You’ve heard about them, the coaches have nagged you incessantly, and they feel like a chore… Yep, I’m talking about your Daily Food Logs! “Why should I bother with them?” you ask. “I can’t remember what I’ve eaten!” you say. “I promise I’ll start mine soon.” you tell us. So, I’m here to remind you WHY we encourage you to log your food consumption.
First of all, logging your food intake helps you to realize exactly what you’re putting in your mouth. It gives you a conscious knowledge of when and how often you’re eating, and the amounts and types of food that you consume. Many of us may think we’re aware of what we’re taking in, but more often than not, we fail to realize just how all those little bits add up during the day. This is especially true with liquids, as well.
When you log your food regularly, it gives you the opportunity to evaluate your food choices to see how well rounded your diet is nutritionally. You can more easily discern whether you’re getting enough fats, proteins and carbohydrates in your diet, as well as essential vitamins and minerals. These essential nutritional elements can be the secret to your varied athletic performance, energy dips and spurts, and stubborn weight gain and fat loss issues.
Most importantly, the coaches here at CrossFit Zone are ready, willing and able to help you with your nutrition plans! In looking over your Food Logs with you, we can offer educated and time-tested advice, and make suggestions to help you reach your fitness and weight loss goals. Without a running food record to evaluate, however, we can’t get a good feel for what youf typical diet consists of already. Help us help you, and start writing it all down!
If you’re one of those folks who finds it hard to stick to the task of keeping your Food Log, here are some helpful tips:
- Carry a sheet of paper with you throughout the day to document your meals and snacks soon after you eat. It can be surprisingly difficult to recall what you ate days or hours later.
- Describe combination foods. If you’re eating combination foods, such as pizza with various toppings, be sure to record these ingredients.
- If you can’t accurately measure them, estimate your servings sizes to the best of your ability. Use the nutritional information available on the label, if you can. If you are uncertain, estimate using familiar objects. For example, you can use, “palm of your hand” to estimate the size of a chicken breast, or “baseball” to estimate an ice cream serving.
- Record the approximate time each meal or snack is eaten.
- Make sure to record all beverages that you consume as well. This helps you track calories, as well as general liquid intake.
The coaches want to start seeing more Food Log posts. So everybody get logging!
Today’s Workout:
Buy In – 10 High stepping Soldier walks, 10 walking lunges, 10 lateral high kicks x 3
WOD –
30 Muscle Ups
or
120 Pullups & 120 Ring dips (partition as you want)
Cash Out – 3 Snatch Complex
* Hang power snatch
* Hang power snatch with OHS
* Hand Squat snatch
* Snatch
