Stop Exacerbating Food Anxiety: Transitioning Away From Tracking

If you’re a serial tracker, or the thought of going out for a meal without lining up your macros in a row beforehand gives you anxiety, then this is for you.

I'm going to explain exactly how to transition away from food tracking after a diet phase.

This might seem like a surprising thing to focus on, as the answer seems simple. Just don't do it... right?

While this works for some people, going cold-turkey can be stressful and anxiety-inducing for others- which encourages that all-or-nothing mindset.

You might associate being successful in dieting with picking healthy foods AND being strict AND tracking every gram. So then on the other hand, when you don't track, then you think you also have to make bad choices, eat wildly inappropriate portions and have three desserts.

Let's ditch that all or nothing mindset. When you understand how to move away from nutrition tracking, then the awareness allows you to reduce the stress around the unknown and create a healthy relationship with eating (spolier alert- one that doesn't involve barcode scanning).

So many people don't make the effort to transition away from tracking and so it goes one of two ways.

1. They either stick their heads in the sand and hope it'll all work out (it usually doesn't)

2. OR they end up punching numbers into a little blue app on their phone screen, forever.

Serial trackers believe they need to be accountable to an app, to be allowed to eat. This is not true.

You don't need accountability, and you don't need to log each bite. Regardless of whether you've tracked something, you've eaten it and your body will use it.

Don't worry, I'll lay down a DIY process for you to transition away from tracking without the anxiety.

This isn't an exhaustive framework, and it might suit you better to move the steps around a little. You might prefer to begin with step 2.

Here's how, step by step:

Step 1: Don't log low-calorie foods

Stop entering vegetables, salads, toppings & dressings. While you're at it, stop tracking supplements, vitamins, zero calorie soft drinks and chewing gum. You shouldn't have been tracking these in the first place.

Do this for 2-7 days and move onto step 2.

Step 2: Stop weighing everything

You can continue to log (minus the foods I outlined in step one) to get a rough idea of what you're having, but just eyeball the portions instead of weighing them gram for gram on the scales. It doesn't matter if you've had 215g of greek yoghurt, or 200g. Trust me.

Do this for 2-7 days and move onto step 3.

Step 3: Only enter the protein portion of the meal

This is likely the most important thing for you to track if your goal is body composition management (I acknowledge for some it may be carbs, eg diabetics, but the focus of this post is for dieters)

Move onto only entering this part of each meal to have a rough idea of consumption. So at this stage instead of logging: 205g yoghurt, 84g berries, and 27g muesli after weighing everything precisely, you would instead be eyeballing your portions and just entering 200g yoghurt.

Do this for 2-7 days and move onto step 4.

Step 4: Do a full day of no tracking

Yes you heard me, you should be ready to rip the bandaid off by now.

After this, move to every second day and gradually reduce it further.

You should only enter meals if you're creating a recipe & want to check the macros for whatever reason, or if you're heading out for a meal and want to make sure you eat enough protein in the day.

Step 5: Delete the app or move it to a harder-to-reach part of your phone

Out of sight out of mind...

Reduce the temptation to log each bite by hiding the app away.

Your no-tracking life will be the norm soon but it helps to not have a reminder every time you unlock your phone.

I hope you found this helpful, especially if you're feeling addicted to MFP at the moment.

Please don't hesistate to reach out if you need any more help with managing your nutrition or transitioning from a calorie deficit to a calorie maintenance phase.

• 1:1 coaching where I'll tailor your meal plans and nutrition approach 100% for you and your goals. Ideal for the more complex client or the client who enjoys accountability and weekly check-ins.

• I also have two exciting new offerings which are currently up for grabs at an early bird price. This provides your entire strategy, plus a coaching video library, complete exercise program, coaching community and live group calls! These are up for grabs from December 9th so set an alarm