How can we fix the things that we don’t know are broken?
This was one of the first questions we asked ourselves prior to embarking on our healthier lifestyle journey. The answer is simple…you can’t.
For us, our health was broken. The reason it was broken was deeply rooted in the fact we were not holding ourselves accountable. We were unaware of our daily consumption. We were not paying attention to our level of inactivity. We were not aware of the lack of nutrient density in the meals we consumed.
What we soon realized in our health journey process was simple:
The BEST way we could hold ourselves accountable, raise our level of awareness, and no longer eat or live in a “mindless eating” state was to begin tracking everything we consumed on a daily basis.
As a result of making tracking an essential part of our healthy lifestyle practice, we’ve been able to not only lose the weight, but continue to sustain our weight loss for over 17 years.
Think about tracking like this. Tracking is like managing your personal finances. How will you know how much money you have (net worth) if you don’t know how much money you are making AND how much you are spending?
Ponder that for a minute….now, read on.
1. Tracking improves accountability.
People who track their foods are able to hold themselves accountable for everything they eat and drink. Tracking helps you to identify problem areas immediately and make adjustments as necessary. When you track those extra snacks or account for all of the mindless eating or grazing, you realize calories are not the only thing that adds up quickly.
2. Tracking identifies imbalances.
Tracking exposes the leak in your healthy lifestyle process and practice. It helps you identify those problems in your diet like whether you are consuming too many calories, not enough fiber, too much sugar, not enough exercise, or being able to see what days you struggle the most with staying on track.
3. Tracking exposes daily pitfalls.
Knowing how much you eat gives you a more accurate idea of the calories you intake. This is an eye opening experience to realize what you thought was just a little meal was actually more calories than you anticipated. Again, this point brings us back to accountability.
Tracking keeps you in control.
