No matter what goal or project you are working on the benefit of tracking is a powerfully effective tool. Tracking is a small action that can change your direction toward better health and progress toward reaching your goal.
5 Benefits of Tracking
- Mindful and Focused
Keeps you more mindful and focused on your activities, steps, or eating.
Tracking is a proven method that shows those who track achieve greater weight loss and reach their goals, and finish projects with greater success.
How: Tracking your food intake and fitness can be done in a variety of ways, either writing it down in a food journal, or online tracking. Personally my favorite food and fitness tracker that I use is a free service with My Fitness Pal. com. Tracking your fitness can be done in the same way.
You can also track your progress with any project by using an app like ones noted in How to Build a Habit Tracker. You can also make it super simple by noting on a 3×5 card each day of the week for 2 weeks and write what steps you are working on toward your goal or project, each day check off when you have completed that day’s action steps.
- Healthy Eating/Portion Control & Action Step Shifts
Tracking makes you more aware of what you are eating, the amounts you consume and the action steps you are taking or not taking. Through this process an amazing shift happens, studies show people who track shift their eating habits, practice better portion control and become more physically active.
Those who track their progress working on projects have a better percentage of finishing their project and achieving their goal. You actually start looking for time and ways to work on your project and schedule your time better. You strive to thrive when you’re tracking!
- Motivation
Tracking increases your motivation and helps you stay focused. Tracking is like viewing a snap shot of your day and week. With tracking what you are actually eating, the amount of fitness (or not), your schedule, the action steps you are taking toward your goal helps spur you on to keeping it going.
If you give yourself an extra boost by a setting a challenge for yourself, this is adds great motivation. Go ahead, give yourself a challenge and include a buddy and see how fun and effective it can be. Each day you track you will see visual progress that helps to encourage you to keep striving forward.
Personally, challenges and tracking is a great motivation tool for me. I feel encouraged by the progress I see each day, even on days when I was not able to do all my steps, I want to keep going to not break the week’s record of tracking.
- Accountability Tool
Tracking also serves as a personal accountability tool. You can see your strong and weak area’s so that you can make a plan on how to work on these area’s better. If you include on your tracker what is going on that day with activities or your emotions, you’ll get even a better idea when you look back on the week and know how to plan ahead to work on troubled areas.
Example on a food tracker: Don’t just log what you ate but where. Did you eat at home, bring your food, or go out to eat. How many times a week are you going out to eat? What are you emotionally feeling while eating? This will help you see what habits you need to address if you’re not making the progress toward your goal.
- Helps you Achieve your Goal
Tracking helps you achieve and even maintain your goal and reach success with your goal or project. You can note on your tracker what Mile Marker you’re at or detailed information like your weight or step record. Remember, small steps done consistently lead to big results!
Ideas on what to track:
*Food
*Fitness/Activity
*Projects of any kind
*Hep C Treatment: Meds, Side Effects, Lab Work, Test reports
Basically, if you use it, you’ll see progress and most importantly achieve results. Here’s the key: Persevere no matter what! Never give up.
This entry was originally published on Life Beyond Hepatitis C, and is reprinted with permission.
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