There are a plethora of different ways to track food intake and everyone who does it will find a method which suits them, but the main three methods which we suggest are as follows.
This is the easiest and fastest way to track if you are using the level A or B method and you plan your meals ahead of time. Simply plan out your week ahead and then as you go write down the foods you consume. Of course, if you stick to what you had planned out and don’t deviate then there’s nothing to write, but many people will plan out their main meals then add snacks which can be jotted down day-to-day (along with the calorie value if appropriate). By the end of the week you’ll have a full picture of the things you have eaten both on and off plan.
If you are using level A tracking and don’t plan your week ahead, or do and are in a position where you have to change what you are doing at some point then it’s relatively easy to keep a notepad (or note on your smartphone) and write down what you eat for every meal. Here it’s important to be specific so don’t just write down ‘roast dinner’, list the parts of the meal and if possible the portion sizes that are included. The more data you can collect the better because if the result isn’t what you’d hoped you can see where things have gone wrong.
A combination of the two above methods would be to track only when you eat something that wasn’t planned, and then amend the table you have made accordingly. This then lets you look back at what has happened nutritionally to cause the difference that you experienced in your weight, waist circumference or exercise performance.
This method is almost solely designed for level B tracking, and is by far the easiest method of all once you can ‘eyeball’ the calorie content of foods (which you’ll be able to do after a pretty short time and a small amount of practice). Open the calculator on your smartphone at the start of the day and enter the calorie total you are aiming for, then as you go simply minus the calorie content of the foods you choose from your total.
If you have an idea of how many meals you will be going for then you can see roughly how many calories each should contain and therefore you’re able to make decisions as you go to increase or decrease portions, or indeed swap foods in and out. Thanks to this you are also able to see what you have ‘left’ if you decide to add a snack/dessert/other thing which you hadn’t initially planned to eat. At first, you’ll need to pay close attention to labels but over time when you know how many calories a certain food has it’s just a few taps of a button, a few times per day.
Because of the ease of use, this is perhaps one of the most effective tracking methods there is for those who make good food choices, and understand both the importance of vegetables and adequate protein portion control.
Once your calculator hits zero you are done. It may also pay you to keep track of any discrepancies over 5% or so in either direction (so you have calories left or end up in negative numbers) because this can, as above, show you where things might have gone wrong – don’t just stop tracking if you eat more than you wanted to.
There are a few dedicated food tracking apps available which have subtle differences, but are all largely the same. The two main apps are Chronometer and MyFitnessPal which can both be found online. The premise with either of these is that you can search for foods in their databases and add them to your food diary along with the portion size you have eaten, and it will tell you exactly what is in it. You’re able to set goals and the app will show you how far you are in moving towards those goals and what you have ‘left’ in terms of macro and micronutrients.
These are both ideal (perhaps MyFitnessPal more so due to its ease of use and large database) for those using either of the level C tracking methods, representing the only practically useful way to keep an eye on the amount of protein, carbohydrate and fat you are eating on a varied diet. This is not to say that there are no drawbacks, however.
The databases are largely user-made and that means you need to use critical thinking when selecting options. If you search for roast chicken you will get hundreds of vastly different options and therefore it helps to couple this with a good understanding of label information before you proceed. It’s also quite time consuming if you are choosing whole food meals which will likely have 7 or more ingredients to track (as opposed to a ready meal with one label) and the temptation does exist to do the latter, at the expense of choosing whole foods first and foremost.
Then there is the fact that a publicly available food diary may lead you to under-report or report highlights, so be wary of this and consider keeping your diary private.
Of course, this more in-depth method provides an incredibly valuable educational opportunity for those wanting to learn more about what is in what they eat, and after a few months on MyFitnessPal many users will find that they can look at a plate and produce a relatively close estimate of the macronutrient content of the meal in front of them.
Whichever method you choose, ensure you learn exactly how it works and know exactly what the limitations are, and then make sure you are consistent enough to provide yourself with trustworthy data.
This is not all the data you can collect on yourself, let’s explore other tracking data.