Do I Really Have To Track Everything I Eat To Lose Weight?

No. But a few weeks doing it might teach you more about your diet than years of guesswork.

Photo by Jakub Żerdzicki on Unsplash

I know, I know…it’s a pain in the backside having to keep a log of what you

Weighing pasta, logging the milk in your tea, trying to work out how many calories were in last night's homemade lasagne. And do those three cherry tomatoes really need recording?

It's hardly surprising that the suggestion of tracking food is often met with a groan.

The good news is that you absolutely can lose weight without tracking a single calorie. BUT BUT BUT…there's a strong argument for doing it temporarily, particularly if you've been struggling to get results. In addition, (in my experience) you’re much more likely to keep that weight off afterwards instead of yo-yoing up and down.

We're not always great at knowing what we eat

Most of us have a reasonable idea of whether our diets are broadly healthy. But ‘reasonable’ and ‘broadly’ are doing a lot of heavy lifting there, and that's different from knowing how much we're eating.

Take the classic example of olive oil. A generous two-tablespoon free pour contains around 240 calories as compared to a few pumps of an olive oil spray which will probably be between 5-20 calories depending on the brand. A handful of nuts can easily add another 150–200.

These are both nutritious foods, but neither are magically exempt from the laws of energy balance, and neither is the forgotten biscuit, the multiple dippings into the pot while cooking, the last few Party Rings from your child’s birthday party, or the random Tuesday glass of wine that gets forgotten when we mentally review our week's eating.

Sometimes it's about more than food (or willpower)

There's also a psychological side worth considering and I’m a big fan of neuroscience. We’re mostly driven by our neural programming, (95% in fact of our behaviours are habit- and trigger-based; only five percent is conscious action) so if you think you ordered in a Five Guys to your desk at work because you ‘deserve it’, think again. It’s likely that somewhere along the way (usually before the age of 10) you learned to deal with feelings by eating.

If the idea of tracking your food makes you uncomfortable, ask yourself why.

Perhaps you've tried it before and found it tedious. Perhaps you simply don't want another task in your already busy life. Both understandable. [I should say: if you have a history of restricted eating, this is obviously not a blog for you and I encourage you to work with an appropriately qualified nutrition professional to help you] 

But sometimes we resist looking closely at something because we suspect we might not like what we discover.

Perhaps your portions are bigger than you thought. Perhaps your protein intake isn't quite what you imagined. Or perhaps that familiar claim that you "hardly eat anything" doesn't tell the whole story.

It's uncomfortable when the evidence challenges the story we've been telling ourselves but ask yourself: is that more or less uncomfortable than continuing to not make the change you so desperately want?

Photo by Maiye Jeremiah on Unsplash

Think of it like checking your bank statements

If you're trying to save money, one of the first useful steps is finding out where it's going. You don't necessarily need to record every coffee purchase for the rest of your life. But a few weeks examining your spending might reveal some surprises.

Food tracking works much the same way.

One thing to try: The seven-day food audit

For one week, record what you normally eat and drink.

You can use an app, a notebook or even just a photograph of everything you eat and drink.

At the end of the week, look for patterns. Are portions larger than expected? Is there a mix of protein, carbs and fat or does one predominate? Are there certain times when you snack without really noticing?

Then choose ONE manageable change. Smaller portions, more water (perceived hunger is often thirst in disguise), more colour on your plate, different meal times…whatever you think you can sustain as a first confidence boosting step.

For some people, tracking calories isn't appropriate, particularly if it encourages anxiety or restrictive eating. A less numerical approach may be better.

And remember that a seven-day snapshot is a starting point, not a complete picture of your diet.

The real goal is to stop needing to track

You should eventually develop nutritional literacy: to be able to recognise sensible portions, put together balanced meals and understand how your eating habits affect your weight without consulting an app every time you open the fridge.

So no, you don't need to log every last lettuce leaf.