2018

5 Big Reasons Why You Need to Track Your Nutrition Intake

5 Big Reasons Why You Need to Track Your Nutrition Intake
“Start tracking your nutrition intake”.

This is the number one advice I tell everyone who wants to start losing weight, get lean, build more muscles, or just become more healthy. If you were to tell me that 5 years ago, I would have said: “no thanks, that’s too extreme”.

Before I show you the top 5 reasons to track your nutrition intake, let me tell you a quick personal story about how I stumbled upon this great tool.



In 2013, I first started going to the gym as a very skinny guy, who was underweight.

I had very low self-esteem and was extremely intimidated to even step foot in the gym and lift weights. I eventually mustered the courage and started going to the gym.

I did not track my nutrition intake. I freestyled and just ate what was deemed “healthy” like chicken breast, brown rice, egg whites, fruits and green veggies, making sure I was eating around 4-6 meals a day. I thought this was enough, and that I would become the next famous Instagram model that everyone looked up to. (Spoiler alert, that has not happened)

Fast forward to 2015, two years after lifting weights, I gained about only 5-10 lbs. Have you ever looked in the mirror and realized that you looked and felt exactly the same as the year before? That was me, still skinny, with very low confidence.

I then researched extensively and stumbled upon the tool of tracking my food intake, particularly the calories I was intaking.

At first, I was skeptical. I thought to myself, ” It is too much work to get a food scale and track what I eat every day”, “isn’t this too extreme?”, “is this really going to work?”

I then had my epiphany. I realized that when I did not track my food intake in my first two years of lifting, I was just not eating enough to gain weight!



For 3 years now, I have been tracking the food that I intake, customizing it towards the goals that I have. Today, after I made the best decision to track my nutrition intake, I have gained over 30lbs of muscles, no longer skinny, and a lot more comfortable in my own skin.

I can now look in the mirror and see the transformation I was searching for in my body, and in myself. So let me tell you why you should start tracking your nutrition intake as well.

5 Essential 'WHYs' You Need to Start Tracking Your Daily Nutrition Intake


1. Weight Management




Tracking your food intake is the number one tool for making sure that you are in the right direction towards your goal weight. Whether you want to lose or gain weight, that all comes down to how much calories you consume.

Our body has this thing called total daily expenditures (TDEE). This is the number of calories that our body burns on a given day, also known as your “maintenance calories”. Each person’s TDEE will depend on height, current body weight, sex, and age.

So, let’s say you want to lose weight. If you eat around 500 fewer calories than you burn each day (your TDEE) for a given week, called “being in a caloric deficit”, you are more than likely going to lose weight. You see where I am going with this.

By tracking your food intake, it is almost impossible not to hit the goal weight you set for yourself because you have all the data you need. Tracking will help you manage your weight because you will know exactly how much you are eating and whether you need to tweak anything.

ProTip: Note sure what or how to eat, check out the RBT Shred 6-week lifestyle program for complete meal plans, workouts, and active community.

2. It adheres to your lifestyle




Being able and willing to start tracking your food intake will be a game changer. When I did it, the food I was eating actually fit into my lifestyle. I personally like to eat a lot of carbs and moderate protein and fat.

This will be different for you. That is the awesome thing about tracking your food intake. It is like a budget. Once you set up some parameters for yourself and making sure that what you are eating is optimal for your health, then all you have to just fit the food into your budget.

That is how it will adhere to your lifestyle because it gives you a lot more flexibility in your nutrition. You no longer have to rely on extreme diets that don’t last forever! You will actually be able to enjoy what you eat!

3. It allows you to eat a variety of food sources




Wouldn’t it be nice to not have to eat the exact same thing every single day?

Let me tell you, I did that for basically 2 years, had nothing to show for it, and ended up hating what I ate.

By tracking the food that you intake, it gives you that flexibility to eat different types of foods in moderation. Remember that when it comes to body composition, the most important thing is the amount of food you are intaking versus how much you burn.

Once I started tracking my food intake, I actually ate a lot of different foods now that comes with different nutrients, vitamins, and minerals optimal for health. I still experiment with different foods I never tried before today. It’s so boring to eat the same thing every day, right?

How nice would it be to be able to eat ice cream from time to time, go out for dinner or try out some new foods and not feel so bad about it? And yes, still attain an awesome body in the process.

4. It gives you straight ownership




If you can consistently track the food that you are intaking, not only is that going to help you reach your goals and transform your body, you will also feel so much more invested.

I have invested in meal plans before, and trust me, they do work, but they are not flexible But being able to do it yourself, tracking your nutrition intake, it gives you ownership and control that you will feel even more proud of.

You will have a better sense of control of your diet because you are in the driver’s seat. By feeling this ownership, you are also less likely to fall off your diet, because the control is in your hands. It will help you build the accountability you want for yourself.

5. It keeps you mentally fresh




I cannot stress enough how much tracking your food intake will help you with your mental health. Knowing how much you need to eat to lose weight or build more muscles takes out all the stress.

Once you start tracking, you completely eliminate all the guesswork. If you struggle to lose weight, then you know that you might have to decrease your caloric intake. Your mental health is just as important, if not more, to help you attain the body that you want.

So how should I track my food intake?

My recommendation is to get a food scale, download an app like myfitnesspal and start tracking what you do eat. Once you become more comfortable and use to it, than you can find out your TDEE , and depending on whether you want to lose, gain, or maintain weight, go ahead and start customizing it.

Let’s look at me for an example. I am in the process of gaining more weight because I want to build more muscles. I know that I need to eat at least 2600 calories at the moment to gain weight consistently each week. So I make sure I get as close as possible to this caloric intake by measuring my food intake using myfitnesspal. And once I no longer gain weight and start to stall, I just increase my calories by 100. See how simple it is?

Use it, don’t abuse it.


It may seem that tracking your food intake is too extreme and might become an obsession. I completely understand how daunting it is to do something new.

It is important to note that the quality of your calories does matter, so make sure that not all the food you eat come from junk food or processed. If you are eating what fits into your lifestyle while making sure you are getting adequate servings of fruits and vegetables daily, you’ll not only eat to build the body you want, you will be healthy along the process!

So long as you are hitting as close as possible to the caloric intake you need to lose, maintain, or gain weight, everything else will fall in line.


In closing...


The last thing you want to do is become fixated and eat a bunch of food that makes you feel bad. Remember, it is not about being perfect, it is about building sustainable and healthy habits that fit into your lifestyle.

Tracking my food has become my BFF and has changed my body and life. I am happier and healthier than ever.

I know it can be a great tool for you too!




Author Bio:

What’s up! My name is Kao. I started lifting weights in 2013 to cope with depression. I have learned so much along the way about myself and want to share and help people like you experience the same life transformation that I did. I’ve started a passion project called “Lift Stories” to do just that. When I am not helping people through fitness, I love to dance in my free time and hang out with my little brother.

Connect with me on IG: follow @liftstories or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/sean.saechao.75 and if you want, email me directly at  kao@liftstories.com
Share by: