14 reasons to log your foods
Building a case for adopting this game-changing habit
Welcome to the 203rd consecutive edition of the newsletter.
In today’s post I am going to build a case for the power of logging your foods
Let’s jump right to it.
Logging my foods is one of the most powerful daily habits I have adopted on my journey to build a highly successful body.
I’m biased, but it is my belief that anyone who struggles with their weight and their eating should be logging their foods.
Here are 14 reasons why you should consider making this part of your essential daily habits.
1/ It’s accounting, but for the body.
Building a successful body follows the same principles as building a successful business.
Successful businesses, such as Apple, do not estimate their revenue and expenses. That would a recipe for bankruptcy.
They keep a detailed accounting of everything that’s coming in and going out and that informs how they behave.
The same holds true in the building of a successful body.
A food log is accounting for the body and that will influence how you behave.
2/ It provides valuable data.
Food logging reveals your daily calorie totals, you macro profile and your food choices among other thingd.
That info can then be used to audit key biomarkers for success like body weight, fasting glucose etc. to see if you are trending in the right direction.
3/ It acts as a historical document.
I presently have over 5 years of food logging data. I can go back to any day over that time and see exactly what I ate, how many calories I consumed, and what my macro profile looked like.
The best lessons I have uncovered on my journey occur when I analyze my past and use it to influence my present.
4/ It creates awareness.
Logging your foods provides insights that are normally hidden.
The biggest insight is finding out how many calories you consume in a day. What most people discover is they consume far more calories than they ever imagined.
The second is how many calories “harmless” foods have. It’s shocking when you discover your daily Starbucks drink has 400 empty calories and is loaded with artificial sweeteners that wreak havoc on your blood sugar levels.
5/ It removes guessing.
People are horrible estimators of their own behaviour.
Logging eliminates this bugaboo in your operating system by creating certainty.
6/ It eliminates overeating.
By tracking your calorie consumption and comparing it to your weight, it provides you with an opportunity to discover a calorie sweet spot that will allow you to achieve your ideal body weight.
7/ It teaches you moderation.
Once calorie counts are exposed, you can’t help but moderate excessive eating.
8/ It allows you to templatize your eating.
Most people just eat stuff. That’s super hard to log because their eating anything and everything. A food log allows you to simplify your eating by creating an eating template you repeat every day.
Here is what my present template looks like.
9/ It improves decision making.
Once you know the calorie cost of things, you will make better decisions over time.
The eating template also improves your decision making because you know what you are eating and what you aren’t and can quickly say no to anything that does not fit your eating philosophy.
10/ It reduces decision fatigue.
The average person is making hundreds of eating decisions a day.
Decision making burns a lot of mental energy so the fewer you make around your eating the more energy you have for more important tasks like training, parenting etc.
My template means I only make 12 decisions a day. That takes up about 2 minutes of my time.
11/ It builds discipline.
When you know what you eat and why, it’s easier to say no to temptations that don’t fit your template.
12/ It reveals clues.
Once you have enough data, you will start to see patterns in your eating.
Those patterns will reveal insights and discoveries that will lead to huge breakthroughs that will reduce your weight, improve your health and increase your energy.
13/ It lets you decide in advance.
Most people eat then try to log. I do the opposite. I plan my eating the night before.
By deciding in advance, I improve my discipline, remove unnecessary decision making and improve the chances of achieving and/or sustaining my success.
14/ It creates eating consistency.
A template allows you to eat the same way everyday.
That consistency is what allows you to see if your eating plan is working.
If it isn’t, you can make small tweaks and keep testing until you land on something that works.
So what’s in this for you?
Logging is an incredibly powerful habit. It’s so powerful, I created a law for it.
It’s the law of logging
When you log you learn, and when you learn you lose.
It’s the only time in your life where you would be proud to call yourself a loser.
That’s it for today. Thanks for reading my friend.
To being a big loser,
How I can help!
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