Why I Stopped Tracking Macros

I started tracking my macros and focusing a lot on the foods I was eating during my student teaching back in 2018. I wanted so badly to look and feel strong and I knew the way to that was getting my nutrition under way. 

When I started, I would rarely let myself go a day without tracking my food because I thought the plan would be ruined. So I’d plan one cheat day a week or an cheat meal that I could indulge in. 

Over the years I feel like I’ve done it all. I’ve been super strict, I’ve went fully the other way and went way off plan. I’ve tracked everything. I’ve tracked nothing. I’ve been good at having balance and horrible at it.

But that’s part of everyone’s fitness journey. Where you are in life is going to really impact your goals and your attention to those goals.

Over the last year I felt so burnt out tracking macros and I didn’t have much desire to weigh out my food. Despite getting married I didn’t seem to care and I was not putting my whole heart in it.

When my time was up with my coach, I knew I wanted to take a step back and let myself relax a bit with my goals. There is nothing I want to ‘look good’ for right now, I don’t have strong physique goals, I am in a place now at 26 where I want to enjoy my life and focus on fueling my body with foods that make me feel good without weighing it first.

I loved tracking my food at the beginning and it gave me so much knowledge around what was in food, what I needed to eat for my goals, serving sizes, etc. And now as I eat intuitively I can take all of those habits and use them to make sure I’m still eating enough for my body. 

I think everyone should track their food at some point in their life because I learned so much. Mostly that I can eat way more than I think I can and I need to for my own body type to keep my muscle mass on me. 

Now as I eat, I make sure I put a protein and veggie on every plate of food I have, I try to choose less processed foods whenever possible, and I trust when I’m hungry and when I’m full. I don’t deprive of anything I want and I have continued to maintain my body where it was while I was tracking! 

Looking forward, I don’t know if I will go back to fully tracking macros ever but I do know since I did it for so long if I ever get the urge to focus more on my physique I can start up again anytime!