How to: Food Tracking
Now that we know the ‘why’ of food tracking, let’s talk about the ‘how.’ If you’re someone who already tracks your food, don’t turn away just yet. You might learn something new!
As I mentioned last week in Reality Check: Nutrition Edition, I have been using MyFitnessPal to track my caloric intake for the last ten years. Though it is not the only food-tracking app, it is the one with which I am most comfortable, therefore the one on which I will be speaking. If you haven’t already, download MyFitnessPal.
Getting Started
If this is your first time logging on, you will be asked to set up an account. Follow the steps on the screen. You will be prompted to enter your weight as well as your goal: losing, gaining, or maintaining. Whatever your goal is, take the recommendations with a grain of salt. Remember, at the end of the day, a computer doesn’t truly know what your body needs. Use it as a way to track your food THEN take your results to a nutritionist, dietician, or physician who can help you unpack and analyze what your body needs.
Information Overload
Each time you open the app, different recipes or dieting tips and tricks may pop up. You might be inspired to make something new, so by all means click on a recipe if it looks appetizing! However, when it comes to the tips and tricks for exercising and dieting, don’t take it all to heart. Stick with what you know and don’t fall into any advertising traps. The more information/advice you have floating around in your head, the more apt you are to become overwhelmed. Resist the urge to read every article. Instead, do what you came here to do: log your food.
Making Sense Of It All
In the top bar of the homepage, you will find your caloric goal (‘Goal,’) how many calories you’ve eaten (‘Food,’) calories burned from exercise (‘Exercise,’) and your remaining calories for the day (‘Remaining.’) Each time you log your food, these quantities will change. Use these numbers as tools of reference rather than rules to live by.
There is a way to log your exercise, but don’t worry about doing that. Again, there’s no way your phone can accurately predict your heart rate, levels of exertion and exhaustion, or breathing rate. It doesn’t know you as an athlete. The number of ‘calories burned’ it spits out has low accuracy. This is something your personal trainer, physician, or other wellness professional can help you hash out.
On the bottom of the home screen, you will see a blue plus button. Clicking this will allow you to log your food and water.
Logging Your Water
Water is an important part of your nutrition, so tracking it is key. To log your water, simply click the ‘Water’ button shown above, and type the amount (ounces) of water you drank into the box. Remember, one cup of water is 8 ounces!
All other calories consumed, whether food, vitamins and supplements, or non-water beverages, will be logged under ‘Food.’
Logging Your Food
You just finished your Simple Breakfast Smoothie and need to log it. After clicking the ‘Food’ button, select ‘Breakfast’ when prompted. You have a few options from this point.
1. If you have barcodes available from packages, select ‘Scan Barcode.’ Place the barcode of your food within the square on the screen. Once scanned, your food will pop up.
Click the serving size to edit the amount you ate if it’s different than the default. Then, click the check mark in the upper right hand corner.
**Pro tip: if you have multiple barcodes to scan, first select ‘Multi-add’ at the bottom of your screen before choosing ‘Scan Barcode.’
2. If you don’t have barcodes: If an ingredient doesn’t have a barcode, type it into the search bar at the top of your screen. Click the food that most closely matches what you’re looking for. For example, after typing in ‘banana,’ I would select the first choice on the screen that reads ‘Banana: 1 medium.’
**Again, if you have multiple foods to enter, first select ‘Multi-add’ at the bottom of your screen before searching for foods.
Going Out To Eat?
Whether you’re at a cocktail party with friends or you’re out for lunch at a restaurant, logging your food may not be ideal. Once you’re back home, try to recall everything you consumed and use your best judgement when selecting options.
It’s okay if your guesses aren’t completely accurate. Some type of guess is better than not logging at all. If the food you ate wasn’t individualized (i.e. fruit salad, toast, and two eggs) but rather altogether (i.e. spinach and tomato frittata,) search the food anyway.
Chances are, you’ll receive a wide range of options with extremes on either end. Your best bet is to pick something that seems to be in the middle. For example, if you’re offered suggestions that are 50 calories, and others that are 300, choose something that is closer to 200 calories. Remember, a guess is better than nothing at all.
Be Honest With Yourself
As you track your food, you will inevitably be shocked by some nutrition facts. Don’t worry about it and certainly DON’T omit anything. Even if you’re unhappy with the values you see, log the food anyway. You need to be honest with yourself in order to truly assess your habits and form new ones.
Stay Tuned
Next time we visit this topic, we will go more in depth as we look at advanced food tracking. We will cover how to create meals and recipes within the app, how to download recipes from the internet, and how to log food ahead of time. For now, let’s focus on the basics. Once you’ve got the basics down, then we’ll take a look at those super time-saving tricks. Happy tracking!
**Find Your Ambition LLC is not in any way affiliated with MyFitnessPal. All anecdotal evidence is purely opinion-based.
