Benefits of Tracking - Group Talk - Week Commencing 17th March 2025.
- friendsonajourney2
- Mar 26
- 2 min read
The thought that tracking your food is only done by those wanting to lose weight is a misconception, as all can benefit from tracking their foods irrespective of their health goals.
Food diary's are a helpful tool in understanding your eating habits and patterns, they also identify the health benefits of the food we eat.
I often hear you saying that tracking is tedious, time consuming, boring and can be obsessive, creating unhappy relationships with food.
But in fact it can become a healthy habit, that is proved through research if you are wanting to lose weight and you track you will lose twice as much as those that don't track at all.
Tracking the food you eat creates an awareness and accountability of your food choice and its nutrition i.e. calories, protein and fat, building knowledge helping us to choose healthier options and improve our eating habits, whilst holding us accountable to our goals.
Tracking the food we eat also helps us identify sensitivities or allergies to foods i.e. helps identify the food that causes IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome).
Tracking the times we eat and how we feel when eating allows us to identify patterns and triggers i.e. eating by the clock, rather than physical hunger, or eating because bored, sad, angry or happy.
Tracking our food measuring the portion size keeps us honest and more aware of portion sizes, as often we are eating more than we think.
Tools we can use to track
Pen and paper
Journey/Diary
Smartphone APP
Kitchen Scales
Nutritional Label
Google
Whether you are old school or tech savvy, a little tracking goes a long way in elevating your diet and health to the next level, as you can examine how healthy your diet is, how much fibre, protein, fat... you consume daily, whether your moods affect your food choices and how often you are grabbing food on the hoof.
The best time to track is in advance, or in the moment, as tracking in hindsight can mean we mis-track as we don't remember everything we've eaten, often.
Resources:
https://www.fitandwell.com/news/weight-loss-benefits-of-tracking-yourfood-according-to-a-fitness-pro
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