Do you feel out of control with your food choices?

Or like the week goes "perfectly" and then you lose control on the weekends?

Have you ever asked yourself why it's so hard to make sense of your eating habits, even when you try to make the best choices?

Let me ask you this: have you ever tried logging and tracking your food, even for just a few days or weeks?

You might be wondering, why would anyone want to log and track their food? And more so, weigh their food?

Isn't that overkill?

Isn't that tedious and time-consuming?

Isn't that NOT "sustainable" (hey Philip you're always talking about a "sustainable" approach to nutrition, right?)?

Well, let's peel back the layers and dive into it.

When I ask someone about their food habits, they often tell me: I eat "healthy" most of the time, but I still can't [insert goal here, e.g. lose weight].

Or I eat pretty routine during the week and then it all goes to [@#$%] on the weekend (Saturday night anyone?).

What's happening here isn't a lack of discipline or control.

It's simply a lack of visibility.

Imagine you're driving down a road at night without any headlights. Challenging, right? You're likely to take wrong turns or maybe even end up in a ditch. 

But what if you switch the headlights on? You'd instantly see the road, the turns, and the obstacles. You could drive with confidence.

The same concept applies to your nutrition.

Many of us are driving in the dark.

Logging and tracking your food is like switching on the headlights. It shines a light on your eating habits, illuminating the path toward healthier choices and better control.

What about using a food scale?

Think of it like your GPS on the nutrition journey. It accurately guides your portion sizes, ensuring that you're fueling your body with the right amount of nutrients.

But here's the secret.

The true power of food logging and tracking isn't just about the physiological benefits, like hitting your calorie targets or managing your macros.

No, it goes deeper.

When you make a commitment to track your food, you're removing those mental chains of "can't" and "shouldn't" from your vocabulary. It's no longer about avoiding certain foods or feeling guilty about enjoying your favorite treats.

Instead, you create a new relationship with food.

You start realizing, "Hey, I can enjoy that piece of chocolate, log it, and still stay on track with my health goals." You stop viewing foods as forbidden and start seeing them as choices.

You CHOOSE to add protein with each meal because you want to build/preserve muscle mass.

You CHOOSE to have a dessert because cheesecake is your favorite, you're enjoying dinner with your friends, and you chose lower-calorie, protein-focused meals earlier in the day to accommodate it.

You CHOOSE to have that big bowl of oatmeal because you'll need the energy and glycogen from carbs for your lifting session in a few hours.

You remove the self-imposed rules.

And this is a game-changer.

It introduces a sense of control, of personal growth, and a feeling of accomplishment. All of which fuels your intrinstic motivation. You start enjoying the process, appreciating the journey, and celebrating the small wins along the way.

And before you know it, tracking and logging become more than just tasks on your to-do list. They become empowering rituals that make your health journey more enjoyable and sustainable.

You train your brain to know what's on your plate and how it nourishes your body, re-calibrating your hunger signals so that one day in the near future you can choose not to track AND still be able to eat intuitively and meet your goals.

For many people, the freedom that comes from knowing WHAT, WHEN, and HOW MUCH they eat liberates them from the burden of restriction.

Because they know they can hit their goals with certainty.

Is it for everyone? No. Like any tool, it must be wielded by the right person at the right time, and even the tool itself must be selected carefully so the momentum you get from using it outweighs the friction or resistance from the process (exactly why I recommend MacroFactor over every other food logging app out there).

Does it require effort? Yes.

Is it worth it? Absolutely.

Why? Because when you learn to incorporate the foods you love, when you learn to enjoy the journey, when you stop telling yourself you "can't" or "shouldn't", you start moving towards a healthier, happier you.

That is the true value of food logging and tracking.

Let's do this together. Let's switch on the headlights and set the GPS for your health journey. Remember, it's not about perfection. It's about progress.

And progress starts with one small step.

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