, you’ve done it the way most people do it – going too low on your calories and banning all the foods you enjoy, then you’re probably left wondering how you’re going to sustain this.
Most people would feel demotivated and go back to square one with this approach but it doesn’t have to be that way.
Maintenance calories – what is it?
Your maintenance calories means that you are consuming the amount of calories you need to “maintain” your current weight without losing or putting on weight – it’s the point of stability.
If you struggle with weight fluctuations then learning how to calculate your energy requirements along with tracking how much energy you are consuming is going to be really useful.
This is especially important for beginners and it doesn’t need to be complicated or something you have to do forever.
I wrote a blog on calculating energy requirements last month so let’s concentrate on how you can measure your nutrition intake and why this is important.
How can I track my food?
Take one step at a time to avoid feeling overwhelmed. Below are some simple examples of how you can start measuring though there are many more methods you can use:
- Pen and paper can be a good starting point and creates a good habit of monitoring what you’re consuming.
- Reading food labels is also another good strategy as this gives you a breakdown of the total calories as well as carbohydrates, fats and protein.
- Weighing your food – ok this can be more time consuming but can really help give you an idea of portion sizes, would you know what a 100g of chips looked like on a plate? Taking the time to learn this stuff is going to help you over the long-term.
- Food tracking apps have the benefit of combining all of the above.
If you’re going to take the time to write down your food and drink on a note pad, then you might as well learn how to use a food tracking app.
It’s just as quick when you know how and they have the advantage of being able to scan in labels or manually input the food.
How do I use the apps?
From my experience, clients are resistant to using food apps because they don’t know how to use them and think it’s going to take forever to input.
It doesn’t – your food items get saved so the next time you input, let’s say a yoghurt, the same brand will automatically appear when you type it in.
There are also plenty of YouTube tutorials on whatever food tracking app you decide.
However, I understand some people might need some support in learning all this, as part of my coaching, I cover all of the above with clients.
What are the benefits of tracking my food?
It creates autonomy – you’ll develop the freedom to decide what works best for you.
It provides useful data into your eating habits, you can see where you’re doing well and where you can make improvements.
It can help you plan ahead, you might make new choices based on what you’ve learned.
It will motivate you; your competence and confidence levels will increase, leaving you feel empowered to take back control.
Learning about nutrition is a game changer so if you’re interested in finding out how I can help you achieve your goals then get in touch.
Struggling with losing weight?
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