Is a food diary worth it?

[KDCross]

Hello! 

I have been at a plateau for about 8 months, and I am losing patience. I try to eat right and I exercise 3-5 times a week. The one thing I do not do is keep track of my calories. I usually do a rough estimate in my head and that's it. 

Would it be worth it to start writing it down or logging it on the FitBit app? Also, how do I calculate the right amount of food/calories to eat versus how much I work out?

Thanks!

[Propagandian]

I've only been doing this for almost 2 weeks now, but I've kept a food log religiously since I started. I've already lost weight despite only starting to exercise less than a week ago.

If I didn't keep the food logs, I'd most likely be overeating as some foods were rather surprising in the amount of calories they hold. I'm a big Coca-Cola addict, so I tend to compare food with a single 250ml glass (a pack of peanuts is worth 9 glasses cola in calories). What I don't do, is keep track of the carbs vs fat vs protein thing. I'm purely looking at what I get in vs what I burn per day.

How you would personally calculate the right amount to eat is setting a food plan in the app for a certain amount of deficit per day that you feel comfortable with, and it will tell you not only when you are under or above the goal, but also how much you can still eat for the day. It uses your calories burned history to estimate how much you will probably burn this day and how much you can eat.

The downside is that due to not living in one of the select few countries fitbit supports for barcodes, I have to hope it's already in the database or that it's internationally available. Most of the time though, I have to log something similar (if I eat a burger at a local fast-food place, I'd pick a international chain with more or less the same burger, as an example) or I have to go look at the nutritional values, convert energy in kj to calories, and add it as a custom food option. This takes time and can get annoying, but I'd say the end result is worth it.

Even though I'm really new at this, I do think it's important to note that calories is not all that matters. Sure, I can just drink cola or eat bread all day till I have nothing left to spend, but it's probably not a good idea. The app does not assist in choosing what would be healthy. That is up to you to decide. If you didn't have dinner yet, and that slice of cake will make you max out your allotted calories for the day, you have to make the decision to go over your goal, or to leave the slice of cake. Don't compromise health just to limit calories.

I'd say the log is far more helpful as it's a bit more concrete than making rough estimates, and as mentioned, some food stuffs might carry some surprising results. Maybe also log your water intake? It's not linked to calories, but if you log your food, you might as well do the extra tap on your phone.

[Telly2 · Accepted solution]

I use My Fitness Pal instead of fitbit to log food as it's easier to use and keep track of calories.  You link your fitbit to it so exercise and calories are accounted for.  Whenever I do it by estimation, there are so many little things that I forget about and it's easy to creep the calories up without realising.  If you're at a plateau, I would log properly for at least a few weeks to get yourself kickstarted again.

[Dominique]

I suspect you are currently in the normal weight range, but don’t really know what to do next. Last September, you wanted to gain lean muscle. Now, I assume you want to lose fat, since being at maintenance (which is implied by your "plateauing") is no longer satisfactory. I’ll repeat what I said last time: it’s best to focus on one goal at a time, gain muscle or lose fat, and eat accordingly. Intuitive eating is just fine when there’s no need for major changes in weight (like losing or gaining 50+ pounds), it may be sufficient to make minor adjustments so your weight starts moving in the desired direction. You also need to accept temporary tradeoffs: you’re not going to gain much muscle when eating at a deficit to lose fat, and you’re going to gain some fat  when eating at a surplus to gain muscle.

[emili]

I don't think a plateau can last 8 months.  If your goal is to lose weight you need to be in a caloric deficit. What that deficit is you need to determine by how quickly you want to lose and what is sustainable to you. You can use your fitbit to do the calc for you by entering the weight you want to be and the deficit or you can use an online calculator that measure tdee and do it yourself. Plateaus are just periods of time that folks forgo their deficit and eat to maintenance for a period of time. Once adjustments are made and logs are kept, weight starts to come off again.