The Importance of Tracking Nutrient Intake

The Importance of Tracking Nutrient Intake

Nick Smoot

Owner of Smoot Fitness- smootfitness.com

Email- nsmoot2@gmail.com

 

I want to start by making one thing absolutely clear; weight gain is a result of consistently (weeks, months, years) going over your macronutrient and caloric needs.  It is not dairy, grains, processed foods, or poptarts that make you fat.  It is long term overeating, which seems to plague many individuals.  Maybe they find the pleasure of food more important than their health or aesthetics.  Maybe it is a result of boredom or they use food to relieve stress.  Maybe they simply have little knowledge of proper nutrition and are clueless about the amount of food they are taking in on a daily basis.  I think that last one is the leading culprit.

I want you to ask the next person you talk to what a macro is.  I am pretty confident that 75 percent of them will look at you like you just busted ass on national television.  Many people have no idea what a nutrient dense food looks like, what a proper serving size is, or how to track their nutrient intake.  That changes today!

 

Nutrient Dense Foods Should Form the Bulk of Your Daily Intake

So like I have said in previous articles, it is the quantity of food that determines body composition, not individual food choices.  However, Micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) can’t be ignored if you want to maintain optimal health and performance.  Below is a list of my favorite nutrient dense food choices.  I am not telling you to only eat these foods, nor am I telling you to eat them without any sauces or seasonings.  This is simply a list of foods that form the foundation of MY nutrition program in their most basic forms.

 

Protein: chicken breast, lean steak, lean red meet, eggs, whey protein, tuna, tilapia, salmon, turkey breast, milk

 

Carbohydrates: sweet potato, russet potato, oatmeal, white rice, whole wheat bread, whole wheat bagels, whole wheat pasta, any fruit (bananas and apples are top choices), any dark green veggie

 

Fats: almonds, walnuts, peanuts, natural peanut butter, egg yolk, omega 3, animal fat

This list does not come close to the touching the surface of nutrient dense foods available.  Figure out the foods that you enjoy eating and build your dietary intake around them.

 

Tracking > Guessing

I know I have said it many times, but I am going to say it again; if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.  If you don’t know the amount of food you are taking in, it is impossible to make an adjustment necessary to keep you moving toward your goals.  We all know someone who claims they “can’t gain weight despite eating tons of food,” or the person complaining that they “can’t lose fat despite eating less and less.”  What do they most likely have in common?  They are guessing about how much food they are eating every day.

The guy who isn’t gaining weight may be eating more food than he was before, but he is still in a calorie deficit.  The guy who isn’t losing any fat may be cutting down his portion sizes, but still ends the day over his macro and caloric needs.  Without a quantitative measurement from which to make an adjustment, both individuals are going to spin their wheels and go nowhere.  That is why tracking food is so important.  Once a person has tracked their food for a week and evaluated the results, they can increase or decrease their intake in order to keep making progress.

At the same time, tracking your dietary intake allows you to fit any food in to your macros while still making progress.  This allows you to balance your fitness goals with your social life and reduces the chances of developing an eating disorder.  Guessing about your daily macros and hoping to build a great physique is like curling in a squat rack and hoping you don’t get your ass beat.  Don’t be that guy.  Track your nutrient intake, adjust based on your results, and watch your progress soar.

 

How to Track Your Nutrient Intake

So tracking food is pretty straightforward; you keep track of what you are eating.  Now the most common and accurate way to do this is to keep track of your macronutrients (protein, carbs, fats) and calories.  This can be done using a food journal (a real pain in the ass) or by using one of the free apps on your smart phone (myfitnesspal or daily burn).

Now there are various formulas you can use to determine your estimated macronutrient and caloric needs.  Once you figure those numbers out, hit those targets for a week, and adjust based on your results.  When tracking your macros it is important to remember to log the food BEFORE you eat it.  Tracking a food after you eat it is an easy way to have you surpass your target numbers by the end of the day.  Now the one drawback to this form of tracking is that it can be mentally daunting to always have to stay within a set limit.  If you are not training for a specific competition or event, I recommend tracking for two weeks, and then eyeball until you make a change to your macros and calories.  Track for another week or two, and then eyeball until the next adjustment.  It is most important that you learn and fully understand how to track your nutrient intake.  Once you have been doing it for a while, you will become pretty accurate by simply looking at a food item.

The other way to keep track of your dietary intake is to quantify the food items you eat every day.  Our example is going to be a guy who maintains his weight eating two cups of oats and six eggs for breakfast, three chicken sandwiches for lunch, and a large steak and three sweet potatoes for dinner.  If he wanted to lose weight, he can remove a potato at dinner, a cup of oats at breakfast, a sandwich at lunch, etc.  If he wanted to gain weight, he could add an extra food item each week until he reaches his goal.  Tracking your food like this works, but is not maintainable for most people because it requires you to eat the same food items every day.  Learn how to determine your macro and caloric targets, which foods are more caloric dense or nutrient rich than others, how to track your food, and then develop a system that you can adhere to.

 

Summing Up

Learning how to track your nutrient intake is a fundamental skill that everyone should master.  If it was a class made mandatory in public schools, we would deal a major blow to the obesity epidemic we are currently struggling with.  Tracking food is simple, quick, and extremely accurate.  If you are serious about your physique goals and athletic performance, get tracking!

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