LOGGING CALORIES

Let me start by saying this is in no way or means me telling you what to eat or drink.

 

As part of The AHF Coaching program and any of my 1:1 plans, the main goal when it comes to nutrition is to become aware of what you are already eating and drinking as part of your lifestyle and then making it work for you.

Logging calories consumed will educate you on what is in the food and drinks that you already love and the impact (positive or negative) that they are currently having on your body and set goals.

1. Within your plan, NOTHING IS OFF LIMITS!
2. We don’t do ‘good’ or ‘bad’ foods here…
3. No meal plans dictated to you, no time restrictions, no syns..
4. No nonsense. You literally can have whatever you want!
5. All I ask is that you give tracking your calories a good solid go! For at least the first few weeks of your plan. LOG ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING YOU CONSUME.
6. Even if it is over your set target or you feel like it wasn’t ‘a good day’, please still log it.

 

This will give you the knowledge and tools you need to continue enjoying your lifestyle, whilst keeping it within your weekly allocated target.

Over the weeks you will learn what works for you and what doesn’t give you what you need. Doing this means you can still eat and drink the things you love without it having a negative impact on progress towards your health and fitness goals.

Once you fill out your body stats information, your daily calories and protein targets will be automatically set into your member area on the app. This will display on your dashboard.

1. They already take into account the fact that you will be following the program.
2. Please DO NOT ‘minus off’ or ‘add on’ any calories to cover what you have ‘burnt off’ when following your training program.
3. We want to take the focus away from this altogether, to keep things as simple as possible and reduce any risk of creating an unhealthy relationship with calories and exercise.
4. Remember the reason you are training is to improve your body confidence, strength, fitness and health (mentally and physically).

 

Most people who had to guess their calorie intake wouldn’t have a clue at all. Even those practised in this are still often off by around 800 calories per week, which in turn would put you into a surplus making goals much harder, if even at all  possible to achieve.

So you can see why logging is such a valuable thing to do.

 

HOW TO CALCULATE DAILY AVERAGE

1. So when I said log everything, I meant everything! This will only work if you are 100% with it. Track ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING that you eat and drink! Even small bites here and there.
2. Some days may be over the set amount and some under, this is normal and will not on its own ruin progress. Calculate your total calories at the end of each week and workout the daily average:
3. Take 7 days tracking (Monday- Sunday).
4. Add each day’s total calories consumed together then divide by 7 = your average daily calories consumed.
5. As long as this number is on or under your allocated daily total, you are in a deficit and will see weight loss results.
6. If you want to build muscle or maintain weight this needs to be as close to matching this set target as possible.

Do the same for your protein intake.

We are looking to be on or over your protein goal on your daily average. The more the better with this one!

If this is something you are struggling with, check out the protein ideas help sheet guide in your member’s area.

 

WHY I DO NOT SET MACROS FOR CARBS & FAT

Protein is the most important when it comes to both fat loss and building muscle, keeping you fuller for longer and helps with recovery from training.

Accurately tracking can be difficult for a lot of people to get used to. We want to do this with success, whilst still enjoying life! The best way to achieve this is to not over complicate things.

In all honesty for what you want to achieve, calories and protein are all we need as our main focus. Once you have this down, then I want you to aim for a balanced looking plate, which of course includes carbs (we also love them here) and a good serving of vegetables. I would also suggest looking into including as little processed foods as possible for obvious benefits.

 

HOW TO LOG USING THE IN APP MEAL TRACKER

Now, I’m not telling you to cook everything from scratch!

If you love cooking and plan to complete your own meal prep each week, brilliant! Unfortunately this isn’t an easy option for most. Personally I order from a meal prep company  ‘Strength Feeds’, local to my hometown. For me this makes up the bulk of my weekday meals, takes zero time and is super easy for those logging too.

The most important thing is that it is something you can manage and stick to.

Make it work for you.

Whatever way you do it, for most the beginning can feel time consuming and hard to manage. The key is to be as prepared for the first week or two as possible. Using either the in app meal tracker or your own logging method. The in app tracker works in a very similar way to the well known my fitness pal, allowing you to scan barcodes or manually input your own meals.

To add your calories, simply open the app:

• Click on the + button at the bottom right hand side of your screen.
• Click Meal
• You here have the option to take a photo of your plate or press skip.
• You can add in by scanning a barcode with the button at the top right.
• Or click the custom tab and ‘add custom’ fill out the details and hit save.

The food you have logged previously will display on your home screen.

If you are on the ball and log your calories in advance, you can return to this and edit at any point when needed.

The app also supports My Fitness Pal and Fitbit as an option to track your calories. You can adjust your settings on your profile and connect it to pull through to the app:

• Click the three dots at the bottom right.
• Select ‘Meal Tracker’
• Select the meal tracker you want to use.
• Workflow – full meal tracking.

So if you’ve got this far and ready to give it a good solid go that’s already the first step done!

 

KEY POINTS:

• Be as prepared in advance as you can. Pre log meals when you have time at the beginning of your week or the weekend before, so that it’s already done when you’re too busy.
• Track everything!!
• Enjoy yourself.

If you go over, which realistically especially in the beginning, most likely will happen at some point, don’t beat yourself up, just keep tracking and learn from it.

That is why I am asking you to do it. If it was already ‘perfect’ you wouldn’t need too. You can’t learn without failure.

• Have the things you love, learn portion control and how to manage your week around your goals whilst still enjoying life.
• Oh and track everything!!

 

NOTE: If you have tried logging in the past and struggle with the mental side of it, don’t force yourself into that place again. See how you get on. Tracking accurately will ensure you have everything you need to get this right. However, improving your mental health to be the best it can be is the most important and without this would defeat the purpose of this program. Focus on balancing your plate and portion size.