Looking forward to the holiday weekend? Me too.
What does that mean for the great habits you’re developing through tracking macros?
Enter: flexible tracking
I recommend flexible tracking to my clients when they want or need to loosen up the reigns on tracking macros diligently. Keep reading for some different ways we can incorporate flexible tracking – like when:
>> stress in other areas is high
>> practicing letting go of perfection
>> going on vacation
>> eating out
>> traveling
>> bandwidth for tracking is low overall
and… you got holiday plans.
focus on calories and protein. let go of carbohydrate and fat macro targets.
When we’re talking about the things that matter most for weight and body composition change – calorie and protein intake are at the top of the list. Reduce the bandwidth required to plan, prep and track meals that account for PFC and instead simply focus on hitting your protein target and staying fairly close to your calorie goals.
track a couple of times per week. eat intuitively on others.
The point of learning how to track macros is not to become an amazing, lifetime tracker, but rather to help reshape your understanding of “how much” food is appropriate for you. If you’ve been paying attention, you likely have a much better understanding of “proper” portion sizes for you so that you can better identify when you’re under or overeating intuitively.
track restaurant meals, but not meals you prepare at home.
You probably eat a rotation of about 10-15 “regular” foods each week, and chances are, you know what your “right size” portion of these foods looks like. Restaurant meals are a different story – there are oversized portion sizes, added oils, and sauces. Consider spending your tracking energy on the foods that might be more macro-heavy, like a restaurant meal.
be flexible in the seasons that you track.
Getting a little loose with your habits and tracking macros recalibrates you in a good way – sweet! Tracking even for a few days or weeks can get your mind right about grocery shopping, meal prepping, or pre-logging for increased mindfulness.
Holiday weekends are not always conducive for diligent macro tracking but I know you won’t wake up this weekend and want to throw all caution to the wind and forget what you’re working towards either!
There is room to live in the gray area. It’s super fun here – come hang out!