Gear We Love

There’s literally thousands of different gyms, different styles of training, different coaching philosophy….there is one universally accepted truth:

You can’t out train a bad diet.

While lifting and cardio will improve your mental and physical health there is a point where the body will plateau. This plateau point varies body by body, person by person.

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We are entering the hardest 5 weeks of food for the entire year. Holiday party. Holiday cookies at the office. Cookie exchanges. In-Laws. Adult beverages. Snow day. Reese’s Christmas Trees.

In the season of what can be defined by excess, tracking what you are eating is a key survival strategy for dominating the holiday season while maintaining your path to health and fitness.

**Sigh** this is the internal dialogue portion where your internal voice sounds like a 2 year old fighting going to sleep at night: “Food diary….uuuugh”.

Anything to help our health and fitness journey - it’s our jam. There’s no better time to start a new habit and we challenge you, champions, to check out MyFitness Pal and join us in tracking our food throughout the holiday season.

Why we love MyFitness Pal available for Android and iOs:

  • Because you always have your cell phone with you - use those moments where you are waiting in line at Target to log your food diary instead of creeping on social media

  • It’s Free

  • 6 Million foods in the databases

  • You scan food bar codes and it pulls the item in directly for you

  • Customized favorites: after you’ve logged food it’s super handy to add it in for the day

  • Track calories, macros

Now that we’ve taken the obstacles of time and convenience away for tracking your food on MyFitness Pal, let’s talk about why on earth to track your food, removing the obvious (so you know how many calories you’ve consumed, etc, etc).

Why track your food?

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  • Do you feel tired at certain times of the day?

  • Do you wake up at certain times every night?

  • Do you notice swings in your mood and can’t identify why?

  • Feel swollen?

  • Crave certain foods?

  • Feel guilty after enjoying a treat?

The list goes on and on and on. While we normally get stuck on the “how many calories” portion of tracking food the benefits are so so so much greater than this. Everyone’s body is unique and reacts to different stimulus (food in this case) differently. As we are all unique, what works best for one person more than likely will not work the same for another person in pursuing health and fitness goals.

Recently, ramping up for the season of excess, I felt off and began to track my food again. One, the mental spam was out of control and I needed a sanity check. Second my brain felt fuzzy. After tracking for one week, it was clear to me the issue: Sunday. On Sunday’s I was consistently off on calories. And not by like 50. I was under consuming anywhere from 300 - 500 calories. By Tuesday, I was a tyrant, starving. And Wednesday, eating everything and anything in vicinity.

Logging food is a way to reflect upon what was consumed, trends and also what is working (as well as not working) for your food. You may be surprised what you learn.

Looking for diet and nutrition guidance? Contact us and learn from Denver’s best personal trainers and fitness experts.

Jennifer Samuel