Is tracking your food good or bad?

Over the years, counting calories have gotten such a bad reap. "Once you have to start counting calories, it takes away from the joy of eating," someone has said. People say that you can't have joy, or eat mindfully, if you are counting calories.

However, the fact that they seem to forget is that losing weight is a hard path to be on. If you are trying to lose weight, or to just be healthier, it is a hard thing to do. Especially hard if you are without a plan.

Well, people say that you should have joy in food, and eat whatever it is that you want. I say, why can't you do both? Just because you are tracking your food in some way, doesn't mean that your food can't have joy in it.

Whenever you have a goal in mind, something you want to accomplish, usually the first thing you do is to make a plan. Tracking what you eat is just a way to make sure that you stick to that plan.

I always thought that I hated counting calories, that it was a waste of time, and too much effort. Though, for some reason, I did it for a short time. I honestly can't tell you why I did, or why I started. I was trying to lose weight, and seeing other people do it, I thought it would be a good idea. What I learned was that it taught me a lot. A lot about food. Seeing the numbers when you enter them, you see how those 2 cookies took up so many calories. And it made me wonder if I really wanted them? Were they really worth it? It didn't make me want to eat less. It made me want to be aware of where I spent the calories that I had. Was that one meal really worth it taking up half my calories for the day? In so many ways, it made me more mindful of what I was eating.

I am not saying that you have to count calories forever. It can be very time consuming after all. But if you are going to do it, then make sure that you do it correctly by doing things like weigh your food to be accurate. Even doing it for a week can be very telling and teach you a lot about yourself, and your eating. It taught me to think about what I put in my mouth, to really think about it before I eat something.

I only counted calories for a short time. But it did teach me a lot. So even if you do for a few days, or a week, it will tell you a lot about yourself and your eating habits.

For a while after that, I didn't track or count in any way. Even though I always made a meal plan, my weight loss stopped and I just didn't feel the best.

So I started to track what I ate. I wasn't counting calories, or weighing thing out. It wasn't about that. There is just something about seeing it written down on paper, that really made me think. I could look back on the day, and even on the previous days and see what I eating. I also wrote down how I felt, if anything affected me. It helped me to be able to see how food was affected my body and my energy levels. If I was feeling bloated, or had a lack of energy one day, I could look at what I ate and see what affected me. I made sure that I wrote down anything about my health. It wasn't just about calories, it was about health for me.

Tracking can be very freeing. You need to have a plan. Find a way of tracking that works for you. There is no one system that will work for everyone. Everyone is different, and so requires different things. It might be about calories for you, or health and how food affects your body. Try different systems until you find one that works for you. You might be very surprised on what it can teach you. You can have joy in food, and track your food at the same time.

You don't have to do it every day forever, but try it for a short time. You might be surprised on what it will teach you.

-T