I have a love-hate relationship with tracking food. Actually, maybe more hate than love. But there’s one thing that I’m really glad I learnt.
I realized a lot of things while tracking my food. Some good, and some bad. I wanted to share the biggest thing that surprised me…
The amount of calories foods and drinks actually have. This sounds really naive and dumb, so let me explain.
Yes, it is true that it was made wildly evident that certain foods have way more calories than I thought.
But more importantly, I kept being pleasantly surprised by how few calories other foods contained. And I don’t mean rice cakes and cucumber. I mean those things that people who want to lose fat immediately think “oh, I should cut that out.” Like, the good stuff.
Let me share one of those moments. Location: Starbucks.
We’ve all heard it. Starbucks drinks can pack like 800 calories of sugar and other such addictive substances. No reason they taste so AMAZING.
Because of my fear of drinking liquid calories, I only ever stuck to Cold Brews and black Americanos. I was convinced that it was the only macro-friendly thing I could have. Basically, the conclusion I ended up with is that any colourful drink = a ton of calories = no-go.
My local Starbucks rarely had a long queue, especially during the time I would go. Therefore, I never had to time to stare at the menu and check the calories in every single drink online because it was always my turn.
But one day, the line was long enough for me to check the calories in every single drink. To no surprise, all the Frappuccinos packed at least 500 calories.
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But then I searched the Pink Coconut Refresha. I was baffled: 49 calories for the Tall size, 67 for a Grande, and 84 for a Venti. (!!!) That is practically nothing, especially for such a colourful drink as the Pink Coconut Refresha- I’m talking pink sunset colours!
So this is my point. For those who can handle tracking their food intake, I would look forward to these little surprises. After all, some of my favourite snacks today have been discovered through this!
Let me end on this note: there was a point in my fitness journey where I developed a rather bad eating disorder, and the event here was a reflection of that. I do not condone being obsessed with food tracking. This is why I specify “for those who can handle tracking their food intake,” because I know it is not for everyone.
But the point remains the same: knowledge is power.
xx LS
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