Perhaps a weird way to put it, but it’s accurate to say that I’ve been enjoying tracking my food intake for the past 6 months. I’ve been tracking exercise for longer, and I started tracking food too when I realized I was mentally reaching for my phone after meals to record the data - I wanted to have a record of how I was doing.
I use MacroFactor, which is thoughtfully designed to do the job and get out of your way. I expected tracking to feel bad, but that mostly hasn’t happened. I set an agreement with myself that I can eat and drink whatever I want as long as I track it accurately, which has been freeing, but also has highlighted food that I wouldn’t have enjoyed enough to be worth its calories.
It has helped to track some positive things too: I’m trying to get a good macro balance of protein/carbs/fat, and in particular eat more protein than I would naturally; I’m not just trying to avoid junk food.
Some things I learned:
- I tend to eat more fat than my targets but often fewer carbs; I expected the reverse
- Alcohol is even higher calorie than I realized, but more insidiously, I am much hungrier on days I drink than days I don’t (I still enjoy a drink most days)
- 100cal of protein feels much more satisfying than 100cal of either carbs or fat when I’m hungry between meals
