Food Journaling vs. Strict Calorie Counting [Ep. 133]

Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.080
This is the eat well, think well, live well podcast.

00:00:02.120 --> 00:00:09.029
I'm Lisa Salisbury, and this is episode 133, food journal versus strict calorie tracking.

00:00:12.592 --> 00:00:13.372
Welcome to eat well.

00:00:14.003 --> 00:00:20.603
Well, the podcast for busy women who want to lose weight without constantly counting, tracking, or stressing over every bite.

00:00:20.932 --> 00:00:27.842
I'm Lisa Salsbury, a certified health weight loss and life coach, and most importantly, a recovered chronic dieter here.

00:00:27.873 --> 00:00:31.413
You'll learn to listen to your body and uncover the reasons you're reaching for food.

00:00:31.623 --> 00:00:36.902
When you're not truly hungry, freeing you to focus on a healthier, more fulfilling approach to eating.

00:00:40.332 --> 00:00:43.881
Hello again to another great episode I have planned for you today.

00:00:44.292 --> 00:00:54.851
It is super stormy and windy out my office window today, so I hope that doesn't conflict with my sound and that we can get this recorded without too much distraction out there.

00:00:55.642 --> 00:01:03.051
I've been thinking about the differences between calorie tracking in a dieting type app and simple food journaling.

00:01:03.481 --> 00:01:08.001
The vast majority of my clients have done calorie tracking in some form in the past.

00:01:08.412 --> 00:01:11.022
Most of them are, like me, chronic dieters.

00:01:11.596 --> 00:01:16.066
And we can look at a plate of food and estimate the calories, or so we think.

00:01:16.596 --> 00:01:20.867
But I predominantly have my clients use a simple food journal.

00:01:20.897 --> 00:01:28.977
And as you know, we also go into food planning, and planning ahead, creating a 24 hour practical plan.

00:01:29.307 --> 00:01:31.876
That's going to be not something I'm going to talk about today.

00:01:31.876 --> 00:01:37.804
I'm just going to let you know right now we're talking about strict food journaling, just writing down what you ate.

00:01:37.804 --> 00:01:48.840
Um, Doing a 24 hour plan is something I do with a lot of clients, and you'll hear that on other episodes, but today I'm talking just about journaling as it comes.

00:01:49.019 --> 00:01:49.310
Okay?

00:01:49.829 --> 00:02:00.109
So, today I want to really just discuss the pros and cons of both of these methods, so you can accurately decide what's best for you.

00:02:00.810 --> 00:02:06.739
The truth is Regardless of age, we must be in a calorie deficit to lose weight.

00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:09.789
That is just the truth of energy balance.

00:02:10.669 --> 00:02:23.000
Despite all of the influencers on Instagram telling you that it's your hormones or that you're actually under eating or all of these other wacky reasons, there is the law of thermodynamics.

00:02:23.020 --> 00:02:25.719
You must be in a calorie deficit to lose weight.

00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:28.270
You must take in less energy.

00:02:28.444 --> 00:02:30.985
Then your body is going to use in that day.

00:02:31.555 --> 00:02:35.724
In this way, we force the body to use energy that we have on board.

00:02:36.074 --> 00:02:37.775
I sometimes call this dining in.

00:02:38.224 --> 00:02:44.395
This is when your body uses the fat stores that are on the body to get a little bit of energy that you need.

00:02:44.824 --> 00:02:46.194
This is how you lose weight.

00:02:47.175 --> 00:02:52.705
As a side note to this, ideally we are getting that energy from the fat stores and not the muscle.

00:02:53.449 --> 00:02:56.110
We can sort of force our bodies to do this in a couple of ways.

00:02:56.120 --> 00:02:59.750
Force our bodies to use the fat over the muscle.

00:02:59.800 --> 00:03:00.110
Okay.

00:03:00.409 --> 00:03:04.289
First, we've got to be eating adequate protein somewhere in the 1.

00:03:04.289 --> 00:03:04.669
2 to 1.

00:03:04.819 --> 00:03:07.580
6 grams per kilogram of body weight..

00:03:07.889 --> 00:03:13.229
If you don't want to do that calculation, a good average is to multiply your weight in pounds by 0.

00:03:13.250 --> 00:03:13.710
7.

00:03:13.740 --> 00:03:24.810
So for round numbers, a 150 pound individual would be aiming for 108 grams of protein per day and a 200 pound individual would be upwards of 140 grams.

00:03:25.319 --> 00:03:28.210
So I know y'all feel like you're eating protein like it's your job.

00:03:28.349 --> 00:03:28.780
I know.

00:03:29.125 --> 00:03:38.944
And I'm not going to make protein the topic of this or yet another podcast, but it is a factor in weight loss so that you encourage your body to go for those fat stores.

00:03:39.344 --> 00:03:43.324
The second way we can help our body go for the fat stores is to make weight loss slow.

00:03:43.735 --> 00:03:45.254
Ugh, I know, ugh.

00:03:45.604 --> 00:03:50.335
But the current recommendation for slow weight loss is around 0.

00:03:50.335 --> 00:03:50.925
5 to 0.

00:03:50.944 --> 00:03:53.085
7 percent decrease.

00:03:53.509 --> 00:03:55.659
per week of total body weight.

00:03:56.039 --> 00:03:56.349
Okay.

00:03:56.349 --> 00:03:58.870
So again, let's go for that 150 pound individual.

00:03:58.870 --> 00:04:02.259
That would be just three quarters to one pound per week.

00:04:02.289 --> 00:04:06.030
And for a 200 pound individual, that would be one to 1.

00:04:06.439 --> 00:04:07.560
4 pounds per week.

00:04:07.560 --> 00:04:14.099
So you can, um, aim to lose a little bit more actual weight if you have more to lose.

00:04:14.530 --> 00:04:16.560
but I know we all want it to go really fast.

00:04:16.824 --> 00:04:22.154
but if you told someone I lost 50 pounds this year, that would actually be amazing, right?

00:04:22.165 --> 00:04:23.564
To lose 50 pounds in a year.

00:04:23.584 --> 00:04:25.225
And that would be a pound a week.

00:04:25.274 --> 00:04:27.485
That's pretty average here.

00:04:27.834 --> 00:04:34.355
So let it take time as this is the most sustainable, most doable and most long lasting approach.

00:04:34.675 --> 00:04:36.055
Let it take the time.

00:04:36.154 --> 00:04:39.564
And again, you'll be more likely as well to target those fast wars.

00:04:40.591 --> 00:04:40.901
Okay.

00:04:40.901 --> 00:04:45.911
So that's all weight loss and speed, but back to the calorie deficit.

00:04:46.302 --> 00:04:50.002
That is what is required, whether you count calories or not.

00:04:50.091 --> 00:05:02.862
So I want to get into this idea of food journaling versus tracking in an app or logging strict type calorie counting and the pros and cons of each of So let's start with food journaling.

00:05:03.012 --> 00:05:04.661
Number one pro it.

00:05:04.906 --> 00:05:06.956
Helps you lose weight, period.

00:05:07.607 --> 00:05:16.206
In a 2008 study of 1700 individuals who were, um, they were older than 25, 25 or older, and they were considered overweight or obese.

00:05:16.677 --> 00:05:23.226
There is a linear relationship between the number of food records they kept per week and the weight that was lost.

00:05:23.627 --> 00:05:29.357
Meaning the more records they kept, the more food records they kept, the more weight they lost.

00:05:29.697 --> 00:05:38.197
And in fact, Those who kept daily food records lost twice as much weight as those who kept no records.

00:05:38.677 --> 00:05:43.867
So just keeping a food journal alone is actually a weight loss intervention.

00:05:44.197 --> 00:05:45.877
It's so fascinating to me.

00:05:46.257 --> 00:05:50.127
So that is obviously the first major pro for food journaling.

00:05:50.882 --> 00:06:02.002
Technically this could apply as well to strict calorie counting in an app, food logging in any kind of app that would also be food records, but it doesn't have to be.

00:06:02.021 --> 00:06:07.742
And I think that's, what's really important from this study that it doesn't have to be that it can just be paper and pencil.

00:06:08.632 --> 00:06:08.851
All right.

00:06:08.851 --> 00:06:12.411
Number two, food journaling with paper and pencil is easy.

00:06:13.182 --> 00:06:14.882
It's easy to look back on.

00:06:14.911 --> 00:06:23.791
And especially if you do your whole week, say like on one page or one chart, like my clients do, they have a sheet in their workbook that gives the whole week at a time.

00:06:23.831 --> 00:06:24.141
And so it's.

00:06:24.346 --> 00:06:26.867
Easy to see patterns in the week.

00:06:27.836 --> 00:06:33.607
Number three, food journaling can be a low barrier to entry to start recording what you eat.

00:06:34.007 --> 00:06:37.047
This is so critical to make things easy on yourself.

00:06:37.346 --> 00:06:39.266
You don't need to learn a new app.

00:06:39.276 --> 00:06:41.156
You don't need to pay for a new app.

00:06:41.156 --> 00:06:46.276
You don't need to find each individual item that you ate on that app and log it separately.

00:06:46.586 --> 00:06:51.937
You can just write down green salad with avocados and a couple tablespoons of ranch dressing.

00:06:52.557 --> 00:06:55.137
That will give you enough information for a food journal.

00:06:56.516 --> 00:07:06.536
Number four, food journaling on paper allows you to track other important information such as the time of day you are eating or digestive symptoms you might be experiencing.

00:07:07.127 --> 00:07:14.497
If you are, again, looking for patterns, which I really encourage you to do so, jotting down the time that you ate is really helpful.

00:07:14.976 --> 00:07:24.857
Also, if you're working on, say, bloating or heartburn, you can give yourself a rating after the meal on a scale of 1 to 10 of how that symptom is going.

00:07:25.507 --> 00:07:34.387
Then you can easily, look back on the week and see when you were, say five or above, and then note any correlations to what you ate on those days.

00:07:34.937 --> 00:07:44.536
I find this much easier to do when I can see a week at a time with paper and pencil or even a spreadsheet type food journal, and see all of that information at one time.

00:07:45.286 --> 00:07:50.177
All right, number five, you can make it as complex or as simple as you want.

00:07:50.656 --> 00:07:55.887
If you are trying to increase your protein or your fiber, you can just measure those ingredients.

00:07:56.197 --> 00:08:04.666
So maybe you are weighing out just your protein portions and noting that down in your food journal to make sure you are hitting that goal of 100 grams of protein per day.

00:08:05.286 --> 00:08:07.067
Or you can measure everything.

00:08:07.367 --> 00:08:09.026
You can measure Nothing.

00:08:09.576 --> 00:08:10.447
Which is what I do.

00:08:11.346 --> 00:08:20.516
When I was first coming off my restricted and fad diets, I practiced with just writing down my food without any measurements and used the hunger scale to determine how much to eat.

00:08:21.117 --> 00:08:25.956
I would write that down with my food journal as well, my before and after hunger scale numbers.

00:08:26.507 --> 00:08:30.346
In this way, I didn't need to write down any measurements of food.

00:08:30.387 --> 00:08:31.776
I kept it really simple.

00:08:32.177 --> 00:08:36.187
It was pretty easy for me to just tell looking at the journal if I had overeaten.

00:08:37.131 --> 00:08:45.011
If my list of foods for the day was a mile long, It's unlikely that all of that food fit in my hunger scale, and I was likely overnourished.

00:08:45.682 --> 00:08:49.871
But all this is to say, you can be complex, and weigh certain things.

00:08:50.027 --> 00:08:55.687
And track that, or you can be super simple and just write down the food and possibly your hunger scale numbers.

00:08:55.966 --> 00:08:57.846
So it's super, super flexible.

00:08:58.596 --> 00:08:58.907
Okay.

00:08:58.937 --> 00:09:00.456
All of that sounds pretty good, right?

00:09:00.456 --> 00:09:01.437
Let's just all do this.

00:09:01.456 --> 00:09:02.187
Why wouldn't we?

00:09:02.226 --> 00:09:03.657
There are tons of pros.

00:09:04.687 --> 00:09:05.846
What are the cons?

00:09:06.366 --> 00:09:07.326
Let's look at those.

00:09:07.557 --> 00:09:08.197
Honestly.

00:09:09.052 --> 00:09:19.741
I couldn't really come up with a lot here except for that it does take time, but I don't really consider that a con since you are worth it.

00:09:20.042 --> 00:09:25.581
If you have a weight loss goal, you are worth taking a few minutes after each meal to write down your food.

00:09:25.871 --> 00:09:26.851
To help your efforts.

00:09:27.111 --> 00:09:30.822
And honestly, this is a con for food journaling in an app as well.

00:09:31.022 --> 00:09:36.011
Logging, you know, if you're trying to do a lot of calorie counting, so probably it's not really a con.

00:09:36.011 --> 00:09:39.922
Cause I think it's faster than, um, than tracking in an app.

00:09:39.922 --> 00:09:47.322
So I think maybe I should just scratch that, but really the only con to food journaling is the lack of accurate calorie counting.

00:09:47.886 --> 00:10:05.966
if you are trying to figure out why you are not losing weight after consistently, and I mean like every single day for two or three weeks, you are writing down all the food you are eating, if you have been doing that and you are not losing any weight, Then, you might want to think about checking in with your calories.

00:10:06.687 --> 00:10:14.657
I really love using the hunger scale to determine food amounts, but I have had clients who feel like they just can't feel their hunger and satiety cues.

00:10:15.206 --> 00:10:26.197
In addition, I have coached women who have a hard time estimating protein content in their meals, or they really have never weighed and measured and counted in the past, so they are unfamiliar with protein and calorie content.

00:10:27.506 --> 00:10:31.407
For these women, food logging in an app could be a useful tool.

00:10:31.726 --> 00:10:33.246
In the short term.

00:10:33.527 --> 00:10:34.517
More on that later.

00:10:35.216 --> 00:10:39.736
So let's move over to the pros and cons of food logging with an app.

00:10:40.226 --> 00:10:44.866
Number one, you can be relatively sure you are in a calorie deficit.

00:10:45.307 --> 00:10:54.417
I say relatively because there is always user error and depending on the app you are using, you may be using inputs from other users that are actually inaccurate.

00:10:54.687 --> 00:11:04.557
Watch out for this on, I just have to, I hate to like name apps here because I don't want to like dis on, on creators or companies or whatever.

00:11:04.557 --> 00:11:09.106
And also I'm not sponsored by any of these, but, um, this is a major problem with my fitness pal.

00:11:09.126 --> 00:11:11.427
So you really have to watch.

00:11:11.501 --> 00:11:16.591
because everybody can enter and then it's available and they're not necessarily accurate.

00:11:17.211 --> 00:11:18.642
So you really do need to watch out for that.

00:11:18.642 --> 00:11:26.162
But for the most part, logging in a food app is the most accurate way we currently have to see if you are in a calorie deficit.

00:11:26.601 --> 00:11:33.047
Also, as a side note, remember, since we want a slow rate of loss, We don't need to be in a drastic deficit.

00:11:33.116 --> 00:11:35.047
1200 calories is for toddlers.

00:11:35.057 --> 00:11:37.817
So watch out for what an app might recommend.

00:11:38.496 --> 00:11:41.317
Um, you as an adult woman need more than that.

00:11:41.647 --> 00:11:45.057
Simplest calculation for, for weight loss is body weight times 12.

00:11:45.647 --> 00:11:47.307
Most women can lose weight on that.

00:11:47.437 --> 00:11:49.187
Um, but again, that that's a side note.

00:11:49.187 --> 00:11:50.216
We're trying to do the pros here.

00:11:50.216 --> 00:11:54.777
So the, the pros is you can, you can be relatively sure that you're in a calorie deficit.

00:11:55.167 --> 00:12:00.437
Number two, you can see your protein count without having to do that calculation separately.

00:12:01.047 --> 00:12:11.407
It will also find those few grams in plant based items like grains or some vegetables that will add to your total count, which is nice because if you're using a quality app, it's going to calculate your macros as well.

00:12:12.172 --> 00:12:20.591
Number three, if you are using a high quality app, you can also track micronutrients that might be important to you, you know, from a few episodes back with Dr.

00:12:20.591 --> 00:12:24.692
Sarah Ballantyne of NutriVore, how important micronutrients are.

00:12:25.272 --> 00:12:34.282
I like the chronometer app for this, this again, not sponsored or anything, but it does a good job, even in the free version of tracking micronutrients.

00:12:34.361 --> 00:12:39.542
I've also noticed that it breaks down saturated fat from total fat, which can be a helpful metric.

00:12:39.562 --> 00:12:42.432
If you are needing to lower or manage your cholesterol.

00:12:43.937 --> 00:12:44.167
Okay.

00:12:44.167 --> 00:12:50.846
The major con I want to point out with some food logging in apps is the actual calorie count.

00:12:51.716 --> 00:12:54.136
This can lead to major issues for some people.

00:12:54.466 --> 00:13:00.836
Just seeing the calorie count can be somewhat triggering for women with a past history of disordered eating.

00:13:01.326 --> 00:13:07.907
You might have a lot of judgmental thoughts about the calories that who knows, I don't know you, but just be aware of that.

00:13:07.937 --> 00:13:50.927
If you have a history of disordered eating in the past, not necessarily a full blown Eating disorder, but any kind of disordered eating you want to be aware that calorie counts might not be helpful or useful for you For some people they get very anxious I'm over here raising my hand if you can't accurately track and get in the app, you know the accurate Amounts so their count is off and then it can effectively quote unquote ruin the day I can tell you many times that I couldn't figure out how to log a certain food that I didn't cook myself Or I forgot to weigh my portion or something and then I couldn't get it exactly in the app And this would make me very anxious and very frustrated if you are feeling that with food logging in an app It's not for you.

00:13:51.256 --> 00:13:59.072
It's not going to be helpful in the long run Um, another con of this type of blogging is it doesn't seem sustainable for most people.

00:13:59.392 --> 00:14:01.991
Like, how long do I have to do this, they wonder.

00:14:02.562 --> 00:14:06.621
Again, the same con I discussed with the food journal, this takes a lot of time.

00:14:07.081 --> 00:14:10.361
For some people it can take much, much longer than food journaling.

00:14:10.657 --> 00:14:16.226
For others, if you have very standard meals and they're saved in your favorites, it can just be a few clicks.

00:14:16.226 --> 00:14:22.157
So that, that con, the time, the time factor might be a factor for both of these tools.

00:14:22.187 --> 00:14:24.746
But like I said before, you're worth it.

00:14:25.557 --> 00:14:32.466
Um, lastly, on cons on these types of apps, I don't think any of the apps I've ever tried are easy to look.

00:14:32.486 --> 00:14:37.277
back on the week at a time to notice trends or patterns in what I eat.

00:14:37.726 --> 00:14:41.527
Like I said, I do like chronometer and you can add a note.

00:14:41.537 --> 00:14:45.986
So you may be able to add like scores for digestive symptoms with each meal if you want.

00:14:46.576 --> 00:14:49.326
but then I just don't know how you see them all together.

00:14:49.822 --> 00:15:02.631
I haven't used this app extensively, I'll be honest, um, just a little bit here and there to test it out for clients that need, a different way to track, but it just isn't as simple as seeing the whole week at a time.

00:15:02.751 --> 00:15:03.392
I don't think.

00:15:03.621 --> 00:15:03.951
Okay.

00:15:04.341 --> 00:15:10.062
So what's the answer with all of these pros and cons for both, both styles, which way should you go?

00:15:10.861 --> 00:15:13.001
Honestly, it depends on your goals.

00:15:13.476 --> 00:15:14.586
And your history.

00:15:15.267 --> 00:15:25.136
If you have a history of disordered eating, but you still want to lose weight for health or functional reasons, then food journaling without measuring and weighing is the way to go.

00:15:25.586 --> 00:15:28.706
This is going to be the least triggering way to go about weight loss.

00:15:29.027 --> 00:15:36.797
Just go back and listen to some of my Hunger Scale episodes and get really good at tuning into your body and keep really accurate food journals.

00:15:36.797 --> 00:15:42.277
So remember, food journaling alone is a weight loss intervention, so just make sure that yes.

00:15:43.231 --> 00:15:48.231
Every food that you eat, even the last chicken nugget from your child's plate, gets logged on that food journal.

00:15:49.091 --> 00:16:00.611
If you have a history of never dieting, never having tracked before, then it could be a useful tool to gather information to use a food logging app and to look at some calorie counts.

00:16:01.272 --> 00:16:06.851
It could be enlightening for you to weigh portions of protein and rice and potatoes.

00:16:07.152 --> 00:16:11.692
You'll get an idea of what a serving of cereal or yogurt looks like in your bowl.

00:16:12.192 --> 00:16:15.701
If you decide to track in an app, set a time frame.

00:16:16.162 --> 00:16:18.361
For example, I'm going to track for a month.

00:16:18.772 --> 00:16:21.251
And then switch to food journaling and see how I do.

00:16:22.022 --> 00:16:29.192
A month would be enough time to really learn most of the foods that you eat and what proper portions look like on your plates and bowls.

00:16:29.601 --> 00:16:33.672
This is why I said earlier that logging in an app can be useful short term.

00:16:34.738 --> 00:16:39.217
never encourage someone to take up food logging in an app and not have an end date.

00:16:39.707 --> 00:16:44.317
This might seem counterintuitive to other things I've said, like, diets with end dates are the worst.

00:16:44.868 --> 00:16:49.457
Okay, but this is different, because you aren't stopping your weight loss efforts after a month.

00:16:49.857 --> 00:16:54.668
You are just switching to depending on the knowledge you gained, and using the Hunger School.

00:16:55.298 --> 00:17:06.057
While tracking, I would encourage you to pay attention to how your body feels in that calorie deficit and about how often you get hungry and then maintain those patterns.

00:17:06.538 --> 00:17:10.127
Use the time that you tracked as a learning tool.

00:17:10.807 --> 00:17:21.877
No matter which way you go, logging your food and keeping records is one of our easiest and freest forms of weight loss tools.

00:17:21.887 --> 00:17:25.153
So I really encourage you to at least Dive into one of them.

00:17:26.103 --> 00:17:27.623
I'm so glad you tuned in today.

00:17:27.702 --> 00:17:40.276
if today's insights resonated with you and you're ready to make lasting changes in your health journey, I'd love to help you can book a free consult session with me to see if my 12 week one on one coaching program is right for you.

00:17:40.726 --> 00:17:42.726
You can schedule it at the link in the show notes.

00:17:43.195 --> 00:17:48.705
Remember, it's not just about the food, it's about empowering yourself with choices that truly serve you.

00:17:49.135 --> 00:17:54.826
Have a great week, and as always, thanks for listening to the Eat Well, Think Well, Live Well podcast.