Tracking Equals Success

Photo by Tom Rogerson on Unsplash

Why do we have so much resistance?

Paying attention to what you put in your mouth is a foundational skill of every weight loss program and every program provides its own framework for tracking what we eat.  I believe that each of us knows just how important this tool is, and yet we struggle to utilize it consistently and successfully.  

There are many reasons that tracking is a universal tool for successful weight loss, but I believe that the two key reasons are that it enables you to simultaneously develop self awareness AND gather data.  It helps each of us to: 

• Learn what we are ACTUALLY eating - and its always more than we think;

• Notice if we get hungry before we eat, or if we eat based on the clock;

• Recognize emotional or mindless eating;

• Understand problematic times of day, or days of week;

• Discern how particular foods make our bodies feel.

• Discover which foods are satisfying AND filling;

• Identify trigger foods and the thoughts around them;

• Note how sleep and water drinking patterns affect your weight and/or food choices;

• Figure out what works for our bodies, and our weight loss patterns.

When we start a program we are enthusiastic and religiously track and plan. We are firing on all cylinders and we are successful - the scale moves down and we feel in control and fantastic.   

And then...perhaps the rate of weight loss slows down (it always does!).  Or we have a slip up here, a bad weekend there, or a stressful personal event and we overeat, and then we feel guilty and ashamed and we beat ourselves up.  Because we feel bad and discouraged and like a failure, we stop the planning and tracking.  And without that foundational tool, we are ensuring our own lack of success.

Why are we so quick to give up?  Because we do not like being uncomfortable and examining our own undesirable behaviors.  It is MUCH easier to quit than to keep going.  It is MUCH easier to quit than to look at the emotions that may be causing you to eat.  It is MUCH easier to quit than to look at your failures and learn from them.

Mistakes and setbacks are simply part of the path.  Many people view their tracker as some sort of self judgement diary that details all of their mistakes.  Instead we need to shift our thoughts to view our tracker as a scientist would - it's data we can learn from. 

I resist tracking just like everyone else.  I often do not want to do it and find it to be annoying; there are times that I would rather not have evidence of what I have eaten.  And yet, to this day - 10 years of maintenance, the siren song of the cookies, or the cocktails, or the Fritos can be very loud and if I stop tracking, I tend to make worse choices.

If we want to lose weight and keep it off, we must be open to changing our relationship with food.  Tracking is the first, most concrete, and most helpful step in that direction.  Track today and tomorrow.  See what you learn. 

Next week...Tracking Equals Success - Part II