Tip 4 Reasons to Keep a Food Log Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness Diet & Fat LossEating Tip 4 Reasons to Keep a Food Log Can' t get lean and stay that way Track your food intake Here' s why by Nate Miyaki December 30, 2016January 31, 2022 Tags Diet Strategy, Feeding the Ideal Body, Nutrition & Supplements, Tips Track your calories and macronutrients (protein, carbs, and fats) the first few weeks of your fat loss phase. Here's why: 1 Education From a qualitative perspective, you'll identify the highest-level habits you can improve to get the ball of fat rolling in the right direction (off your body). From a quantitative perspective, it'll show you how the typical foods and meals you eat impact your average nutrition numbers. You can then adjust portion sizes in order to hit your target fat loss numbers. 2 Awareness It can show you the difference between "health" foods and "fat loss friendly" foods. Yeah, nuts are healthy, but if you're taking in 1000 extra calories a day by nibbling on them, it'll be difficult to consistently get into that calorie deficit necessary for fat loss. 3 Objectivity and Accountability If you aren't losing fat and are only hitting your target numbers 80% of the time, you need to bump that average up. Fat loss requires discipline and consistency. 4 Fine Tuning Sometimes subtle shifts are all that's necessary to start the fat loss process, or to keep it progressing. Some people will jump to extremes when it's not necessary. Maybe all you need is to cut your carbs down by 10% to spark some fat loss. By tracking, testing, and assessing, you can do that instead of cutting your calories in half and carbs to zero, then suffering all of the negative metabolic and hormonal consequences of those extremes. You Don t Have to Do It Forever The whole point is to teach you enough about nutrition so that you can eat more intuitively while still reaching your physique goals. You'll soon know the numbers of your typical meals and will be able to eyeball portion sizes. Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Eating Restriction Contradiction - Part 1 How to calculate your energy needs so you can lose fat without wrecking your metabolism or losing muscle. Diet Strategy, Feeding the Ideal Body, Nutrition & Supplements Lonnie Lowery, PhD July 4 Eating Overeating The Science of Sensory Specific Satiety Has science found the cause and maybe even the cure for overeating? Here's why there's always room for dessert and what to do about it. Feeding the Ideal Body, Losing Fat TC Luoma December 28 Diet & Fat Loss High Performance Nutrition Made Easy I'm going to spare you nutrition intricacies like the latest information on Glut-4 transporter translocation and just give you the Cliff's Notes–or Clay's Notes–on how to piece together meals and eating plans that'll help you achieve your physique and/or strength goals. Feeding the Ideal Body, Nutrition & Supplements Clay Hyght, DC March 26 Diet & Fat Loss Tip How to Fight Late-Night Cravings Having a TV-induced craving? Don't suffer needlessly, but don't blow your diet either. Here's what to eat. Diet Strategy, Feeding the Ideal Body, Nutrition & Supplements, Tips Shawn Wayland July 27