Food Tracking Guidelines

Food Tracking clearly shows you the effects that specific foods have on your body composition and performance.  It takes work, but is an empowering process.

How To Start

Find your Basal Metabolic Rate(BMR). This number represents the amount of calories you burn at rest.

Find your BMR (+ Active BMR)

Members can use our Calculator by clicking this link or you can use the equation below:

66.47 + (6.24 X weight in pounds) + (12.7 X height in inches) – (6.755 X age)

Add Calories Based on Lifestyle(Active BMR)

As soon as you do the activities of normal life(walking, eating, etc…) you are now burning extra calories on top of your BMR. This DOES NOT INCLUDE YOUR WORKOUT. To account for this, use the equation below:

Sedentary to Moderately Active: BMR X 1.15

Moderately to Very Active: BMR X 1.3

Don’t be afraid at a general guess initially. Every body is different and it will take some guess and check to really understand what your true BMR is. In fact, I recommend rounding your BMR to the nearest “hundred” for added simplicity. For example, my active BMR is 1,989, but 2,000 is what I actually follow.

Add Calories For Your Workout

This is where your specific goals will determine how many additional calories you will add for a workout.

• For body fat loss, I would recommend keeping a 500 calorie deficit per day. This would mean that if your ride burnt 1,500 calories, you would add an extra 1,000 calories to your Active BMR.
• For maintenance, you’ll be eating the exact amount of calories burnt through exercise in addition to your Active BMR.
• For muscle gain without gaining fat(clean bulk), start by adding 200-300 calories on top of your calories burnt through exercise then add it to your Active BMR.
• For total weight gain, still track and make sure you are eating at least an extra 500 calories per day on top of your total calories burnt through exercise and Active BMR.

Finding Your Macros

Macronutrients are the main nutrients needed for your body’s growth, energy production, and other bodily functions. These consist of Proteins (4 cals per gram), Carbohydrates (4 cals per gram), and Fats (9 cals per gram). When you track your food, you’ll realize that each type of food you eat will break down into these categories. What’s interesting is that you can have significant changes in your body’s performance and aesthetics by manipulating these numbers individually without changes your total calories. For example, you might have to raise your number in carbs on ride days to keep your energy up. You also might want to lower your carbs on days you’re less active. This is known as carb cycling and displays perfectly the demands of your body depending on activity. Some do well on higher carbs, some on higher fats, but most want to hit a minimum number of protein and that’s why I would start there.

Your protein should be around .8-1 gram per pound (1.7-2.2 grams per kilo) of your bodyweight.  When you start tracking, make sure you hit this number and then start paying attention to the carb and fat adjustments from there.

How Do I Know How Many Calories My Workouts Burn?

Most strength workouts in the Dialed Health programs will burn 300-500 calories (depending on the program and your intensity).  You can track your strength workouts with a device, but I have personally not found one that gives an accuarate measurent of the calories burned during a strength workout that includes unconventional movements (mobility, core, etc.).

For a ride (run or other aerobic activity), using the calorie burn recommendation from TrainingPeaks, Strava, or Garmin are great.  The more metrics you provide (like heart rate or power) the more accurate it will be.

Focus on being PERFECTLY IMPERFECT. The exact numbers are not as important as your consistency. Even if you’re off by 100-200 calories, the process will still work. This is important because even packaged nutrition labels can be off substantially.  Just track based off of those numbers and make adjustments based off of your results.

What You’ll Need

• Tracking App
• Food Scale
• Measuring Cups and Spoons

Trainer's Note:

The biggest objection I hear to food tracking is that it's "not sustainable."

I agree.  Food tracking is meant to be a short term process to learn the impact of foods and help you eat more intuitievely moving forward.  

Set a goal to track for a specific number of days or when you meet a clear goal (weight, body fat %, muscle mass, etc.).  Remember, if you continue to maintain these new eating habits, your body will reflect that even if you don't "track it".

- Derek Teel