As a “fitness blogger”, vegetarian and self proclaimed “healthy eater”, I thought I had a pretty healthy diet. The last 6 months of what I call “covid carbs” and significant white wine consumption left me feeling not so healthy. When I pulled out my jeans for the first time this season, they were a little tighter than I remembered. I decided it was time to take action. I logged all of my food on My Fitness Pal for 6 months and here’s what I’ve learned.
I logged my food on My Fitness Pal for over 6 Months
here’s what I’ve learned
My Fitness Pal is a free app that keeps track of all of your food. It’s fairly easy to use and the database of foods is large. It’s also easy to scan any food label and have that nutritional info uploaded. My goals were to get an accurate assessment of what I was eating daily and to increase my protein and decrease my carbs. As someone who exercises a lot, I focused on upping my protein. I started with 30% protein and finished with a goal of 40% protein.
So what happened?
Portion sizes are way smaller than I thought
Seriously, way smaller! I bought an inexpensive kitchen scale to weigh and measure my foods to get an accurate assessment. A serving of peanut butter is not fitting as much peanut butter on a spoon as you can. Weighing. and measuring my food was an eye-opening experience. This paid off for me big time.
Foods have way more carbs than I thought
Everything good has carbs! Fruits and vegetables have carbs that add up throughout the day. Yes, fruits and vegetables are good but I had to be mindful of which ones I chose to combine daily.
My protein numbers were way off
I assumed I was eating way more protein than I was. When I started logging foods, I noticed immediately my protein numbers were about half of what I was aiming for. This was so much easier to keep track of using My Fitness Pal.
I was eating way more calories than I thought I was
My “healthy” afternoon snack of a handful of nuts, a hunk of cheese and some crackers had close to 500 calories. You can overeat healthy foods. Grabbling a few pretzels from the pantry once or twice a day was another couple hundred calories. Was I even hungry when I did that?
Meal Planning is a huge help
Putting in most of my meals the night before for the following day is a huge help. I can always go back and swap out different foods but it gives me a road map to follow. I have 2 or 3 go-to breakfasts that I rotate and that is the easiest meal to plan for.
Overall thoughts of logging my foods on My Fitness Pal for 4 weeks
The first week was hard but then logging foods became a habit. I quickly learned that my “healthy eating” regimen was not as healthy as I thought. I am much more mindful of the foods I choose to eat on a daily basis making sure to keep up my protein. This self-proclaimed carb lover is doing just fine on fewer carbs. I pay attention to portion sizes instead of just grabbing handfuls of snacks.
Update after 9 months
I feel better than I have in months. I am sleeping better and have lots of energy. I am not as hungry between meals-thank you more protein. My run times have drastically improved. My clothes are all too big (a good problem to have). I am leaner and stronger than I have been in years.
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What a great post, Deborah!
I used to log my food and then lost the habit. A few days a go I restarted because I felt I was losing control. It really helps!
I still do it with pencil and paper, though… time to go digital!
It really does help and illustrate a lot of bad habits for me. The bonus of MFP is that you can see the breakdown of carbs, fat, sodium, etc with each food and also overall percentage in your day. It helped me to move around things easily
I’m really an intuitive eater. I’m not much of a snacker. Like you tho, my downfall has been wine. I definitely drink more wine than I should, but it’s hard to stop at one glass, lol! One while cooking and one with dinner, right? Ayyyyy. Anyhoo, I’m glad this helped you. I will definitely recommend it to my teenaged patients who are struggling with weight gain. The pandemic has not been helpful for many of my overweight patients.
It was really just eye opening to me and Iv’e learned a lot about making smarter choices. I now allow myself one glass of wine a week and I am ok with that
Good job on taking control of your change in eating habits due to COVID. I learned about My Fitness Pal several years ago from a friend who is a registered dietitian and have been recommending it to my clients ever since. I jump on it whenever I feel that I’m getting a little loosey-goosey with my eating habits, and like you, felt the need to log my food again about two months ago. I love the ease of using it and how it holds me accountable.
It has definitely been eye opening lately and has helped me to see where I was lacking in my nutrients and where I was going over
Did you like the fair life shake? 30 g of protein and only 3 g of carbs?
I am not a real fan of stevia as a sweetener and it takes super sweet to me. A good option for on the go protein though
I have never logged my food.
I am not a snacker but do love a glass of wine and a dessert.
I have found that during the pandemic, I have made myself walk more. 3x a day if possible.
It has made a world of difference. I am pretty sure that I’ve lost some weight.
That being said once it gets dark early, I will have to pay more attention to what I eat since I will not be able to walk or hike in the evenings as I do now.
I am loving walking more as well. I have found that I can no longer out exercise some of my eating/drinking habits. It’s much harder the last few years
This is fascinating and I would be scared to see how big my portion of peanut butter is compared to what it should be haha. I think it could be good to track for a bit just to make sure I’m getting enough protein since that’s likely what I’m low on (if anything).
I tried to track once just to see how I did with my macronutrients and I didn’t measure anything so it was more a guestimates.
I never used to measure either but it sure is eye opening! I was way lacking on protein and way too many carbs
Knock wood (loudly), I’ve never tried logging my food, but I have heard many positive things about it. I used to be an occasional snacker, but my Invisalign experience changed that in a hurry. I seldom drink anything other than plain water these days (other than at mealtime), so that’s been a positive as well. Not much of a drinker, I don’t have to worry about alcohol calories… but the chai latte’s are a different story LOL
Those coffee and tea drinks tend to have a lot of calories. I just felt like I needed to clean up my eating a bit
I can’t control my food like that because it triggers my bulimia but I love how much it helped you!
I definitely appreciate that and your honesty. I struggled with some eating issues myself in college and then went on to work with eating disorders myself. Thanks for commenting
Thanks for sharing this, Deborah! The insight you took from tracking your food is great. It seems like you figured out a lot of the areas in your diet that could be improved, which is awesome. Props to you for working on your health!
I learned a lot about where I could use some work on certain macros yes
I had logged my food for many years, until I got so sick last year, and then just stopped. Because of all that logging, I have a pretty good idea of portion sizes and macros, etc. etc. Mr. Judy’s birthday month of fun made me feel a bit uncomfortable (too much cake!), but I’ve scaled it back & things feel more comfortable again.
Logging your food can be a huge eye opener for many people — especially those portion sizes!
Logging has definitely helped me to realize that I needed a lot more protein. This can be challenging for me as a vegetarian
I’ve never logged in before. I don’t think it would be for me. I basically eat what I want but I try to do so in moderation. I think if I tracked everything, it would make me cranky. But I know it works for some people, and that’s amazing!
I never thought I needed to either but lately it has been a great help to me
That’s amazing that it was so helpful in helping you track! I can’t wait to check out the app myself!
Thanks I found it really easy to use and I have learned a lot
It’s been a while since I’ve tracked my eating but I remember having some of the same realizations as you in terms of portion size. The biggest thing that keeps me from tracking calories is that I cook a lot and it’s soooo time consuming to figure out how many calories are in the total meal and then determine what percentage of it you ate.
So I have the same issue. I just create my recipe and enter it into the recipe section.I then divide it into 4 containers or whatever the serving size is
I have never logged my food, but I have thought that I am eating too many carbs and not enough protein for a long time. I would probably find that out if I did log my food intake. Getting rid of sugar from my diet was a good first step, and I did lose 8 pounds when I made that change, but I know I coule be eating healthier.
that’s fantastic progress! I am also able to track the sugars which is really helpful. I have learned a lot about the foods I was eating
I’ve been logging my food for almost a year… more out of curiosity than anything else, but yes, you learn alot about portion sizes and how “healthy snack calories” can add up.
Definitely true! Glad it works for you as well
Ah, all these lessons are so true! And “covid carbs” are a thing for sure. One saving grace for me has been setting up my workspace in the basement so I do not snack at all during the day — unless I intentionally take a break for a snack. I still snack after dinner though.
I have been much more full after eating more protein that I am not snacking at night. It’s been a big help so far especially on the protein intake
I have tried doing the app before and it was way too much commitment for me. I am not good on portion sizes either. I just keep thinking I’ll just work it off. But we all know that even when we workout we don’t burn as much as we eat. Maybe I should try it again.
So that was an important thing that I learned as well!
What a great thing to do as a base point! I think the portion control is the hardest to kind of learn!
What I thought were normal portion sizes were often times 2 portions
Yes, I love MyFitnessPal and have been using it for years. You learned so much from doing this for a few weeks! I know that I always eat healthier when I’m consistently tracking it in the app. I don’t count calories (anymore) but measure the amount of nutrients I’m getting in my daily diet. It’s definitely a useful (and free) tool!
Yes that’s exactly what I like to see the macros. Very helpful in just a few weeks time
I was all smug for months of lockdown because I stayed the same weight and size while eating more comfort chocolate and biscuits than is really wise. I think it was the running before breakfast 3-4 times a week. But then I put on in the last couple of months, while not changing my habits, which annoyed me. As usual, I need to get my sleep sorted out because tired = mid-afternoon snacks. I’m glad the logging has helped you – definitely interesting on the protein side of things!
The protein intake was very interesting and has been a game changer for me. I just feel better
I love My fitness pal! Logging food has helped me keep track portions as well. It’s crazy how much things do add up that you didn’t really think about.
Yes exactly! Thanks for stopping by and sharing
I totally agree re covid carbs. Also for me on work from home I had to find a better afternoon snack that didn’t leave me dragging. I’m definitely about how I feel, but when the scale is being a wench it’s nice to sometimes look at the why. Macros, but also for me, sodium content.
What I also like about MFP is recipe building. It’s made all the new to me recipes so easy to track and log.
Yes I am learning the recipe feature as well which is quite helpful. You are right, the sodium can be off the charts high for some foods and it’s always good info to have
Another carb lover here! I have been thinking of doing something like this to get better control of my eating habits before the holidays. Getting enough protein is something that I also struggle with too.
You know this was really eye opening to me! Even if you just tried it for a short time, I found I learned a lot about my eating habits