Alyssa Yourish

             Tracking your food-

         really keep yourself on track

Clean Eating

I have a lot of people asking how many calories they should be eating a day will keeping up with a healthy lifestyle. Truth is: we are all different and every ones calorie intake is different. So, let's start by figuring out exactly just how many calories you should be consuming. There is no straight forward number that everyone has to be following. Do not compare yourself to anyone but you.Take your personal info into account. This is a good site to  calculate your calories here . It takes your BMR, Physical Activity & goals into account.

Once you get the number of calories you should be eating remember it. You have to eat this number every single day to lose weight. After you want to make it a priority to track your food every single day. Some people ask why they really need to do that and honestly it will keep you on track. If you don't track your daily food intake how are you going to know how many calories you have left, without going over?

I used to disagree with tracking your daily food. I always thought as long as I worked out and sort of watched what I ate I would be fine. But we know how this goes, you start to fall off track & slip up. I then started to hit a plateau where I wasn't losing weight, I was getting frustrated, upset, and I just couldn't understand why. Once I did I realized I either wasn't eating enough or eating too much. 

There are a couple ways you can track your food, you just have to find which one works best for you. 

1. Write it down in a notebook: grab your paper and pencil and write it all down old school. I started doing this at first but the hard part was you really need to make sure you wrote the calories right then and there or you'd forget. Another downside to this was it doesn't calculate your sugars, sodium (etc.) unless you write them down, so it is not as simple. 

2. My fitness pal (MFP): you can sign up online or download the app from your smart phone. You put in your information and then you search for your food. It really helps and already calculates everything. The only thing I do not like about this app is sometimes it doesn't find your food so you have to enter all the ingredients and things like that, so it takes a little longer than usual. 

3. Fooducate: this is the newest app I am using thanks to a friend. I was getting very frustrated with MFP that I needed something new because I had to keep track of my food. This is also very helpful because instead of writing in what you are having you can scan the bar code, it brings the food up and actually grades it from a scale from A-F. How cool is that?? It then tells you pros & cons of eating this. If there are any artificial sweeteners, highly processed food, etc. It then counts down your calories every time you add food/drink and takes into account your exercise you do for the day. Simple and quick! Highly recommend using this app to track your food!

You may be like me and totally disagree with tracking food but this is honestly the best way to do it. If you have eat a plateau or are feeling sluggish chances are you are not eating enough. You are waiting too long to eat. And this really helps you focus. Find what works for you and stick with it. This will really open your eyes up to how you are eating and if they are the right types of food. 

                                                    Fooducate