Research
consistently shows that nutritional logging is one of the best ways to take control of one’s body weight and body composition. As a personal trainer/Boot Camp instructor, I have seen first-hand that the clients who make the effort to log get the best results! I’ve personally kept a food log for many years and I have found that maintaining or cutting is much easier since the log allows me to analyze my nutritional intake and make specific adjustments accordingly.
Logging also gives you a certain degree of “controlled freedom” especially during a maintenance period (I hesitate to say “off season” because most physique athletes don’t have a true “off season”). This is because as long as you stay within your overall caloric limit and adhere close to your macronutrient ratios, you won’t get too far off track. This can also be an invaluable tool during a cutting cycle to help you stay focused and “on point!”
I find that logging not only helps for fat loss but is an equally helpful tool for building muscle! This is because you can make sure you are hitting your macronutrient numbers especially with regards to protein intake!
When I speak of logging I’m speaking specifically about using an online or software based log that breaks down all of the macronutrients in your diet.
Here are just a couple reasons a food log is such a successful tool.
1. Awareness and Accountability: It’s hard to eat mindlessly if you’re being accountable and entering everything you eat into a food log.
2. Control: A food log lays everything out in a clear format to allow you to make specific adjustments which you can then evaluate and modify as needed.
There are many logs available online at no cost such as spark people and myfitnesspal.com among others. Myfitnesspal.com is the one I prefer because I find it to be extremely user friendly. It has a massive database and it is rare that an item I enter doesn’t come up.
The only exception is that if you go to a non-franchised restaurant then typically their specific items won’t be listed. In these cases I just try to find something close enough and will typically overestimate the numbers to be on the safe side.
When working with myfitnesspal.com, it is easy to customize one’s macronutrient ratios by following these simple steps:
On the MY FITNESS PAL website:
1 .Go to MY HOME
2. Below that click on GOALS
3. Below you will see a green box that says CHANGE GOALS (click on that)
4. Then click on the bottom that says CUSTOM (instead of “Guided”)
5. Then click on the Green box that says CONTINUE
6. From there you can change the percentages of Carbs, Proteins, Fats or anything else listed.
7. Then click on Green button that says CHANGE GOALS
Choose your Calories, macronutrient ratios etc.
Once this is all set, the key is to stay as close to that framework as you can and then see how your body responds and “tweak” as necessary.
Lastly, I wanted to explain how to figure out the macronutrient ratios/percentages for a given meal.
First you need to know that protein and carbohydrates are each 4 calories per gram and fat is 9 calories per gram (note that alcohol is 7 calories per gram).
You can determine the number of calories of a given macronutrient by multiplying the number of grams with its given caloric amount and then divide that by the total number of calories of the meal.
Here’s the basic equation
_____(grams of macronutrient) x ______ (calories per gram) ÷ ______ (total calories) = _____(Percentage of macronutrient)
That will give you the basic percentage of that macronutrient in a given meal.
Here’s an example: Let’s say your pre-workout meal was:
Total calories: 320 / Grams of Carbs:23 / Grams of Fat:8 / Grams of Protein:36
To find percentage of carbs you would use this equation: 23 (grams of carbs) x 4 (calories per gram of carbs)=92 (calories of carbs)
Then divide your carb calories by total calories to get your percentage of carbs:
92 (carb cals) ÷320 (total cals)=.287 which rounds off to 29% carbs
You can then do the same with your Proteins and fats and you would end up with roughly:
Carbs:29% Protein:45% Fats:23
Please note that it rarely adds up to exactly 100% but it gets you in the general ballpark which will go a long way towards helping you evaluate if you are hitting your basic macros.
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