When you first start tracking your calories and macros, it can seem overwhelming.
1. Plan your meals in advance
This goes for both eating at home and whilst eating out. If you know what you're eating in advance, you can adjust the rest of the food for that day to help you stay on track. If you're eating at a restaurant and they don't have the nutrition available, you can research similar restaurants and find estimated nutrition information for similar dishes.
2. Get to know your food groups i.e. carbs, fats + proteins.
If you know exactly what foods fit into each group, planning meals and hitting your macros will be much easier. For example, if you know meat is high in protein and one day you're lacking protein, you know that you just need to increase the portion of meat in your meal.
3. Track as soon as you've eaten, if not before.
It's so easy to forget about smaller snacks, coffee out and that extra serving of chips you had with your dinner. Tracking right away prevents you from missing items from your diary. You're also more likely to track accurate serving sizes if you track right away.
4. Compare brands at the supermarket.
By checking the nutrition information on the backs of packets at the supermarket, you'll be able to buy the best options to fit in with your goals. If you feel a bit weird picking up and reading the backs of packets in the store, you can also check for nutrition information online before you head out. I often check for new products when writing my list and will also use this to determine where I do my shopping on any given week.
5. Double check the nutrition information.
Even when you scan the barcode, sometimes the nutrition information in your chosen tracking app may appear a little different, or in some cases an entirely different product. There are several reasons for this, either somebody inputted the data wrong, the recipe has been updated, or the barcode has been recently changed. When tracking new items, or any items that you're unfamiliar with, cross-check the information on the packet with the information in the app to ensure the nutrition information is correct.
Do you have any tracking tips to recommend? Add them in the comments below! Always here,
Beth x