How to Track Your Food

What Are Macros?

Macronutrients (or "macros") are the three main nutrients your body uses for energy. When we talk about tracking, we're logging these four numbers each day:

Protein — Builds and repairs muscle. Found in meat, fish, eggs, dairy, beans, and protein powder. This is the one most women under-eat.

Carbohydrates — Your body's preferred energy source. Found in grains, fruits, vegetables, bread, pasta, and rice.

Fat — Supports hormones, brain health, and absorbing vitamins. Found in oils, nuts, avocado, butter, and cheese.

Calories — The total energy from all three macros combined. Your tracking app will calculate this automatically when you log your food.

Getting Set Up

1. 1Download a food tracking app. We recommend MacrosFirst — it's simple and built for macro tracking. MyFitnessPal and Cronometer are also good options.
2. 2Create your account in the app. You can skip any goal-setting wizards for now — we just need you to log food.
3. 3Familiarize yourself with the app's search feature. Try searching for a food you eat often (like "chicken breast" or "oatmeal") to see how it works.

How to Log a Day

1. 1Log each meal as you eat it. Open the app, search for what you're eating, and select the correct portion size. This is much easier than trying to remember everything at the end of the day.
2. 2Use the barcode scanner. Most apps let you scan the barcode on packaged foods to instantly pull up the nutrition info. This is the fastest way to log.
3. 3Estimate when you need to. Eating out or at a friend's house? Search for something similar in the app. A rough estimate is better than not logging at all.
4. 4Check your daily totals. At the end of the day, look at your total calories, protein, carbs, and fat. These are the four numbers you'll enter into Coach Yourself Strong.

Tips for Accuracy

Log as you go. Don't wait until the end of the day. It's easy to forget a snack or underestimate a portion when you try to recall everything at once.

Don't forget cooking oils and sauces. A tablespoon of olive oil adds about 120 calories and 14g of fat. Sauces, dressings, and butter add up quickly.

Use a food scale if you have one. Weighing food is the most accurate method. But don't stress if you don't have one — measuring cups and "eyeballing" still work.

Log everything, even the small stuff. That handful of almonds, the creamer in your coffee, the bite you took off your kid's plate — it all counts.

Don't change how you eat. This is the most important tip. We need to see what you normally eat, not what you think you should eat. Eat exactly as you usually would.

Your 7-Day Plan

Here's what to do for the next 7 days:

1. 1Eat normally. Don't try to "eat clean" or cut calories. We need your real baseline.
2. 2Log everything you eat and drink (except water) in your tracking app.
3. 3At the end of each day, come back here and enter your daily totals into your tracking dashboard.
4. 4After 7 days, your averages will be calculated automatically and you'll be ready to take the Phase Quiz!