Exercise shouldn't be a punishment for the food we ate.

Today is Day 26 of the 75 Hard Challenge. It's a bit of a slog but I'm mostly enjoying the challenge. Reading 10 pages of a self development book is my favourite of the five daily tasks. It's a habit I definitely want to keep. The food task is the most challenging and I'm really craving bread - mainly bagels! I'm not eating any processed foods at all and I'm also logging my food on an app called Macrofactor. Tracking my food has got easier as I'm eating roughly the same things every day - the biggest variable is the type of vegetables I'm eating.

To track or not to track?

For the 75 Hard Challenge, using an app to track my energy consumption serves its purpose as it's keeping me accountable. I also know it's not forever so that makes it easier to adhere to! The app doesn't use my step count or calories burned in my training sessions to work out my daily energy expenditure and consumption. Instead, it uses my scale weight (which I log daily) and the food I've eaten (and logged daily) to work out my weekly energy intake. This is then split daily and broken down into protein, fats and carbs. The app also uses data such as the type of training I do, my level of experience and how active I am and what my goal is. But nowhere do I log individual training sessions and calories burned in them.

How does the app know how many calories we've burned during exercise?

It doesn't. And in my opinion, tracking can fail as a strategy when the app is used to track energy (calories) burned during exercise. Most apps will adjust for the 'x' calories burned and add them into the daily consumption allowance. The problem with this is that unless you have access to the highly advanced (and expensive) science labs, it's impossible to get an accurate number of how much energy you burn in any given workout.

Reinforcing unhealthy relationships with food.

This brings me onto the second pitfall when it comes to tracking. If weight loss or even weight maintenance is a goal, exercise can often become a time to 'work off' those extra calories. It can almost be seen as a punishment - we've been 'bad' as we've eaten a takeaway so we'll have to train hard and work off the calories and repent for our sins! Attaching morality to food and exercise only serves to strengthen beliefs that don't serve us well. And so the unhealthy relationship triangle between ourselves, food and exercise perpetuates.

Keep food and exercise separate - to a degree.

Even though food and exercise/training are inextricably linked, I'd also argue they can also be mutually exclusive in one sense. Nutrition is one the big foundational pillars of optimal health. My approach is to eat a balanced diet of minimally processed foods, rich in protein, a broad range of veg, health fats and complex carbs. Ensuring that I'm adequately fuelled for training and recovery rather than trying to 'work off' the food I ate.

Move for enjoyment and to reduce the daily stressors of life.

Daily movement (training/exercise) is another big foundational rock for optimal health and should be both enjoyable and challenging. For me lifting weights, kettlebell sport, climbing, running and dog-walking all tick the box. For someone else it could be swimming, dancing, playing golf, fell walking etc. There are so many options and it is all down to individual preference, accessibility, environment and lifestyle.

The enjoyment element is key. One of the biggest health problems in western society today is excessive stress. Exercise and movement can be the perfect antidote to stress so why would you want to spoil it? Would you still go on that lovely 30 minute brisk walk in the fresh air if you knew you'd only burned 100 calories? Would you forget about all the other benefits to your mental health and well-being and only focus on the fact that you'd only burned off a third of a Mars Bar?!

Don't get too hung up on the numbers.

As I mentioned earlier, it's impossible to get an accurate figure on energy expenditure during exercise. The same is also true of how much energy we consume. The calories that are listed on food labels can be as much as 25% more or less than those stated. While our DNA's may differ by only 1% from person to person, our gut microbiome can differ by as much as 30%. Then add in body composition, metabolism, activity level and you can see how different calorie intake can vary from person to person when eating the same foods.

Although I'm using an app to track my energy consumption at the moment, I'm acutely aware that this is just a guide, not a precise number. I'm also using it for a specific purpose, for a specific length of time. Generally speaking, I can see from my scale weight and how I look and feel as to whether my nutrition strategies ae working for me. This is also my approach when working with clients who have body composition/fat loss goals.

The key takeaway from this is that trackers can be a beneficial tool when used at the right time, with the right guidance and support. I would also add, that for people who have a history of disordered eating, trackers could trigger previous obsessive behaviours so should be used with caution. My general advice is to try not to get too hung up on specific numbers and focus more on long-term sustainable strategies that get you where you want to be!