“It’s SO hard to track my food”

Trust me, I GET it.

I do.

But, believe it or not, when I tell you to track your food it isn’t because I enjoy watching you do stupid things to waste your time.

If I wanted to do that, I would just have you workout on a BOSU ball.

You have a goal and that goal becomes my goal.

We are in this thing together and because of said bond, I try to empower you with the best tools possible to reach your goal. Period.

When NASA sent Apollo 11 to the moon they didn’t say:

Here are some general directions on where you are going, just eye ball it from here.

For the sake of example, we are going to discuss a person who is trying to lose weight, but understand these concepts apply conversely to someone trying to gain weight as well.

Basic point most of you know already:

When trying to lose weight you must eat in a caloric deficit.

For our super awesome example we are going to refer to our pal Charles who burns 2000 calories per day and has a moderate and sustainable weight loss goal.

But first, let’s agree on something:

1. You like food
2. I like food
3. Charles likes food
4. Kiva likes food

Back to Charles.

So he burns 2000 calories per day.

AND

He likes food.

So logic tells us he is going to want to eat as much food as possible, BUT still satisfy his weight loss goals. Remember, he has moderate weight loss goals so he isn’t looking for drastic changes.

There are two solutions that will work for Charles In Charge:

1. We put him on a 20% deficit (1600 cals) and REQUIRE him to track his macronutrients to ensure he is getting the full deficit.
2. We put him on a 40% deficit (1200 cals) and after “loosely” tracking in his head, ends up at around 1600. Because history tells us (just trust me) that without tracking, that deficit will shrink by half or more.

Ok Jon, what are you saying?

If someone is not willing to track their food it has to be accounted for.

Sure I can get “close” when I don’t track every single macro in my day, but I can promise you one thing:

I never got to my most lean points without tracking.

One step further:

-Charles burns 2000 cals per day.

• If he tracks he is at a 400 calorie deficit each day.
• That’s 2800 calories per week of deficit
• Add on four days of strength training at approximately 200 calories each
• We are at 3600 calories off of what he burns per week — AKA a little over one pound of fat

He wanted moderate weight loss and this approach creates exactly that.

But,

If we tell him 1600 calories and he doesn’t track, his week could go something like this:

• Monday 150 cal deficit
• Tueday 100
• Wednesday 110
• Thursday 70
• Friday 120
• Saturday 0
• Sunday 90
• That is a total of 640 for the week plus the 800 via strength training and we are at 1,440.***
• Not even one half pound of fat loss and with potential water retention this could end up as zero on the scale.

***Bear in mind this is assuming that Charles is quite good at tracking in his head. It would take a lot of practice tracking in his past to be able to get as close as he did in the above example.

Also, I mention the scale because good or bad, these numbers matter to virtually everyone during weight loss no matter how many articles are written saying not to pay attention to the scale.

The Worst Part

Charles believes with all his heart that he stuck very close to the plan.

A bite here, a taste there, a few wrong measurements, and VOILA, deficit gone. Or at least shrunk enough to where progress is null.

Guess what happens next?

“Jon this eating right crap doesn’t work!”

See what I’m saying?

Tracking macros allows you to eat as much food as possible while still attaining your goals.

I bet you are wondering what happened to Charles. Well, he tracked very consistently and hit his weight loss goal. He then went on to be on television.

Tracking isn’t fun.

Tracking takes time.

Tracking is boring.

Tracking is annoying.

Tracking produces results.

This subject can be ultra confusing so don’t think I am going to leave you hanging out to dry. If you need anything at all let me know. I am an email away and would be happy to help you figure out any of this jazz.

I am also open to talking about:

1. Tractors
2. The moon landing
3. Dogs
4. Charles In Charge

Email: jwalterspt@gmail.com

IG: jonwalters15

Twitter: jonwalters20