Let me let you in on a secret. Counting macros is not the end all be all. In truth, I don’t expect I will be weighing and measuring my food forever. In recent practice I have started to take more and more breaks and as such, I don’t expect you to weigh and measure your food forever either. I know it is often a common concern. This is hard work, I can’t see myself doing this forever. Truth is this level of precision is not necessary for most people’s goals or lifestyle. As a coach nothing makes me happier than seeing someone gain the confidence to manage their nutrition on their own terms. The lessons you can learn from weighing and measuring your food for a period of time can go way beyond just counting your macros.
You simply cannot properly manage something you do not measure. And today this is what I would like to chat about. This started as a post to reassure you that I didn’t expect to do it forever but in truth, it is more a vote of confidence to what you can gain by doing this properly in the first place. Apply yourself to learning from the process.
In order to properly manage your nutrition it pays to measure it for a while. You can really learn so much from the process.
The goal of tracking macros is not to learn how to use operate a scale. The goal is to learn from the process while you are doing it, develop an eye for quantities so you don’t need the scale forever to build your meals. You don’t count macros so you rely on it forever, you count macros so you know how to make informed decisions for the rest of your life.
The true disconnect is most of us want to be told exactly what to do, we will follow the “rule” of the diet to the T for a finite amount of time. Then we expect to go on our merry way, tend to find ourselves back to old habits and that somehow, magically, the results will stick! Newsflash they won’t. If you do what you have always done, you will be exactly where you are now.
In an ideal scenario, weighing and measuring your food for a while will teach you something and what you learn from begins to guide your food choices.
You can learn a lot in the process, just assessing your current eating habits.
- Am I eating enough? A vast majority of people come to me under-eating and needing to earn the right to diet by first learning to eat enough.
- Am I snacking too much? If you go through a jar of almond butter in a week my guess is yes!
- Do I love carbs more than I should. ??♀️
- Do I not get enough protein? Hint hint-you are probably not!
- Are my weekend binges hurting my progress forward? One really out of control day can undo a week of restriction.
- Is the only liquid that crosses my lip coffee?
- Am I fuelling my workouts properly?
- Am I eating the right things to maximize my gains?
I have a minimum 3 months commitment when I take anyone on. The reason being I am not selling you on a 5 days juice fast. Real results take time. You also have some work to do and for some change may come easy, but for others we have more to unpack and it may be more of a process. And that is totally okay. While you work with one of our coaches, we will give you tools, skills and understanding to reach your goals. With the hopes that at the end of your journey, be it 3 months or longer, you can take those lessons learned and apply them to your life.
In all honesty, for many clients there is more to unravel and 3 months may just be the beginning. Like I said this is totally okay. Habits and change take time.
If you can’t measure It, you can’t improve It. Management thinker Peter Drucker is often quoted as saying that “you can’t manage what you can’t measure.” Drucker means that you can’t know whether or not you are successful unless success is defined and tracked. If you are not proactive you are reactive and as we said before, this is giving away all of your control.
Nutrition is complex, it may take some time to figure out what works for you. To be honest this is why online calculators don’t really work as they don’t take into account your own individuality. On paper something may sound great, but it takes time and experiment and listening to your body to find what is right for you. And even then that will change over time. You may need to eat a certain way to lose weight, but by no means should you be on a calorie deficit all year round! You may change your goals in the gym and with that your nutrition should also change. But that is the beauty of managing your nutrition better and taking a proactive role. This is called flexible eating for a reason, there is no “one size fits all” approach to macros. I am not pro-carb or pro-fat. I am pro-what works for you right now! And that is both what is best for you to achieve your goals, but also give you the life you want. No diet will work if you can’t stick to it, no matter how perfect it is. And while you are at it, why not commit yourself to it and see what you can learn in the process.
Think you could use some help finding out what works best for you? Reach out for support as our coaches would love to help you out.
Annie 🙂