02/04/2022
Everyone should track macros at least once in their life, AND whenever they want to "take their body somewhere," such as lose fat at a favorable rate.
For one, tracking macros teaches you to connect the dots between the food you eat and its composition (calories, protein, etc.)
This is must-know info for anyone who cares about their health.
The inevitable WTF moments (including the size of a legit serving of peanut butter) make it well worth doing.
Tracking also forces you to be engaged in the everyday mundane process of feeding your body, giving you the space to pump the breaks before "subliminal snacking," grazing, or finishing your kids plate. These little extras can easily add up to 500 calories a day.
But another less talked about benefit of meal tracking is that it's much more FORGIVING than mere memory.
Folks will vividly remember the times they blew their diet, especially the epic cheat meals or the scary slides into stress binging.
What they usually DON'T remember, for whatever reason, are all the times they did pretty darn good sticking to their plan.
All the boring but repeatable breakfasts. The daily chicken salad snooze fest. The two or three dinner options repeated seemingly ad nauseum.
However, that one rough day when they broke down and had 8 slices of pizza?
Those run forever in the back of the mind like corrupt software, lowering overall opinion of their efforts and self esteem.
And as bad as ignoring snacks and poor food choices is for the physique, obsessing over occasional mistakes can be very harmful psychologically.
So keep a log. Somehow. An online meal tracker, Notes on your phone, or even a spiral notebook.
It's far from perfect but its still far better than relying on the computer between your ears.
Because the faintest ink is more powerful than the strongest memory.