Hello my friends. Welcome back to the podcast this week. I’m so happy you’re here and you could find time in your schedule to hang out with me today.My mission in all these episodes is to help you make healthy eating easier right now. Because you don’t have time to have this require more from you. It’s time that we allow this area […0.9s] of your life to be as accessible to you as possible. So today I’m hoping that will shine new light on the concept of tracking your meals and specifically why you do not need to track food in order to eat […0.4s] healthy.I think a lot of us will have a different relationship to tracking, you know, when it comes to calorie counting or […1.0s] being aware of […0.6s] our macros and things like that.And first off, I just want you to know that I am not anti tracking. I think that’s so important to say because I personally think that these tools are […0.4s] neutral in themselves. There is nothing morally right or wrong with them. What will affect us negatively is how we’re using them and for what reasons.And so here I want you to just be able to have the freedom to know you don’t need those things to create the results you want. If you don’t want to be using them. So I know a lot of women and people in my life who love tracking and it really works for them.They have such a healthy relationship to it. But chances are if you’ve done that and it has, and it hasn’t lasted, and you’re still looking to solve for healthy eating weight loss, it’s not gonna be for you. And that is okay. Even right now, I just want you to take a sigh of relief if that’s available to you to know […0.6s] you don’t need those things. You don’t have to track perfectly or […0.5s] approach healthy eating in that way. You can develop the skills more of naturally healthy eating to solve this problem and have the results you want.I am a very type a person and I know a lot of you are too. And sometimes we’ll think, because of those skills, we should be tracking or […1.6s] measuring things in a specific […0.5s] way, and then we’ll get into it with something like healthy eating, and it just doesn’t feel natural.It doesn’t feel accessible, and it kind of sucks all of the fun out of it. So that is what I want you to be aware of. Even […0.4s] if you are quite type a, and you know how to organize things, that does not mean that that has a place when it comes to your eating habits.In fact, I like to offer, because I teach naturally healthy eating that those tools were never meant […0.6s] to be natural, right?Cause they’re not, like, our body has everything. It needs to tell us how to eat, how to put our body in the conditions we need for it to be healthy and lose weight. We do not need to track everything we eat in order to have the results we want.It can be helpful, but first we want us to get to a state where we can create what we want without that. So we’re not depending on it. […3.7s]Because listen, if you guys are forcing yourself to track, and you do not want to be doing that, you’re gonna keep having to push yourself, and then you’re gonna burn out, because you cannot force yourself to do things you don’t wanna be doing with healthy eating long term.It’s not gonna work, because here’s the thing about solving for this area permanently.How you create the result is how you’re gonna keep it. So if you create healthy eating and weight loss results […0.7s] with tracking and more structure and micromanaging, you’re gonna have to keep doing that to maintain the progress in some way. Because those are the skills that you have Learned.So what I teach is the skills of quote unquote naturally healthy eating. And these are things like regulating your stress and managing your mind in a really simple way. So it lowers cravings, honoring your body cues, knowing your food preferences, things that are a bit more lifestyle based. And doing so allows you to have an useful relationship with healthy eating, where you can have control without pushing constantly, right and problem solving.Now for those of you listening, if that sounds more like your jam, allow it to be tracking and planning is one way to eat healthy, but it is not the only way.So without further ado, let’s get into why that is today, and how that can look. If you do not wanna track food, […4.5s] like I said, the solution isn’t to double down on tracking. Enforce it, but it’s also not to demonize it.I just personally don’t think there’s any value and going to the other end of the spectrum. We’re now were rebels of the diet industry, right, because I have been here. I very much was a rebel of the diet industry, and that actually […0.4s] ironically created […0.4s] other unhealthy […1.1s] things with food that I then also had to heal.So […0.6s] I just wanna offer your journey as your own, but I am not inviting you to have animosity towards tracking or things like that at all. Those things can be okay. I just want you to be clear on why you’re choosing to pick those things up if that is your choice. […3.7s] Because calorie counting and tracking, it’s not good or bad.It’s just a tool. It’s math, right? There is nothing inherently wrong with it. […1.5s] But most of us, the problem is we’ve attached emotional weight to it, especially if you identify as more type a or ambitious because […0.5s] you will no longer be using calorie counting for a goal and for the math, you will now be using it as a performance metric.And when we use things as a performance metric is to, it’s to prove something to ourselves about ourselves, right? It actually has nothing to do with the goal at all. So let’s say there’s a day where we do not meet our caloric goal or a macro goal.I want you to pay attention to how that makes you feel. If it doesn’t feel pleasant, why is that? What are you believing about yourself? What are you making it mean?For most of us, including myself, in the past, it would have been, I’m not doing it right, […0.5s] I’m not doing what I’m supposed to do. This isn’t gonna be enough to hit the goal, I’m never going to reach my goal. These are all judgments […0.6s] of […0.7s] yourself that you’re making based on math you’re observing.So none of those things can be true. And I promise you guys, I know in that moment, it’s gonna feel like facts that you’re never gonna reach your goal if you do not meet a calorie goal, or that you […1.1s] can’t be trusted with food or you’re not doing it right.But I want you to know if something feels emotionally crappy, it’s because you’re having a judgment of yourself.It has nothing to do with the tracking or the math. […3.6s] And so much of the time what happens is we’re doing things like tracking or planning or things like that to add another performance metric that we need to succeed at in order to prove that we’re worthy, to prove that we can create the result and to kind of counteract the judgments that we’re already gonna have. […4.5s]So a good way, a good kind of barometer to see how this might work for you is, are you counting calories?Because […2.1s] is, are you counting calories because you’re scared not to and you think that […0.4s] you can’t get the result without it, […1.5s] or is it because you’re genuinely curious and totally detached from the outcome whether you follow through with the calories or not? Chances are if you’re human, it’s gonna be the former. Okay?If you are human, that doesn’t mean anything’s wrong with you. If you feel an attachment to the tracking and doing that correctly, but I want you to know that if that is your reason for tracking, and there’s a dependence you have on it, then it is only gonna exhaust you, and it’s not gonna be a sustainable way to solve this problem. […2.3s]That difference with tracking between obligation and choice is everything. It’s gonna determine whether you are successful long term with it or not.And here’s the thing. You might be listening to this right now, and be like, okay, so I just need to have a neutral relationship with tracking calories. But I don’t want you to kid yourself, because all of you listening myself, we are emotional human beings.And you cannot […0.6s] positivity yourself or positive affirmation yourself away from what you genuinely feel. If you are genuinely having an attached performance based mindset with tracking, we can put it on a shelf, and that is totally okay.The most type a successful ambitious women who I coach, […0.7s] like, […1.2s] end up putting tracking on the shelf for a little bit.So they can learn how to create results without it, which means if they go back to tracking in the future, they can then have a neutral depend […0.7s] independent relationship with it where they don’t need to do it to create results, which means they can just do it if they wanna do it.That is what I want for you […1.1s] because it’s okay to love the Type a tools and to love tracking and planning, but I want you to use those tools because […0.8s] you want to, and because it feels good for you to do it. Not because you feel like you have to follow through in that way.And it adds all this pressure. Sometimes the best route we take, […0.7s] sometimes the only route we can take as Type a women to solve our eating habits permanently is to take away […0.6s] our coping mechanisms and the things were most attached to and learn how to create the result without those things. And that is exactly why I teach what I teach, and I teach who I teach. It is why I taught myself the skills of naturally healthy eating and did that work. And I didn’t lean on the hustle and type anus of the planning and tracking because I wouldn’t then have the consistent sustainable results I wanted. I want y’all to be well rounded in your skills with healthy eating.And that may one day include tracking and planning. But I also want that to include the more natural foundational skills like stress regulation, honoring your body cues, knowing your preferences with food, […0.5s] all those things that I teach. […2.7s]So here are some tips I have and kind of a process I have for you to test out […0.5s] when it comes to tracking, right? Because again, I want you to have a relationship to tracking that doesn’t burn you out and cause these all or nothing patterns with healthy eating that you may be experiencing.The very first thing I want you to do […1.5s] is to begin detaching morality from food tools. […3.7s] So like I said in my practice, we do not shame […1.1s] tracking at all. All of those things. I don’t care if it’s a specific diet protocol, […1.0s] planning system track, whatever it is. We don’t shame any of it. It is all neutral and it is all a tool genuinely. You get to see those things like tools in a toolbox, you got your Phillips, you got your flathead wrench, what I, I clearly don’t do any of those things, but, um, that is how I want you to see these different tools when it comes to healthy eating. […7.3s] None of those things are inherently bad.And on the opposite end, you don’t need any of those things in a, […1.3s] in a way where you have to depend on them and force yourself to use them. […3.6s] They just won’t work the way you want them to when the relationship you have with them is built on pressure and expectation.So if you have a relationship to […0.5s] tracking tools that feel pressuring or put expectations in your brain on how you should perform, then it might be time to just put them on a shelf for a bit while you build more foundational skills. […3.6s]A really common example of this, right? Is you set a calorie goal and now the thought is I have to stay under […0.4s] x amount of calories. So I have to stay under 16 or 15 calories. If that concept feels over time restricting or confining or adds pressure, that is gonna be when, you know, it’s time to shelf it for the moment. […3.1s]So next, I really want you to identify the belief you have behind tracking. Why are you choosing to track at all?And this is not to be accusatory with ourselves. I just want you to be curious because we’re all gonna have our reasons and that doesn’t make them wrong. But think to yourself now why track at all? What is the reason for that?What is actually the root belief that I’m having? And we’re all gonna have one based on […1.5s] how we grew up with healthy eating or the society we live in that will have shaped our belief systems. […2.9s]So here’s the most common beliefs I see when it comes to why women I coach track. So one belief is I, So one belief is it’s the only way I will lose weight. They really just believe because of everything they’ve seen in their life that, that is how you lose weight.It’s the tracking, so maybe that’s something you believe right now, which is so okay. […1.1s] Maybe it’s if you don’t track food, you’re gonna lose control, […0.6s] right, that’s a really valid belief to have as well, […1.2s] or maybe it’s, I should always know the calories in what I’m eating.Again, so valid, and it feels so valuable to have that belief. […1.5s] What I want you to consider today, […1.1s] if it feels available to you, is that these are not facts. They are belief systems in how this problem will be solved.There are a million and one other approaches to solving this problem, and because so many of us have been brought up in modern day diet culture. This is the way we think. And the problem is if these aren’t things you wanna be doing, because they don’t feel natural, cause they’re not.You’ll feel stuck, because you’ll think, if I don’t do these things, then I can’t get the result I want. So then what am I left to do? Cause I can’t force myself indefinitely to do things I don’t wanna do. […4.5s]If you believe things like this, and you do not wanna be tracking every day, that is not how you see yourself living your life. It’s going to create an all or nothing pattern of hustle and burnout. And if you’re feeling stuck and, like, you’re not making progress, this could be the exact reason why. And that is so, so valid, doesn’t mean anything’s gone wrong. […10.4s]So […0.5s] next, I want you to identify the energy […0.6s] that leads to the tracking. So what I mean by this is when you have beliefs with tracking, it’s gonna create an emotional charge. So for example, if we think I have to track to lose weight, let’s say it creates the emotion of pressure. And this pressure will be what then fuels […0.5s] your healthy eating journey.So it may not feel like it at first most of the time when we go the more type a tracking route will actually feel motivated in the beginning because I think we love to feel organized and we love to feel certain that we’re gonna get a result, which the thing about planning is it’s gonna give us a dopamine hit.If we know we’re gonna plan and track, we’re gonna feel like the results already done before we even take action. And you guys will already know this is like clockwork every time.But then as that wears off, we’ll start to feel this like pressure […0.6s] build up that we’re gonna have to keep pushing and tracking in order to get where we want to go, and it’s gonna burn us out and we’re gonna fall off track.And so what I want you to see is that the beliefs you’re having around tracking, and […4.7s] that approach is going to fuel your actions with it as you begin taking action in your healthy eating journey. And that’s actually what’s gonna burn you out.So I hope that makes sense. And I want you to just consider what your beliefs about tracking are in terms of why you think you need to do it, then how that makes you feel, because that feeling is gonna be the fuel for the actions you take […3.5s] now.Next, I really wholeheartedly invite you to consider […4.9s] if you had the option to […0.6s] eat healthy, reach your ideal weight, stop overeating, feel and control with food, […0.5s] and you never had to track, […0.6s] and you never had to track anything.Would you do it? Is that something that you would want? I want you to have the courage to answer this question because if we believe I have to track, it’ll feel […0.6s] totally unsafe. It’ll feel very vulnerable cause we think we’re giving up the result, which is interesting, right?It shows us where our beliefs are at, but just allow yourself to sit with this for a minute.If you had the option to not track and have all those things, would you? Most of you listening are probably like, well, yeah, of course, but then the, but might tell us where our beliefs are at. For me, it would have been, but then what else am I supposed to do?Okay, So the what else am I supposed to do is what I teach. I have a 4 step process for this in my membership. So if that is something that you want, definitely try that out. Go in there. You can join at any time and it’s an ongoing program. […3.1s]But […0.6s] are you forcing a manner of healthy eating that you do not want to be partaking in everyday? That does not feel good to you. That does not fill your cup.If the answer is yes, that you’re forcing that, then that is why […0.4s] your results are not long term. And it is not for a lack of trying. It’s not for a lack of commitment or willpower.You are doing the best you can. I can promise you that you are doing the best you can. If it’s not working, we just need to find another way.And what I wanna offer is if you want a way that feels more natural, the skills I teach are how to lower stress, […0.5s] right. So there’s skills you can learn there that will lower your cravings, and it’ll solve that root problem.There are skills you can learn once the stress has gone down. And your body’s more adapted, can now start healing your body cue. So you can actually notice when you’re hungry, notice when you’re full. You can get to a place where your food preferences feel more obvious to you.When you actually realize some healthy foods that you wanna be eating, and some unhealthy foods that maybe you could live without. You can start to have pleasure with feel food, feel more neutral and not as urgent.But these are all skills that I, for example teach, right, but notice how we might be having a belief that tracking is the tool that is necessary. It’s not the tool that is necessary.There is another approach which in my humble opinion is more foundational, but that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with tracking.The problem is you think it’s necessary that you do it when you don’t wanna be doing it. And if that relates to you, then I want this episode to give you an exhale. So, you know, you don’t have to be doing that, but you do have to be learning some skills, […2.3s] and that leads me to my next point.I just want you to open yourself up to trusting that naturally healthy eating as possible, that it is possible even if you have skills with […1.3s] being Type a and organized and following through. I want you to open up to the idea that that’s not gonna be your way when it comes to healthy eating, and that doing […0.5s] healthy eating and weight loss without those things is possible. You can adopt, […0.6s] You can adopt skills […0.5s] rather than plans. You can heal your nervous system rather than using willpower. You can learn to work with your body rather than […1.1s] forcing it to eat a certain way or to follow a certain protocol that is available to you.And if it doesn’t feel like it is, those are just old belief systems at work and I relate to that and I understand that, but […0.4s] I’m here to help you always. And I do hope that this episode maybe made you aware of some things if it fits you or just gave you a new perspective.But if you are looking for more support with this, I have a free course to help you get started.So you can go to cat runtest. Com forward slash course to join […1.2s] to sign up. And again, it’s completely free. It will just get you on the first steps to becoming a naturally healthy eater where you can figure out how to do this long term.So I hope today was helpful. Thank you so much for being here with me today. I am grateful for […0.4s] any time you spend listening to a podcast, giving it, […1.3s] letting me know what’s helping you. And I love you so much. I will talk to you next week. […1.8s]