We meet again, MyFitnessPal

Remember when I stopped using fitness apps? I rested the calorie-counting monster inside of me and told my Fitbit to eff off — I'd take as many or little steps as I wanted.

Well, I had to download MyFitnessPal again. It was an assignment at yoga school.

We were required to track our food as a mindful eating exercise, which makes sense if you're most people. But for me, one of the reasons I STOPPED tracking was to be more mindful in a different sense. 

At first, I was hesitant. I didn't want to do it.

But I did. And it wasn't horrible. In fact, it was kinda cool.

This tracking experience wasn't horrible because I didn't do it with specific goals in mind — it was just an experiment. And this experiment yielded interesting findings. I learned that my diet was extremely heavy in healthy fats (I love almonds and any kind of nut butter!) and extremely low in protein. I also consistently wasn't eating enough. That number I used to think was "ideal" isn't so ideal for me. For my activity level, height and weight, my number is higher. I've made a point to adjust my diet accordingly and have started feeling better. More energized, more sustained energy for longer runs and less bloated (even though I'm eating more).

This was the first positive experience I've ever had with "calorie counters." I think that viewing it as an experiment and then using it to track good stuff going in, rather than focusing on making that net calorie number low, made a huge difference.

I'm not tracking every single day. And to be honest, I'm not concerned with what that net number is. Some days I eat a lot and some days I eat a little and I'm still trusting my body's hunger to tell me what's right. But I am noticing macronutrients and how their balance and imbalance makes me feel. The ratio is seldom perfect and sometimes it's really off. But it's interesting to *notice how I feel on those days compared to days when it's more balanced.

*Notice. Not judge.