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I resisted macro tracking for the longest time. I saw it as restrictive, and every time I did it, I just felt hungry, miserable, and I wasn't seeing the recon results I wanted. But the problem wasn't tracking, it was how I was actually doing it. Because done right with the right mindset, using it in the right way based on what you actually need, it isn't restriction, it's actually food freedom. And these 10 hacks are what finally made it click for me long-term. So go for a walk, listen as you meal prep or get comfy on the couch because by the end of this, macro tracking is going to be the thing that finally makes your recon click. So starting with macro hack number one, track your actual lifestyle first. Don't make any changes. So this is the mistake I see, well, I made personally, but I see so many people making, right?
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We have a goal, we find a program, and it gives us these ratios that are far away from what we're actually doing. And then we go about eating our normal day, not hitting the ratios, feeling like we can't make changes that will actually hit them. And even when we do try and change our diet, it's like we overhaul it still not to feel like we're hitting it. And so we just feel like a failure. It feels too intensive, it feels overwhelming, we don't know what to do. And the more stressed out we get with some of these things, the less prepared we are for these things, the more our focus narrows and narrows and narrows to only see a very small sliver of opportunity, if any opportunity, because our brain under stress goes back to what's familiar, what's comfortable, what we know. And so that's eating portions, looking at meals and the way we've always looked at them, which let's face it, if that was right for what our goals were, if those were the macros in line with what we actually needed, we would already see results.
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So we basically default back into what isn't working. And then we feel like the program isn't working when we're not actually working the program, but we can't because we're stressed. So I found the best way to separate tracking from any type of restriction and really seeing it as a way to learn to fuel my body for success no matter what my goals were. Because that's the thing, tracking can be used whether you're trying to figure out if foods create intolerances or you have an intolerance to one and that's what's creating your symptoms. It can be used to make sure that you're eating enough to prepare for that race. It is involved in every goal or can help you make sure that you're really working towards any goal you set. And a lot of times it actually even tells us, oddly enough, I found to eat more or to adjust the portions just a little bit without even necessarily eating a ton less.
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But track your actual lifestyle because when you track what you're currently eating, you are going to know the accurate changes to make because what gets measured gets managed. And if you don't know what you're doing, you don't know what to actually shift. And that's where we can get really frustrated feeling like we're working hard changing all these different things that never add up. And we're changing maybe even too many things and we're overwhelming ourselves. So first, just track your actual lifestyle. It'll be eye-opening what you might need to change. You might realize you're under eating, you might realize you're overeating. You might realize that, hey, I'm really not getting as much protein as I thought, but that will give you the ability to make 1% changes that meet you where you are that actually feel sustainable and it'll help you realize tracking isn't restrictive. It isn't even judging.
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You're the one judging what you've logged, but there's no judgment there. And so I think that's a great first place to start to really change our mindset around tracking and realize that we can use it in any way we want to fuel. Also, that leads into hack number two, which is constraints create creativity. And I like that way of putting it. It sounds very fancy to me, but basically what I found is that when I tracked my actual lifestyle and I began to think ahead and plan ahead, which a lot of times we don't like to do, we wait till the actual moment we need something right and we do it. And that's what I did for the longest time, but that's also what keeps us stuck because again, we default back into what's comfortable. I've always eaten these things on trips. Oh my gosh, the day just got away from you with work or travel or whatever else.
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And we fall back into eating the things that are familiar, comfortable, that even give us instant gratification. And then we feel like we just don't have any willpower. We just don't know what to do. It's just impossible. Instead of planning ahead for these things. And I love the Eisenhower quote of planning is indispensable, but plans are useless. And I might have switched that around. It might plans are useless, but planning is indispensable. But either way, it really holds true because the more we create those artificial constraints ahead of time, the more comfortable being uncomfortable we can be in a lot of different ways. So I like to think if the holidays are coming up, what is the reality there? So I create some constraints. Okay, I won't be able to have my food or I'm going to a party, so how can I work the rest of my day around this party?
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How can I make sure maybe when I'm prepping food that I've made the recipes, log them in to see what portions there are? If I know I'm going to a Thanksgiving dinner and I do want some sort of accountability, can I look up recipes for stuffing for turkey and then log those to just see what the portions would sort of look like? If I'm traveling, can I know what restaurants are in different airports or even go-to options at fast food restaurants that might be in every airport? No, getting McDonald's might not be your ideal quality, but if you can get a grilled chicken sandwich there and you know the macros on it, you can fit it in ahead of time you already have that plan B. So it doesn't feel like all of a sudden at that moment you're winging it and then you just default back into what's comfortable.
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So create those constraints and have fun being creative with it. See it as a problem to be solved, a puzzle, because the more you do that and the more you see opportunity in the options like even traveling and being like, oh, well, let's look at DoorDash and see what's on there. Oh, at grocery stores, what are some quick snacks? Next time you go grocery shopping, what are some quick snacks I know I could grab? Okay, I could grab some jerky. I could grab some roasted edamame. I know I could do cocktail shrimp that are there. Usually a lot of them will have hard boiled eggs already cooked. Oh, look at all these pre-made things like the salads. I could probably get an estimate of these, but create those constraints to get creative because that will help you plan for the unplannable. And the more you plan for the unplannable, the more flexible you'll feel in tracking and the more freedom you'll have with it to know that you can still hit your macros because you're not just winging in the moment.
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You have that plan in place even if it's not the exact plan you ultimately use, but you're more comfortable being uncomfortable in that way and having to grab something last minute or adjust if something is thrown your way. Think about even the things that do come up, right? All of a sudden a friend asks you to go to lunch. How are you going to handle that? Well, what are restaurants you can maybe recommend? Or if you have macros way off, what things can you have frozen even that'll be easy to throw in so that you can make things up? No, maybe it's not your perfect day of food. Maybe you have an extra protein shake that you don't usually like to have, but how can you really work around it? So create those constraints to get creative and have a little fun with it so you're planning ahead and feel more comfortable in the moment.
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It makes it a whole heck of a lot easier to get comfortable tracking long term. Hack number three, and this is actually one that I shared very early on when I got into macro tracking and really found the freedom in it and also achieved amazing recon for it because I wasn't guessing throwing spaghetti at the wall, hoping something stuck, but it was actually able to measure and manage and tweak and adjust just like if you want a recipe to turn out and you're baking cookies and you're a bad bake like me, you measure everything because you want to make sure the cookies turn out, you follow the instructions. Macro tracking gives you the same rules, but that's a complete tangent, but one of the first tips that I really shared was that I actually planned in my dessert first. And this holds true for anything you love.
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Plan in what you love first. So if you've logged your average week right now and you've tracked the last seven days, there are going to be things that you probably would go to cutting out first because you know they're not healthy. For me, it was the dessert. I knew the candy, the ice cream, the whatever I was having for dessert was probably the lowest hanging fruit in terms of not only food quality, but cutting out carbs and fat and focusing more on protein. So I would always go to cutting that out first. But the second I told myself I couldn't have it, I wanted it even more. And not only did I want it even more, but by white knuckling my way through when I finally did cave, I didn't just have half a pint or even one pint. I was going for everything I could find because that restriction leads to cravings even more and a lot of times it's because we've then undereaten even in the process, but the more you can't have something, the more you want it.
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At least I found that true to me. And also the more we don't see the balance with our actual lifestyle, which is why we feel like we go on and then we fall off our diet versus evolving actually what's going on. And don't get me wrong, you won't be able to include everything you like at every point in your journey and you might make a choice to cut it out, but by that time it's your choice. And when you first plan in the things you love and you work everything else around it, you find a balance. You figure out what is worth it and that's where you really feel like you have that freedom, that choice because you may like, okay, I want ice cream today, so maybe I'm going to have chicken and just a vegetable at this meal to allow myself the carbs and fat to really work this in and see that balance.
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Or you migh say, Hey, I like these other meals that are more balanced. Instead of having my ice cream, I find more macro-friendly versions of dessert right now and save that for a day where maybe I'm a little bit looser on tracking. I don't care about driving towards my fat loss goal quite as much or I'm even in that diet break, whatever else it is and I have more calories. So you can make that choice because you don't feel like you have to do something or you should do something. And I think too, that's where we also allow ourselves to not start demonizing foods because we do live with foods as good and bad with that clean eating pressure. And that's what ultimately sabotages us from creating our own lifestyle balance. And we get really perfect, perfect with things, cutting out everything we love, eating really clean for a little bit, and then completely falling off.
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And over the course of the year, if you were to step back, that balance is not good, even though it feels like we're being really perfect at times. So I would tell you, track what you're doing and then first even get creative with those constraints, maybe figure out what other desserts could I have that might be balanced or whatever yours is a salty snack. Maybe it's air frying some pita chips instead of having your chips at snack, or maybe it's even roasting chickpeas instead, whatever it is for your balance. Maybe you work in sometimes the exact snack you like, sometimes you have that macro friendly option, but first try and even plan in things that seem non-negotiable to you and work everything backwards around it. And it might take some evolution and some practice to get a little bit closer and a little bit closer, but those improvements are going to add up.
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But plan in something you love first over cutting that thing out first, which is what we often do. And no wonder we think it's restrictive and miserable because we're literally eliminating the thing we enjoy the most often or the thing we feel most guilty about and we're creating that guilt, which is only going to make us fall off faster, especially if we do enjoy it instead of saying, "Hey, I can have this." That freedom is everything. Now hack number four is simplify and repeat meals. So this is the unsexy thing that I think a lot of us resist and we get bored, right? That's the thing we tell ourselves, "I'm bored with eating the same meals." So A, you don't have to eat the same meals. You can prep a lot of different things and freeze them. You can buy in bulk, you can buy some meal prep, you can have meals out that are staples, but I can tell you to start.
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The more you simplify and have those meals on repeat, even if it's bulk prepping just a single ingredient that then you can use in a lot of different ways because you have X amount of things on your grocery list, but the simpler you keep that grocery list of 10 items that you can reuse in different ways, the better off you're going to be. A, they've actually shown in studies that when people repeat the same meals, they see better fat loss results, partly because you don't have cravings for things. You also get consistent, which can help you stay dialed in because you're not necessarily having shifts in the meals and the carbon fat breakdowns so that you have changes in your energy, but that consistency can lead to better results. It also makes things really simple to start. And you don't have to repeat those meals for more than a week, you could do them for a week, maybe you meal prep for three days.
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The simpler you keep it, the less you add to the habit overload, the less you add to the mental load of everything, and the more you can really see what is and isn't working and how foods are even making you feel. So I will tell you, simplify to start and the more comfortable you get with all those different things, the more you can add in, the more you can diversify. But those meals also help you plan ahead. So even on the busiest of busy days, you know you're coming home to something versus when at the end of the day and we've been logging as we go, all of a sudden we're having to spend all this mental energy when we're really tired to figure out what fits. But if you already have the puzzle pieces laid out, maybe even have a couple options, that works really well, which actually brings me into one of my other hacks, which I'll go over a little bit more later.
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But hack number five, before I get there, is tracking will also evolve. And I slightly touched on this before of the diet break, more of the minimums, but we so often go into making habit changes or a lifestyle change and we think, this is a lifestyle, right? Everything I'm doing now is a lifestyle. And subconsciously, sometimes this isn't the thought, but when we do another plan, it's like, this is going to be it. But what you do to reach a goal is not what you do to maintain it. Your stress levels, your seasons are not all going to look the same. And so the more you believe that things and habits have to be done in exactly one form, the more you're going to hold yourself back. And this is maybe a silly example, but if you really think about it from, or at least for me, I know from the winter to the summer to even back into the fall, my habits do shift.
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And one of the ones I noticed the most with the changing season this year is the fact that I was doing all summer a long walk at 6:00 AM to go grab coffee because it was not only warm, but it was light with the puppies and I could go. But now with it getting darker and the time not yet having changed, all of a sudden I'm like, I can't do this same walk. It's too dark. And so my habits have to shift in terms of my step count if I want to even keep that up so I have to walk later in the day. But I already noticed a change in activity level because of that. So trying to force the same walk if I don't enjoy it, yes, maybe I do enjoy, maybe you enjoy walking in the dark and maybe you're like, no, I am going to do this because this is the only time.
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And that's fine, but also owning that I don't have to do that instead of trying to force it and then ultimately not getting my steps in, being like, oh, let's do an afternoon walk. Tt'll be really fun. So own that there has to be evolution even in your tracking. There are going to be times where you have to do maybe minimalist macros instead of hitting full ratios where you're only hitting protein and calories. Maybe there are going to be times, especially when you're traveling, where you're using more visual portion guides because you learned what the four to six ounces of meat that you really need looks like. But how you track is going to evolve. It might even be taking pictures just to hold yourself accountable without actually even writing anything down or it might not be actually even tracking anything because you have meals that you're just going to repeat for the week.
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So you've logged sort of how those break down, you're just going to eat those. You don't have to actually log anything. So just note that how you track will evolve, not only because you're going to use it for different goals, but because you're going to have different stress levels, you're going to have different motivation honestly to do different habits. But the more we get tied to habits as having to be in one form and seeing them only in that form, the more we hold ourselves back. But if we can see that tracking can be a lot of different things to meet us where we are based on our lifestyle and how we need that habit to be used so that we can still measure and manage everything, the better off we're going to be. Because again, you are going to go on diet breaks, you are going to have to reverse out of it to learn how to maintain.
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And maintenance is a process in and of itself. And so often we even track to lose the fat and then we completely just fall back in old habits, like one small deviation at time. But because we're not tracking, since we think we have more freedom because, oh, I don't need to be in this deficit as much, but we never actually learned to see what maintenance calories are, maintenance backgrounds really are, keep that little check in. So just know that tracking should evolve. Number six, and this was actually a really big one for me and I think it comes up a lot because if you think about the last time you tried to make changes and you meal prepped and you did all these different things, you felt like you couldn't go out to eat. You felt like when you did go out to eat, you were that person on the diet.
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And that honestly is a hard mental shift. And A, I'm going to tell you when you're working towards a goal, there will be times you have to be like, no, I don't want that. And you'll get looks, but you're also making a choice at that point. It feels really good to make this choice for you instead of just feeling the pressure to default back into what's comfortable, what you've always done, what someone else wants you to do, not what is aligned with your goals. I love having cocktails and there are still times I will say when I'm out because of what I'm working towards, no thank you. And this is something I enjoy and something I do plan in with balance, but I won't have those at those times because it doesn't really work. But I don't feel like I have to be a hermit.
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I don't feel like I have to avoid social situations because I've learned how to balance those things in. A, I actually plan in specific meals out for myself. And yes, they are generally healthier plates. I'll go to Flame Brother where I can get more of a stir fry. I'll go to a bear flag where I can get a fish plate. So I have those meals out that I plan in way ahead of time because that allows me to feel like I still get a lifestyle balance. I can do different things. I have quick grab and go options because I want to have that freedom. I want to feel like I have to eat at home. It makes you feel even worse about the changes you're making a lot of times, especially to start, especially if you have been eating out a lot. So working those meals out that you've enjoyed, find ways to create that food freedom.
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And sometimes that's even meaning not only logging ahead of time, picking the restaurant, whatever else it is, but it is adjusting your day. It's not that you're saving calories necessarily for later, but sometimes you do adjust your day to hit macro protein that will be harder to then be able to use later. And this is where you can also, again, adjust the type of tracking you're doing to use more visual guides, but planning those meals out. Don't feel like everything has to be perfect. And I'll often have clients say like, "Oh, well, I don't know exactly what's in it." Look up a recipe that's close. A lot of restaurants even have nutritional information, but the more you just know, "Hey, I went to this restaurant. I had a meal that was similar to this," and you even are consistent in what you're doing, you're going to see the impact of those things to be able to adjust and adapt and tweak other things.
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Now, hack number seven is something I slightly touched on a little bit before as I was talking about simplifying meal prep, but it's meal prep puzzle pieces. And this is the way I like to think of it is that I have actually a lot of different puzzle pieces for the same puzzle, which the puzzles don't really work that way, but I like to know that I can interchange different parts of it and it's still going to make a complete picture. So sometimes that means bulk prepping single items. I'll cook just chicken, whether I grill it up or bake it or whatever else, a slow cooker, but I'll have that chicken and I'll know I can use it in a burrito bowl, in tacos, in a salad, in a stir fry. And that way I can even overlap some of those other ingredients so my grocery list doesn't get to be a bazillion different things.
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I'm also not that fancy. I cook often, but I know that I can use that in a lot of different ways and I know how those meals break down because I've even logged those ahead of time. So I have those pieces. So even if I go out and maybe I had planned a meal with a lot more carbs for dinner, like that burrito bowl, but I go out to lunch all of a sudden and I'm like, "Oh gosh, my carbs are kind of low," I know I can do that lower carb salad, or maybe I can even swap in cauliflower rice over the actual rice I have. Whatever else it is, I have those meal prep puzzles sort of in place. And the more you do that, the more you even have single ingredients prepped or even things frozen, meals frozen, that can be a puzzle piece you can just put in.
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That's why I like MegaFit meals for my frozen meal prep. Also, I don't have to cook. Sometimes even microwaving something for like five minutes feels too long. I don't know about you, but I like having those puzzles because that makes it interchangeable. And the more you do those, even using that constraints to get creative, you can make sure that you really have options based on what you're doing. And I can tell you, as you even get more experienced macro tracking and you start to cycle ratios, sometimes it's hard to even just shift ratios. I have to reassess my portion sizes even if I'm going to a lower protein ratio, which you'd think would be easier because there's more carbs than fats. But having those different pieces, having all that already logged in my tracker, having all those meal options, it makes it very easy to plug and play and just go and even adapt based on things coming up in life, which gives you a little bit more freedom to have a little flexibility.
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Now, hack number eight, budget wisely. I know this is not financially spending money on your meal prep, although I do like buying frozen and in bulk because it makes it very easy to prep, but budget wisely is going back to the don't be a hermit where if you are going out to eat, if you do have things that are coming up like parties or holiday events or whatever else it is, you can budget wisely ahead of time. So I'm not saying starve yourself all day. This often backfires. If you get too hungry, you're going to overeat, you're going to have all the cravings for everything. But if you know you are going to need more carbs and fat for a meal, have a little bit more protein-centric meals earlier. Go a little bit lower in calories to have the budget, so to speak, to have that meal.
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Just plan ahead so that you feel good actually doing what you want to do and you're not creating guilt around it because I think that's often what we do. We don't account for what we want at that meal. We're going to our favorite Mexican food restaurant and instead of saying, "I'm going to want the chips and guacamole," we say, "No, I'm on this plan. I'm going to do these things." And that's what backfires. So instead say, "Hey, I want the chips and guacamole, what could I sort of work in there? How could I maybe have a protein shake? Maybe I do just even eat chicken and broccoli for an earlier meal as much as I make." That meal's not that bad. I don't really like eating that much, but maybe you do that for the joy of having exactly what you want later. And maybe you don't even have the chips and guacamole because you had that freedom later, but you planned it in because you know that's something you might want.
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So I'll just say budget wisely when it comes to some of those events and really consider what ultimately you're going to do. Because in the back of your head, if you're saying, I'm going to not have those things, but there's this little voice and you know when it's there. Be honest about it. If you're actually making the choice like, Hey, I know usually I would like these things, but this time I really want to try this other thing. A lot of times even just saying, I want to try this other thing, you're like, okay, I'm making the choice. So then you budget differently earlier in the day. But know that macros are kind of like setting a budget for yourself and you can spend them wherever you want. That's where the freedom comes in. There are no foods that should be off limits in terms of knowing our balance, striking your balance, because when we do make things off limits, that's where we hold ourselves back.
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We're making a choice sometimes to include or not include based on what we feel is worth it. But again, that's us deciding to work within our budget. Now, number nine is don't overcorrect. And this is a big one because here we're talking about measuring and managing things and we're talking about data and numbers and all this other stuff. So you think, well, if I overeat one day, I should undereat the next day and that will balance out over the course of the week. And I get that logic. And there is something to creating that balance, even if you do have a vacation where you come back and you're not as hungry and you steer into it a little bit potentially, or you go a little bit more intensive with the macro ratios because you have set a mini cut. But all of that is slightly done strategically, proactively, not reactively.
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And that's part of the key of this, is that so often we do the overcorrection out of guilt. I ate too much this day. I'm going to undereat this day. And what ends up happening is we undereat so much out of trying to overcorrect that we also make ourselves have cravings later in the week, get so hungry, get so low energy that our training isn't as good. And honestly, more than anything, with so much of what we do in terms of our habits, it's about the mindsets they create and the momentum they create. So I can tell you often when we overcorrect, it's out of guilt. And that guilt is going to make you spiral. Sometimes feel like you can't have those days, you just feel guilty and then you end up having cravings and falling off. So instead, if one day doesn't go as planned, your macro ratios aren't on point, you do overeat your calories, just get back to it.
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Don't do more. Just get back to it. Hey, I'm just moving forward. Maybe even work in something to have a little flexibility so that the cravings don't pop up if you have some craving that was even awoken by that day. But just move back into the habits that matter and that will fit you long term because that does not create that guilt that will help you see that momentum and it doesn't create hunger or lower energy. It just gets you right back on track. And often that's what really creates that consistency, that sustainability versus trying to overcorrect to fix something. Because if you even hear yourself say that, I'm fixing this, you don't feel good about it. It's more likely again to happen and you're going to feel worse even about the habits you have to do because you feel like you have to do them now.
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We don't like to do what we have to do. We like to do what we get to do. So the more you create the have to should in your head, the less you're going to want to do some of those habits that you actually need. Now, number 10 goes back to even planning in the foods you love, even my saying, don't overcorrect. It slightly ties in because I do think there is a balance of knowing those slippery slope foods. So number 10 is own that you do or you might have slippery sloped foods. And what I mean by that is that you have foods that you can't really have just one of. And often this is tied to us judging them as bad, feeling guilty generally for eating them because we haven't just had one. And over time we can really honestly sometimes let go of some of that.
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I can't just have one towards things. I mean, I still have it where there's days where I just want everything, but I can tell you I've gotten better about being able to have that serving of ice cream versus seeing the whole pint as it. Can't always do it and I know when I can't always do it, but I have gotten better about that because I knew what was a slippery slope food for me at the time. And so instead of saying I just can't have ice cream, I said, I'm choosing not to work this in. Yes, it is a food I love, but I'm going to use this macro friendly version instead, which is going to be satisfying enough. It's why I love the ninja creamy, but this will satisfy the cravings so that I can have ice cream when maybe it is a slippery slope food and I know I can have more than one serving and that's going to be okay and I won't have guilt around it, but today I'm going to hit my macros.
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Because that freedom, that power of choice, that really owning what right now might set us down a certain path can help us free up ourselves from the power of even that food. But it allows us to know that there is a balance we have to strike. There are going to be foods that you might feel like you can't have just one of right now. And so you do not necessarily include them, but you're not avoiding them. You're just saying, hey, not right now. Hey, instead I'm going to have this version. And that's where you can get creative by creating those constraints and say, what are other options that would be just as satisfying? I'm not telling myself I can't have this, but in theory, I know it won't be as satisfying just to have the one portion. I don't want just one Oreo cookie, which is what I can work in.
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So instead of that, what could I do to create a better balance? And oddly enough, sometimes it's adding that Oreo cookie to that protein Greek yogurt cookie dough mix that you're making, right? Sometimes it's even adding that to something else. Sometimes it's just saying, okay, I'm not going to have this Oreo, but you might even find a different snack that's a different cookie by going to Trader Joe's that might work. But the point is that you can recognize those foods that do send you down a bad path right now and say, okay, not right now. I'll test them out later, but I'm going to have these other variations and I know I'm choosing this, but I'm still choosing to work in something that helps me strike that balance, but own those slippery slope foods. So these are 10 macro hawks that help me embrace tracking, really use it to fuel not only losing fat, but gaining muscle, feeling my most energized, but recognizing that tracking doesn't have to feel restrictive, that it can actually be food freedom.
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It can help me eat more and stay on track with things and find that balance to feel my most phenomenal. But it shifted everything for me with macro tracking. And I'd love to hear which one might have been the most or the biggest aha moment for you right now and which you've really used to help yourself embrace tracking to reach your goals.
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