How Food Tracking Can Sabotage You
Another Monday, another attempt at sticking to a diet. First things first, you log onto your food tracking app of choice first thing in the morning and see your allotted calories for the day. You plug in your breakfast and watch that number change. After lunch, it changes again, and once it’s the afternoon and you’ve stuck to your diet ALL DAY LONG, you see you only have a couple hundred calories left. How the heck will you make it through the day without going over your limit?!
This is a prime example of being stuck in a restrictive mindset.
Calorie and macro counting apps might seem like a good way to keep yourself aware of what you’re really eating by sticking to certain numbers, but is this helping or hurting your relationship with food? When you’re constantly looking at numbers every time you log your food, food starts to become just that, a number. But food truly is nourishment and no matter how advanced technology is, no app will ever know exactly how much you need on any given day. Just like you can’t predict how many times you’ll have to pee each day, you won’t know EXACTLY how much you need to eat either.
So what are the signs these apps are affecting your relationship with food?
You pick foods based on their numerical value without taking into consideration your cravings.
You determine whether or not it was a good day or a bad day based on how well you stuck to the parameters of your set calories/macros.
If you go over your points/calories/macros you say “FU#K IT” and go ALL IN for the rest of the day. I’m talking seconds of dessert, another round of margaritas, and some late night chips & dip even when your stomach has had enough.
Once you’ve moved away from the non-stop dieting mentality and have stepped into mindful eating, you might still lean on your apps to keep you “in-check”. But every time you enter in another meal, you latch onto that new calorie limit and feel confined to stay within your range regardless of how hungry you ACTUALLY are. Maybe you’re ready to try eating more int une with your hunger cues, but are afraid you’ll totally lose control. But maybe there IS a way to track your food while eating intuitively…
Instead of relying on numbers, keep a journal (or use a note taking app) to write down what you ate and how it made you feel. You can take note of your hunger levels before and after, any emotions you’re experiencing, how satisfied you feel afterwards, and how much you enjoyed what you ate.
Let’s take the numbers out of the (literal) equation and realize that our body recognizes food by the nutrients it gives us, not the number of calories it contains.
If you need help navigating your relationship with food, watch my free webinar: 5 Ways To Stop Emotional Eating (without diets, restrictions or calorie counting). You can grab your spot HERE