How I'm Doing It: Tracking!

I get a lot of questions about what specifically I have done to lose weight and get fit, so, I'm going to spend some time with a series of blog posts that does just that. This is the second in the series on nutrition. 

So, first I cut back on snacks and started to limit portions, but I was still eating very poorly. In January of 2017, I made a huge commitment and I credit it with being the single biggest factor in my weight loss! I started to track my calories and nutrients with an app (I use My Fitness Pal, but there are many out there).

This wonderful app lets you input your weight and activity level and then calculates the intake and output you'll need to lose weight at your goal rate. In this way, I can track every calorie in as well as my exercise calorie expansion to see what my deficit (hopefully) or gain (boo!!!) would be for the day. I can also do this up to five weeks in the future.

I made a huge commitment and I credit it with being the single biggest factor in my weight loss!

The reason I am such a big advocate for the app is that it removes the guess work. I know that I personally will "trick" myself into believing that a dish is healthier than it really is, but when you have to input all of the nutritional information into the tracker, you can't cheat. The numbers are there in black and white. At first, it was very, very hard to do this. I was still consuming 2,500 calories or more along with a number of snacks and junk foods.

By tracking everything in detail, I have been able to troubleshoot my problem areas and fine tune my nutrition. I have tracked every single day since January and it has made a huge impact on my health!!!