Mighty Transformation

You can't always track your food using the tools you have learned on the program. It will not be realistic or convenient to do all the time. You may have social outings, you’re away on vacation or it’s the festive season and you will always be out eating.  Are you going to bring your weigh scale or bust out MyFitnessPal every single time for the rest of your life.  The answer is likely no.

 

There are 2 main reasons why it can be detrimental to rely on tools long term.

 

1. What I have found is that people who get too dependent on the tools will have anxiety if they do not have access to MyFitnessPal or their weigh scale.  Instead of a tool it has become a crutch and they become paralyzed without it.
2. After the program is done you may get less compliant to tracking your food over time.  Without the group accountability it's easy to slip back into old habits and stop tracking.  So without understanding how to eyeball your food you will likely underestimate your consumption and guess what happens?  You begin to eat a lot more than you think and the weight creeps back up.

 

It is advisable for you to start learning how to "eyeball" your food.  Once you have been accustomed to measuring/weighing your food for a period of time you should have a better understanding what a serving can look like for various foods.

 

As a long term strategy I want you to start building a mental database of the food you consume.  There are 2 popular methods that can work: One is using your hands and the other is using your plate.  Either is fine and it's simply preference which one you choose to use.  These infographics are derived from Precision Nutrition.

 

The Hand Method

 

NOTES: Precision Nutrition is against tracking calories for beginners as they feel it is an advanced technique. I disagree wholeheartedly. I believe tracking calories gives a very accurate black and white picture of what you are consuming and quickly shows you objectively how high calories some foods can be whether it's clean/healthy or "junk".

 

The hand method has its flaws because a lot of variation can occur. For example, a palm of chicken breast and a palm of salmon can be separated by a few hundred calories. Without understanding the calorie content of each of these items, you can really blow your target. Also you should know how to compare things relative to your hand size.

 

Awareness is always the first step and tracking your calories is the fastest way to do that. But now that you guys understand the law of thermodynamics (calories in calories out) and the “value” of certain foods, the hand method can be utilized to help you track food without using MyFitnessPal and a scale. This is especially important when you are out and can’t really weigh or log your food. And more importantly it can be a realistic way to eventually transition off the tools. Remember these are just guidelines so see how you can implement the Hand Method for your particular goals.

 

The Plate Method

 

An alternate method is using your plate to divide certain foods to make your meal.

Below are are my suggestions to create your plate.

 

 

I love this template as it offers great balance to get a good mix of macronutrients. When on vacation or out at a party I find this template is a safe guideline if you want to moderate your intake.  But even for daily eating, I find it very easy to follow.  If you notice this is very similar to our Mighty McGuire meals.  Check here again to see how they are done. I personally like this method and I even have my parents use this with much success. They don't wish to track or weigh food so this visual guide is very easy for them to follow.

 

So should you track or not track?

 

It's always about tradeoffs.  If you don't enjoy plugging things into MyFitnessPal and weighing your food, then learn to eyeball.  Keep it very simple for now and start with your "go to" items.  Before weighing or entering your food in MyFitnessPal just look at the item and take a "guess" in your head what you think the item will be in terms of calories and macros.  As you get comfortable, you can keep adding more and more times.  Over time you will develop a database of different foods that you can easily recall.

 

If you love to snack, eat out often and make really complex meals, then the likelihood is high that you will have to use tracking tools like MyFitnessPal and the weigh scale, because it will just be too hard to do that all in your head.

 

Check this infographic I made to help you determine if you should be tracking or not long term.

 

 

Final Thoughts

 

In the beginning of one's weight loss journey I do find it extremely valuable to know how to track using tools like MyFitnessPal and the weigh scale, but I feel most people will not want to do this forever or they will become less compliant to do so.  I personally don't like to track and that's why my meals are pretty simple.

 

My suggestion is to start memorizing all your favorite and go to items so you no longer have to rely using the tools.  You can still use MyFitnessPal if you go out to eat at a restaurant to plan your day.  But for everyday life really try to ween off these tools. And if over time you start to gain weight, then you can easily use the tools temporarily to get you back on track.