Are you a Tracker?

Are you a tracker?

I’m talking….pen to paper and track goals, morning routine, evening routine, food intake for the day, exercise, habits – really anything that’s important to you personally or professionally?

Tracking has become super important in my life and it started with establishing my morning routine and blogging over these past few months...actually since I became a health and fitness coach over the past year.

I have my morning routine on lockdown at this point!! and its changes from season to season so I am adjusting my coach life, mom life, and teacher life every so often.  Last night I laid in bed with my planner planning out my day in blocks of time as if I was in high school again (blog post about that coming soon) 

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But, with my energy/fuel log, I am so good at tracking my energy, my workouts, my sleep, my moods, my hydration, my nutrition…

Life can happen and it can happen fast.

Ever started tracking and it’s 100% at the beginning and then you stop the tracking here and there?

Mel Robbins says that habits are so important. They build the mental capacity and confidence which build up belief in your subconscious.  Analyzing trackers, making game plans based on them is the importance of tracking...It's all in the reflection!!!

Like many people, I am a recovering emotional eater and buffer of emotions. 100%.

So tracking helps me with all areas in my life.

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What am I learning from tracking?

I know what foods serve me and my energy and what don’t. What gives me a headache and makes me feel anxious.  What increases my stress and my bloat.

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I know what foods make me FEEL a certain way and best serve my body, physically and emotionally.

How cool is that? Tracking has actually given me the freedom to the things that I was struggling with when Mrs. sabotage tries to prevail!

Emotional eating tends to be automatic and mindless. But, if you can take a moment to pause and reflect when you’re hit with a craving, and you take a minute to reflect, you give yourself the opportunity to make a different decision.

Game-changing tip!!! Don’t tell yourself you can’t have it, because you can! If it serves you. what if you use the language ”I actually don’t want that” vs I can’t have it!

Most importantly, check in with yourself. How are you feeling? What’s going on emotionally? Chances are if you stop and think, you’ll have a better understanding of what triggered you and will you have a different response next time.

Here’s the truth…

Allowing yourself to feel uncomfortable emotions can be scary, I totally get it.

I feel the same way at times!

The truth is that when we don’t obsess over or suppress our emotions, we understand more about what Is really happening! .

Our trends reveal our truth.

And what’s our truth?  It’s our freedom from what holds us stuck. How cool is that?

There are some major benefits to tracking your food intake and keeping a food or fuel journal as I like to call it. Tracking your day into blocks of time is a game changer.

It’s not all about seeing a number on the scale go down, although that MAY be a goal for someone.

Writing down every snack, meal, and bite of food will hold you more accountable for what you’re eating and consuming to fuel your body.

Let me ask you this:

Have you ever thought to yourself…

Oh! I had some peanut butter today, wasn’t THAT much.

Well was it 1 tsp? Or was it closer to 1/4 cup?

Or maybe this…

I had a handful of chocolate candy today when I walked by my colleague’s desk at work.

Did you grab one handful or a handful several times throughout the day?

It can add up, and to focus on your health means to be honest and real with yourself…every bite along the way.

Here are some benefits of tracking your nutrition on a consistent and daily basis:

 Detecting food intolerances
 Portion control
 Identifying emotional triggers
 Proper nutrition to fuel your body for optimized performance
 Weight loss (again, if that’s your goal)

Once you’ve tracked your nutrition for a bit, it’s time to reflect!

 How healthy is my diet?

 How do you FEEL after eating certain foods?

 Can you identify any triggers to emotional eating?

 Are you drinking beverages with high sugars?

 Do you find yourself reaching for unhealthy snacks when you’re tired or late at night?

 If you’ve done your meal prep and are ready for the days or week ahead, do you find that you stay on track?

 How often are you eating “on-the-go?”

 What foods make you feel the best during your workouts?

  Do you notice more bloat after certain foods?

If your a tracker what do yours look like? What do you track thats really important to you? Do you find it helpful?  And if your not a tracker I suggest you try it out.

"If you do what you always did, you will get what you always got"