Over the last month, I’ve been coaching a group and each week we tackle a new nutritional habit. For some it’s new and challenging and for others, it might be something they are already doing. But either way, they only have one thing to master each week. As the weeks go on, we are looking for them to continue the habits from the previous week, but the idea is to not overwhelm them with a complete diet overhaul all at once.
In speaking to a woman recently, she told me that she was entering all her foods into her My Fitness Pal app and logging all her weight training and cardio sessions too. She couldn’t understand why the numbers (literally) didn’t add up to weight loss.
Now, before we get too far, we know that the weight on the scale is not the only indicator of your body changing, but for someone who has 20, 30, 50 pounds to lose, we should expect some weight loss, especially if they think they are doing everything right.
What her app was telling her was to eat 1200 calories a day. She thought she was doing the right thing by eating under that amount (usually between 1000-1100). Then she would add her exercise, which it was calculating that she was burning 350 calories. So by all means, the numbers should show at least a pound a week, right?
Here are 5 things that come into play when looking solely at the numbers:
As I read recently in an article by Armi Legge – “Obsessing over your calorie intake can sometimes be as destructive as obsessing over your food choices.”
Tell me… how has recording your information in apps helped or hurt you? Do you find yourself obsessing? Is it manageable? Comment below
