Hi friends!

Here is your biweekly Tri-Tip Tuesday, sharing my current thoughts on food, fitness, & travel. Please forward this to others if you think they may be inspired.

Food: it could be time to give up tracking calories

Don't get me wrong...macro tracking can bring tremendous success to people when it comes to physique goals. It also serves as a powerful educational tool, providing you with a fundamental understanding of the food components that make up your plate.
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Tracking macros (protein, carbs, and fats) is superior to tracking calories alone because you can implement protein goals to prioritize lean muscle, and result in fat loss instead of muscle loss.

However, tracking isn't for everybody. Here are some of the common problems I see with tracking, that people often overlook.

• Target calories are too low - when you first set up an account with an app such as MyFitness Pal, the apps will kick out generic goals. Usually, the calories are incredibly low, so you get fast results and want to continue to use the app. These overly low-calorie numbers can lead to muscle loss and yo-yo dieting. Please be careful and properly calculate calorie goals based on your unique body rather than using their automated calculators!
• Selective tracking - it's pretty common to see macros being tracked Monday through Friday morning. Then, starting Friday afternoon, the weekend is a free-for-all. Tracking only works when you track seven days a week. Every drink, lick, bite, and ingredient needs to be tracked to properly track and adjust goals based on your results.
• Tracking errors - even if you are diligent about tracking every single item you eat, there are likely some errors in there. Most people underestimate their daily intake by 500-2000 calories. Eating out, not properly tracking cooked weight vs raw weight, only tracking net carbs, not properly tracking alcohol, and not using a food scale are big reasons why this happens. Additionally, food companies may use any of 5 different methods to estimate calories, so the FDA permits inaccuracies by up to 20% on the nutrition label. If you're consistently tracking super low calories, without weight loss, you likely have some tracking errors going on.
• Disordered food focus - tracking macros is like playing Tetris. Always thinking about your next move, and what you "can and can't" eat. Food becomes a mind game rather than fuel. Please note that disordered food focus is different than an eating disorder.
• Tedious and alienating - if you're properly tracking every individual ingredient with a food scale, you'll quickly notice how time-consuming it is. Anxiety around food and tracking may keep you from socializing and spending time with friends and family, straining your relationships.
• Too much focus on macro splits - I can't tell you how many times I've been asked what the best macro split is. Calories matter first, always. If this is off, your tracking goals will be off. Protein is the second most important number and is an absolute number based on your ideal body size. This should not be looked at as a %, but an absolute number. If you're hitting your calorie goal and your protein goal, your carbs and fats will fall into place.
• Nutritional values are overlooked - nutrition matters over calories. Period. The mindset of Oreos and Pop-Tarts "if it fits your macros" is fueling diet culture, not to mention chronic disease.
• Takes you out of tune with hunger and fullness cues - It is a valuable skill and practice to come into tune with your hunger and fullness cues. Eating based on your allotted numbers is a sure way to disconnect yourself from your own body.

If any of these bullet points resonate with you, it may be time to be honest with yourself if tracking is currently an effective tool for you. If it is working well and you're getting good results, great. If you're constantly on and off the tracking roller coaster, I encourage you to look into other approaches so you can give it up.

Fitness: an under-muscled nation

There is too much attention and focus on obesity and not enough attention on the fact that America is under-muscled.

Unless you are actively doing something about it, we lose about 1% of our muscle each year starting at 40 years old. Losing muscle means we lose strength, power, metabolic function, mobility, and independance.
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This loss of muscle mass, strength, and function is a fundamental cause of and contributor to disability in people as they age. The decrease in muscle mass is accompanied by an increase in fat mass and is associated with an increased incidence of insulin resistance. Furthermore, endocrine function decreases, bone density decreases, joint stiffness increases, and the risks of injury and death associated with trips and falls increase.

Muscle loss as we age is preventable through strength training and optimal dietary protein intake.
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Strength training is the ultimate hack for improved quality of life, longevity, physical health, mental health, and brain health. It is the absolute best way for women and men to maintain or gain strength, muscle mass, and bone mass.
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Can you afford to NOT be strength training?
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It's never too late to start. Don't wait to be a certain size, or at a certain point when life calms down. Start now.

Travel: induction cooktops for the win

I share a lot of my cooking and meals on my Instagram page. One of my favorite kitchen appliances that I use is my induction cooktop. Tons of people ask why I use it when I have a perfectly good residential-style propane stove top in my RV kitchen.
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Here are my reasons:

1. The electric cooktop keeps the RV kitchen much cooler. Cooking with propane is hot in a small space!
2. We prefer to save on propane and use electricity. Propane costs us more money, and it's a pain in the butt for us to go refill our propane tanks. We like to stretch this chore out.
3. I've burned a lot of utensils over propane. It's a bad habit, but I tend to let my cooking utensil rest in the skillet from time to time. It's safe on the induction but will burn and melt when dangling over the propane flame.
4. When we were in the Sprinter van and our travel trailer, I had a flip-up stove top. By using the induction cooktop, I could leave the flip lid closed over the propane stove and increase my usable counter space. In a tiny kitchen that counterspace is valuable for prepping food. In our current 5th wheel, I don't have the flip-up stove top anymore, so this reason is no longer applicable to me. But, it's worth sharing for those of you who do have a flip-up to consider the benefits of the induction.

I've been using the same induction cooktop that we purchased 5 years ago while living in the Sprinter van. It's been holding up like a champ!!

Make it a great week!

Christine Irene

NASM-CPT, Senior Fitness Specialist, Precision Nutrition Pn1 + Pn2 Certified, & Avid Traveler

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