Track one honest week

What you need to do

For one week, write down everything you eat, honestly, with the protein grams. A free app or a notebook. You are not fixing anything this week. You are finding out where you actually are. Most people discover they are at half their protein number and eating more than they thought after dinner. That is the fix hiding in plain sight.

Options that work

• Log it right after you eat, not at the end of the day. Memory is generous
• Weigh the protein for one week so you learn what 5 ounces of chicken looks like. After that you will know
• Include the tastes, the handful of crackers, and the glass of wine
• At the end of the week, look for two things: your average protein, and where the surprise calories live
• Do it again only if the scale stalls for three weeks. This is a tool, not a life sentence

Part of the fundamental The right amount, honestly.

Why this works

Writing down what you eat is the single behaviour most reliably tied to losing weight [91]. The people who keep weight off for years weigh in at least weekly and keep a consistent pattern [96]. Protein is where the gap usually is: adults over 50 pile most of the day's protein into one meal and skimp at breakfast [11].

Sources

91. Burke 2011, J Am Diet Assoc. Writing down what you eat is the single behaviour most reliably tied to losing weight. One honest week is enough to find the gap.
96. Wing and Phelan 2005, Am J Clin Nutr. People who kept 30 or more pounds off for years mostly eat breakfast, weigh themselves at least weekly, move about an hour a day, and eat the same way on weekends as weekdays.
11. Berner 2013, J Acad Nutr Diet. Older Americans eat small protein breakfasts and pile more than half the day's protein into one meal. Breakfast is where the shortfall lives.

The fridge version

One line, seven boxes. Print it and put it where you eat.

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