Let’s talk about nutrition! One of the most controversial subjects in the worlds of health, fitness and wellness. Now, before we go one I want to clarify one thing. I am NOT a registered dietitian . I AM a certified sports nutrition specialist and a Precision Nutrition certified coach with 6+ years of coaching and experience under my belt.
Now that’s that out of the way, let’s dig in! We have losing weight and gaining weight. These two have very important rules set into place for them based on the Laws of Thermodynamics.
- Weight Loss- to lose weight one must burn more calories/energy then one consumes. It simple terms, you must be in a calorie deficit to lose weight.
- Gain Weight- to gain weight one must consume more energy/calories then one is burning/using. Simply put, a calorie surplus.
There are definitely more variables that can play a role in either of these two goals but for now let’s just stick to the basics.
How can I track?
Now the fun part everyone dreads, TRACKING! But let’s be honest with all the apps and tools out there now it’s not as challenging as you may think. I am going to give you some tools to jump start your nutrition game!
- Fitness trackers, something to measure the amount of movement and activity you do in a day. Steps, calories, workouts, sleep, recovery. Depending on which direction you take they can get really detailed. Here’s a list of some reliable ones.
- Whoop Strap 3.0(My personal favorite)
- Fitbit( Literally any of them, I prefer simple is better).
- AppleWatch( It does a lot more than just fitness tracking so it’s technology is spread thinner for that exact use, but it does the job and is improving all the time).
- Body-bug( nothing beats the classics and body bugs are still one of the best for heart rate measurements).
How do I use a fitness tracker to track my nutrition? You ask. Well, I’ll tell you how I use it personally. As stated above I use the Whoop Strap 3.0, I wear it all day long even when I sleep. Whoop monitors and tracks my heart rate, HRV, sleep data, and for this topic it tracks my active calories burned for the day. I use my weekly average of calories burned calculated by my Whoop to adjust my weekly calories I consume.
Example: On average I burn 3200 kcals a day= 22,400 kcals a week.
If I want to-
- Lose Weight- I will need to eat around 150-300 kcals less a day to notice significant weight loss.
- Maintain- I will need to eat on average the same amount of kcals I burn.
- Gain Weight- I will need to eat 100-200 kcals more to see weight gain.
So knowing how many calories my body uses is important to be able to adjust my intake in either direction depending on my goals.
If you are interested in learning more about the Whoop Strap 3.0 click the link below. Stay tuned for Part 2 coming out Tuesday, March 9th.
Get a free WHOOP strap and your first month free when you join with my link!