***I want to preface this message with saying tracking your food, tracking your calories, and / or tracking your "macros" (aka macronutrients) is not a sure fire way to get your weight under control. However, it will be of tremendous help with identifying holes in your strategy and where you can make improvements***

"I don't know how I'm not losing weight. I eat healthy."

I've heard this many times throughout my career. Hell, I've even said this to myself when I had ups and downs with my own weight.

One thing that helps a ton is to start tracking your food.

The thing that this does is heighten your awareness of what is really going on in your day-to-day and cues you in on the adjustments that you need to make.

So how does one go about tracking their food intake?

1) Go old school and use a pen and paper

The disadvantage here is that it takes more time than using an app. Many apps already have the foods that you consume with total calorie counts and macronutrient breakdowns and with a pen and paper you will be stuck looking up all of the details. With that said, if this method is what you prefer, then go for it.

2) Create a Google Spreadsheet and track there

There's the same disadvantage of using a pen and paper, but now you're tracking electronically. You will save a little bit more time here.

3) Download and track using an app

There are tons of apps out there that you can use. I'll share with you some that are free and some that are paid*

Free Apps

My Fitness Pal - this is the app that most people are familiar with. I haven't used MFP in a longggg time, but if it is still set up the same, then usually they're way under their recommendation for protein intake with a population that does resistance training at least 2x per week.

Check out  this site  where you can find out how many calories you need on a daily basis to reach your goals. When setting your weight goal, you will have the choice of setting a timeline for weight goal. I highly recommend setting your time frame of 60-90 days if your goal is to lose or gain 10-20 lbs. Anything shorter will likely result in loss that you're not happy with (muscle) or gain that you're not happy with (fat). If you have more than 10-20 lbs to lose or gain, then you will need to extend that window. To what extent? I don't know. That's dependent on your overall goal.

Protein Pal - if you're lifting weights consistently at least 2x per week, and tracking your food stresses you out, then this can be a more simple option that focuses on one macronutrient; protein. Protein is king not only for building lean muscle tissue, but for many processes that occur in the human body.

Shooting roughly for a gram per pound of lean body mass is the goal here. If you don't know your body fat %, then shoot for 1 gram per pound of desired bodyweight.

Paid Apps

Carbon Coach - this is my personal preference. Carbon Coach was developed by Dr Layne Norton and has been an app that I've used for the past few months now.

The biggest thing that it's helped me with is helping me realize how much food I can actually eat and not have my weight fluctuate (I've actually been able to drop).

I have consistently eaten 2400-3000 kcal per day over the past two months and I've actually dropped 3 lbs. When I started I was consistently 185-186 lbs and now I weigh between 182-183 lbs most days all while eating more, but consistently eating more each day. I think before I was probably going in roller coaster fashion of some days barely eating 2,000 kcal and then other days gorging on 4,000 kcal.

This app has allowed me to get into a consistent pattern, heightened my awareness, and allowed me to craft my plan so that I can eat more, feel better, and look better. Not to mention, it's really easy to use.

There is a monthly subscription and that price is $9.99/mo.

RP Diet - This app comes to you from the good people at Renaissance Periodization. They run a stellar nutrition and training company, but this app just wasn't for me.

Why?

Honestly, I can't remember (it's been a long time since I've used it).

For all I know it could have been a timing thing for me and I simply could have not been ready for the app.

I do know, that if you're a serious lifter, strength athlete (powerlifter / strong(wo)man), or physique athlete then this app is VERY popular with that crowd.

I think the subscription for this app runs at $14.99/mo. (don't quote me on that)

Closing

Give one of these options a shot and start tracking now.**

Do it for at least two weeks.

If after two weeks, you've had enough, then that's cool. You have enough data to make adjustments.

However, you might enjoy the process more than you think and opt to continue doing so for a bit longer.

*I've had personal experience with all of these apps. There are many more out there. If you decide that none of these are for you, then continue to do your research.

**If the thought of tracking makes your anxiety levels rise like a tidal wave, then tracking your food may not be a good idea. Hit the pause button on tracking for now, but maybe dig a bit deeper on why it makes your anxiety levels rise. Often times, we get anxiety because we fear the truth because it feels like a personal attack or because the truth will make us feel like a failure. Feeling that way is completely fine, but know that you have the power to change that narrative.