Ep 16 | Tracking Calories, Bombshell News, & Nadine Memes
Ep. 16

Ep 16 | Tracking Calories, Bombshell News, & Nadine Memes

Episode description

Welcome to Episode 16 of The Outlifting Lounge, a weekly show for gay, bi, and trans guys. Hosted by Alan and Derec, we chat all things LGBTQIA+, pop culture, news, and fitness.

This week we discuss putting out dog in a calorie deficit, and we break down the barriers of calorie tracking for those who can’t make the habit stick.

We’re also catching up on the latest queer pop culture, including the massive Maspalomas Summer Pride headliner announcement, an unexpected icon on The Chase, and a news story that left us shellshocked 😳

Chapters:

00:00:31 - The newest member of Outlifting: Haggis

00:02:42 - The iconic Nadine Coyle

00:06:57 - The iconic Mathew from The Chase

00:11:01 - The iconic Joe Marler

00:12:32 - Some bombshell news

00:14:54 - How to make calorie tracking stick


🌈 What is Outlifting?

We’re Alan & Derec - husbands who are passionate about health and fitness. We set up Outlifting together as a community exclusively for gay, bi & trans men who want to hit their fitness goals. With personal workout plans accountability coaching, nutrition planning, new healthy recipes weekly, wellness and mindset coaching, and more, Outlifting is not just another online personal training platform. We’re here to set you up for success so that this time, you can’t fail.

➡️ Work with Us: Ready to transform your body and build unstoppable confidence? Book a free, no obligation video consultation: calendly.com/outlift/discoverycall

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➡️ Visit our website: outlift.ing

Download transcript (.srt)
0:00

Hello, and welcome to episode 16 of The Outlifting Lounge.

0:03

This is the show all about

0:04

pride, fitness, and everything in between.

0:07

I'm Alan.

0:08

And I'm Derec.

0:09

Coming up on today's show, we are gonna

0:11

give a catch up on our week.

0:13

We will cover some gay pop culture news, some pretty funny

0:17

news, and later on in the show, we'll also be discussing

0:21

calorie tracking, and we'll be giving our top tips for that.

0:24

Let's go.

0:29

So, Alan, how has your week been?

0:31

The week's been quite good.

0:32

We had Haggis at the vet on Tuesday.

0:35

He had to go for his annual vaccines.

0:37

Haggis our dog?

0:38

Haggis our dog, yes.

0:40

Just in case anyone doesn't know.

0:42

And yeah, he's getting on a wee bit now, isn't he?

0:45

He's almost 10, and we're just

0:48

seeing signs of him slowing down.

0:50

And we thought he was getting older, but it turns

0:52

out that he's just put a few kg on.

0:54

Yeah, he needs a personal trainer.

0:56

He needs a nutrition plan and a wee workout

0:59

plan, so that's what we've done for him.

1:00

Yeah.

1:01

We're getting him in shape for summer.

1:02

It's funny because obviously he is slowing down a wee bit,

1:05

so we're taking him on shorter walks, but we didn't actually

1:08

think about maybe reducing his food a little bit, so yeah,

1:12

he's on a calorie-controlled diet for the foreseeable.

1:16

We're tracking his calorie intake, which is something we're gonna

1:18

be talking about later in the show as well.

1:20

Yeah, it is.

1:21

Not our dog in particular, more about

1:22

how people track their calories, but yeah.

1:25

And then we met our friend Nik on Wednesday for

1:27

a brunch at a new place that's opened in Playa.

1:30

It's really nice. Really good.

1:31

Mumbai Kafe, it's called.

1:33

It's an Indian restaurant, but during the

1:35

day, they do a brunch and they...

1:38

We got dosas.

1:39

We did.

1:40

Yeah, they were really nice.

1:41

We've had those before, they were delicious.

1:43

And then on Saturday, we met Nik again

1:46

for some afternoon drinks in the sun.

1:48

'Cause the weather's just starting to

1:50

change a little bit here. 'Cause the weather's just starting to

1:50

change a little bit here.

1:51

We actually do have a winter here, believe it or not.

1:54

December, January, start of February.

1:57

And to be fair, the winter here in

1:59

Gran Canaria this year has been really bad.

2:02

And to the point where locals have been complaining, they're saying

2:05

that they can't remember a winter as bad as this.

2:08

Now, we need to clarify when we're saying

2:10

it's a winter as bad as this.

2:12

It's like 12 degrees.

2:14

It's cold, like at night.

2:16

During the day, the temperatures are starting

2:18

to rise again, which is quite good.

2:21

So yeah, we had some afternoon beers on

2:23

Saturday in the sun, which was nice.

2:26

Yeah, no, it was really, really nice.

2:27

It's good to stop and just

2:29

relax and enjoy yourself sometimes, eh?

2:31

Yeah, it was good.

2:32

It's nice to see the weather

2:32

starting to really pick up again.

2:33

It's starting to feel a bit summery.

2:35

Summer Pride is just around the corner here, eh?

2:38

In fact, it is officially three months because Pride

2:40

put something on their Instagram the other day.

2:42

Did you see the big announcement for who is on

2:45

the main stage on Friday night of Maspalomas Summer Pride?

2:49

Yes, one of your fellow Irish people.

2:52

Nadine Coyle.

2:53

Which is a huge headliner to have.

2:56

I know, I couldn't believe it.

2:57

Like, I thought it was a joke, but yeah, no, it's official.

3:01

They have got Nadine Coyle on the Friday of Pride.

3:04

And that's not usually the big headliner night either.

3:06

Normally they've got like a big headliner on the Sunday.

3:08

So I'm looking forward to seeing who else is announced.

3:11

Yeah, it's the 25th anniversary.

3:13

So I think they're pulling out all

3:15

the stops in terms of acts.

3:16

So that'll be good.

3:17

So we're definitely going to that, right?

3:19

Yeah.

3:20

What's your favourite Nadine Coyle meme?

3:23

Just out of...

3:24

Out of interest

3:25

not that we're planned this or anything.

3:27

Let's play Nadine Coyle memes.

3:29

Insert little jingle here.

3:31

I think it's definitely that time she was

3:33

on, is it Saturday Kitchen she was on?

3:36

But was it the one that I'm thinking of?

3:38

I enjoy cooking. Baking and stuff. Working with flour.

3:42

Flour.

3:42

Flour.

3:44

Yeah.

3:45

She's the most Gerry girl ever.

3:47

Yeah.

3:48

That was good. That was good.

3:49

And then obviously the iconic, when she

3:51

was part of Pop Stars The Rivals.

3:53

Are you talking about the passport?

3:55

Yeah.

3:56

No, that wasn't Pop Stars The Rivals.

3:57

That was before.

3:58

What was it then?

3:59

So she, I'm gonna give you a gayducation here.

4:03

So Nadine Coyle originally auditioned for the Irish version of

4:08

Pop Stars and she was too young at the time.

4:11

She was through and they needed to see her passport

4:15

because I think she did an interview and she slipped

4:16

up and gave the wrong date of birth, famously.

4:19

And she rhymed it off and she said, I think

4:23

it was like 15th of June, 1985

4:24

making me a gemini.

4:26

We'll come back to that actually.

4:28

Nadine Coyle, I'm from Larkhill in Derry.

4:32

Date of birth 15th of the 6th, '85,

4:35

making me a gemini.

4:36

She then was caught out on that lie

4:38

and then she got booted off the show.

4:40

But then she came back, I think maybe a

4:42

couple of years later and auditioned for

4:44

Pop Stars The Rivals

4:45

and the rest is gay history.

4:47

Ah, I thought it was part of

4:49

Popstar's The Rivals that that happened.

4:51

No.

4:51

Okay.

4:53

Now it's so famous that there's actually

4:55

a drag queen called...

4:56

Megan Mia Gemini.

4:59

A good Irish queen.

5:00

What a name.

5:01

That's absolutely brilliant.

5:02

Megan Mia Gemini.

5:04

And she actually met Nadine Coyle once at one of

5:07

her shows and she put a post up on Instagram.

5:09

I thought that was quite cool.

5:10

Yeah.

5:11

So Nadine's in on it.

5:12

So flour, making me a gemini,

5:15

and what's the other one?

5:17

Ah, wasp.

5:20

What's that from?

5:22

I think it might've been, do you remember they used to

5:23

do like T4 on the Beach and those kinds of things?

5:25

Yeah.

5:26

It was some sort of outdoor summer festival

5:29

slash concert and Girls Aloud were performing on

5:32

stage and she got attacked by a wasp.

5:35

She tried to keep going and she was singing.

5:38

And she was trying to swat it away.

5:39

And then she just completely gave up.

5:42

And you could just hear her over

5:43

the mic faintly going, ah, a wasp.

5:46

Well, at least we know they sing live.

5:48

Well, Nadine definitely does.

5:49

She is the main vocalist.

5:51

I'm not so sure about all of them singing live.

5:53

Looking forward to seeing her, but I'm a bit

5:56

dubious about what she's going to be singing.

5:58

She will sing all of her hit song.

6:02

Would you like to name it?

6:04

Insatiable.

6:05

Go on then, give us a wee verse.

6:08

No.

6:11

For copyright reasons, we can't put this

6:12

out on thing, but it'll get flagged.

6:14

Okay.

6:15

If I sing it, 'cause I'll sound exactly like her, and

6:18

the copyright check will pick me up and think I'm Nadine.

6:20

Okay, saved by copyright, well done.

6:22

Yeah, but she had that and she had another one, I

6:24

think it was like, go to work or something like that.

6:27

Or am I mixing her up with somebody else?

6:29

Anyway, should have done more research.

6:31

That sounds like a hit.

6:33

So what you're saying is she's probably

6:34

gonna do some Girls Aloud numbers?

6:37

I think so.

6:39

Yeah, she probably will.

6:41

She'll sing some Girls...

6:42

Let's face it, she provided quite a lot of

6:44

the vocals for Girls Aloud, so yeah, why not?

6:48

We'll go and see her anyway.

6:49

Okay, yeah, definitely.

6:50

We have to.

6:51

We'll make a sign.

6:54

Flour.

6:55

Flour!

6:55

Ah, a wasp!

6:57

Speaking of gay icons, I just wanted to talk

7:00

about the young guy Mathew from Edinburgh that was

7:03

on The Chase like a week or two ago.

7:07

Absolute queen.

7:09

Diva icon.

7:10

Yes.

7:11

Brilliant.

7:12

We love The Chase.

7:13

What's your favourite thing about The Chase, Alan?

7:15

Go, tell the people.

7:16

Well, we play our game at the start

7:17

where we have to guess people's ages.

7:19

So just before they introduce themselves, we pause it

7:23

and we're like, "Oh, what are their age?"

7:25

And then they tell us their age and then we

7:27

celebrate or commiserate if we got it right or wrong.

7:29

Yeah, so an example would be we'd pause it and we'd look

7:31

and I'd be like, "Oh, I think he's gonna be 69."

7:36

And you'd say, "Oh, 75."

7:38

And then we unpause it.

7:39

It turns out he's 54.

7:40

We're like, "Oh, s*** sorry!"

7:41

Yeah.

7:42

Quite often we're like a year or

7:44

two either side, which is quite good.

7:46

And sometimes we get it way wrong and we make them

7:48

a lot older than what they are, which is whoopsie.

7:51

Well.

7:53

Hard paper round and milk round.

7:55

There was a guy on an episode that we watched recently and he,

8:00

I think he was 38 and we thought he was in his 20s.

8:01

So it goes the other way as well.

8:03

Yeah.

8:04

Some people clearly are on the retinol, some aren't.

8:07

That's one of our favourite games to play.

8:08

And can I just say, we're gonna digress as we

8:10

normally do, but one of our other favourite games we

8:13

used to play was in Tesco at the self-service, when

8:17

you scan your card to release the handset.

8:19

And we used to try and guess which one it was gonna be.

8:22

And whoever lost had to pay for the shopping.

8:24

Which didn't really mean much because

8:26

we had a shared account.

8:28

So if anyone hasn't played that yet with

8:30

their partner or friend or family, play it.

8:32

It's quite fun.

8:33

It is good fun.

8:34

And we got some very weird looks when we

8:36

were playing it because we didn't hold back.

8:38

I either celebrated or was like, "Oh, f***."

8:41

God, we're really digressing here.

8:43

But the other game that we play, now we're

8:45

here in Gran Canaria, is the reggie plate game.

8:47

So there are no personalised registration plates here.

8:50

They are all in sequential order.

8:51

So the last three digits are three letters and they go up.

8:55

So at the minute we're on N something, something.

8:59

So we were on NJ.

9:02

NJZ was the last one I got.

9:03

And then once it had Z, it goes to NK.

9:06

So we've both been looking everywhere to

9:08

see, can we see an NK somewhere?

9:10

There's no vowels in the reggies.

9:13

So the next one would be NKB.

9:16

Oh, right.

9:16

What's one above that?

9:17

NKC that you just got on the dog walk there with Haggis.

9:21

Yeah, so I find an NKC.

9:22

So I am currently the winner.

9:24

And do you know what?

9:25

We don't actually win anything apart from the

9:27

glory and being like, one up on you.

9:29

Yeah!

9:30

So we tend to just take a little photo and send

9:33

it to each other when we're out, if we're not together.

9:35

And then the other person's like, rats.

9:38

I don't think I said rats earlier.

9:39

No, but you've already said enough curse words

9:42

that I'm going to have to beep out, so...

9:44

It was another four letter word that began with C.

9:48

Quite proud of that one.

9:49

So yeah, there's just this constant battle to see

9:51

who can say the most recent reggie plate.

9:53

It's quite boring.

9:54

It is.

9:55

Quite sad!

9:55

It is.

9:56

Right, will we get back to Mathew on The Chase?

9:58

Yes.

9:59

So Matthew is diva icon.

10:01

Yes, boots the house down.

10:03

Okay.

10:04

(tongue pop)

10:05

What was that?

10:06

Okay.

10:07

Dunno.

10:09

So yeah, Mathew was the diva of all divas.

10:11

He was absolutely brilliant.

10:12

He left the chaser absolutely speechless.

10:16

Let's roll the clip.

10:17

Hello, Mathew.

10:18

Hello, gorgeous.

10:23

I'm speechless.

10:23

Hello, gorgeous, I'm speechless.

10:25

Join the club.

10:26

I'm speechless.

10:27

Sorry, would you prefer handsome?

10:28

And do you know what?

10:29

It wasn't just that moment.

10:32

Every single time he was on camera, even

10:33

if he wasn't talking, he was absolutely hilarious.

10:36

Yeah, no, he was good.

10:37

And I think he put the chaser off his

10:38

game as well 'cause he managed to get through.

10:40

Totally.

10:41

And he wasn't- Spoiler.

10:43

Yeah, spoiler.

10:44

And he wasn't the best player either.

10:45

I think he got through on sheer luck

10:47

and a little bit of gay sprinkle.

10:50

What are you like at quizzing?

10:52

Um, I'm pretty, no, not good.

10:56

I'm here for the good time.

10:58

Let's give it a go.

10:59

I wish you luck.

11:00

I need it.

11:00

We stan a gay diva.

11:01

Let's talk about another absolute diva, Joe Marler, in drag.

11:05

Joe Marler was on Celebrity Traitors.

11:07

He's the big softie rugby player who is amazing.

11:12

He's just like what every guy should be, every straight guy.

11:16

Yeah, actually his podcast is brilliant.

11:17

If no one follows him, go and follow him on Instagram,

11:20

TikTok, and subscribe to his podcast 'cause he's so good.

11:24

Yeah, he's a great guy.

11:25

But yeah, he's done drag three times that we know of,

11:28

probably more now, and so far he's, well, he's done drag

11:33

so many times he actually has a drag name now.

11:35

Which is?

11:36

Josephine Drama.

11:39

Brilliant.

11:40

So the clip that I saw was Michael McIntyre

11:44

doing that bit in his show where he wakes

11:46

people up in the middle of the night.

11:48

So he went into Joe Marler's bedroom, lucky him.

11:51

And then woke up Joe, and then

11:53

Blu Hydrangea came in and dragged him up.

11:57

Like he just goes with it, he's absolutely brilliant.

11:59

And then you saw another clip recently.

12:01

Yes, so Ellie Diamond gave him another makeover as well.

12:05

And it was just a little clip.

12:06

I think it's for Comic Relief.

12:08

Ah, yeah.

12:08

So good though.

12:09

He just does not care.

12:12

There is no toxic masculinity in that man's body.

12:15

He is what every straight guy should aspire to be.

12:19

Somebody who's just a really positive, fun role model.

12:22

So we've talked about drag queens.

12:24

We've talked about divas on The Chase.

12:26

We've talked about actual divas, Nadine Coyle.

12:30

What else has been entertaining you this week?

12:32

Normally we do a bit of gay news.

12:33

This is slightly different.

12:35

So let me just get the laptop for this one.

12:38

Did you see the bombshell report?

12:41

Literally.

12:42

This is the headline that I read on LBC.

12:44

It is "Shellshocked! Hospital Evacuated After Doctors Find

12:49

Unexploded World War I Bomb Lodged in Man's Rectum."

12:53

I mean, where do you even start with that?

12:56

Probably the tip, I would imagine.

12:58

Or if you're taking it out the other end then.

13:02

Like... how?

13:04

Why?

13:04

Well, I know why, but like how?

13:07

So let's go back to why.

13:09

Why do people do anything?

13:11

So the story is pretty funny.

13:14

I don't need to read any more than the

13:16

actual headline because the story is exactly that.

13:21

What is even better though are

13:22

the comments on the Facebook post.

13:25

You can probably imagine what they're like.

13:27

You haven't seen these yet, have you?

13:28

No.

13:29

So these are going to be genuine reactions from you.

13:32

Must have been in Somme pain.

13:39

The man, known locally as

13:40

Napoleon Blownapart, was later discharged.

13:45

I like that one.

13:47

That's some arsenal he's got there.

13:50

Good one.

13:52

Taking bang my back door in a bit too far.

13:58

Did someone call in the bum disposal

14:01

to diffuse it?

14:05

Oh, very, very good.

14:06

Fire in the hole.

14:09

Oh God.

14:11

Right, one more.

14:13

World War Poo.

14:17

Yeah, so I think we can probably just leave that one there.

14:20

I suppose you could do World War Poo, or

14:22

also an alternative would be the Turd World War.

14:26

Wow!

14:27

That was a good one. Well done.

14:28

Thank you. Hopefully he's alright and he's recovering now.

14:31

Apparently he was in some discomfort.

14:33

No wonder he's got a bomb up his arse.

14:35

I think that's all we've got to say about that.

14:39

That's the tea.

14:40

And that is the tea.

14:41

Right, that is all the gay news that we've got this

14:44

week, because I think we're a bit speechless after that.

14:47

So shall we move on to the fitness section?

14:49

Yeah, let's change the topic.

14:51

Let's go for it.

14:54

So we've reached the fitness section of the

14:56

show and we found a post on Reddit.

14:58

And the title of the post is

15:01

“Anyone else struggle with staying consistent

15:03

with calorie tracking?"

15:05

And we find that this is quite

15:06

a barrier for a lot of people.

15:08

So we thought this would be really

15:09

good to cover on the show.

15:11

So this person has written,

15:13

"I've tried tracking calories multiple times

15:16

but logging every meal eventually burns me out.

15:19

I'm curious how beginners here

15:21

handle this long term.

15:23

Do you track strictly, estimate portions,

15:25

or use a different approach?"

15:28

I really like this post.

15:29

I struggle with calorie tracking and some of my favourite

15:32

comments under the post here I'm going to read out.

15:34

So the first one is about routine.

15:37

This person says,

15:38

"I eat the same stuff every day

15:40

which for me is not a hardship

15:42

and it helps me stick to my plan."

15:43

Yeah. Pretty solid.

15:44

I think a lot of people do that.

15:46

We certainly do that.

15:47

We usually have the same breakfast,

15:49

the same lunch,

15:50

our dinners are different,

15:51

and then we'll probably have the same snack.

15:53

So it's just an easy way of being consistent with it.

15:56

Yeah. And then in your tracker

15:58

you can literally just

15:59

copy that meal across from the previous day

16:02

and it makes it a lot quicker and easier.

16:03

The next comment that I wanted to

16:06

touch on is about go-to meals.

16:08

So

16:09

we kind of touched...

16:10

there's a bit of overlap here but they say,

16:11

"I personally don't track every calorie.

16:14

I kind of just cycle through the same

16:16

eight or nine meals, depending on the season."

16:19

So it's pretty good.

16:20

They've got their go-to meals that they do.

16:22

They know what that is.

16:22

They've maybe already got the meal in

16:24

their calorie tracker, and then that's it.

16:26

Just makes it really easy to log.

16:28

So number three is about ready-made meals.

16:32

We prefer to cook pretty much everything

16:34

from scratch, but that's not for everybody.

16:36

So this person says,

16:38

"I know exactly how many

16:39

calories are in my mouth up until dinner.

16:42

I buy frozen lunches and make sure they're all

16:44

in the range of about 300 to 500 calories."

16:48

Pretty good advice as well.

16:49

Yeah, it's really good, especially if you're tight on time.

16:53

You need to find something that's going to fit

16:55

into your schedule, your routine, and if you know

16:58

what the calories are in those meals, and they're

17:01

between a certain amount, brilliant.

17:03

Not going to be for everybody.

17:04

That approach wouldn't be for us, but for

17:07

some people that could be absolute gold.

17:10

The next comment was about investing in equipment.

17:13

So the comment was,

17:15

"Some people use a scoop for their carbs.”

17:18

So for instance, they know that a third of a cup

17:20

that they have of cooked rice is about 70 calories, and

17:24

about a half of the cup is just over 100 calories.

17:27

So they don't necessarily weigh everything, but

17:31

they, for certain foods, have got things

17:33

that they can quickly measure in.

17:35

So that's good too.

17:36

And the last one I wanted

17:38

to touch on was about guesstimation.

17:41

So this person says,

17:42

"To be honest, I just get a rough idea

17:44

of my protein, carb and caloric intake.

17:47

By no means do I hyper fixate or truly track it."

17:51

You're probably not going to agree with that one.

17:53

Correct.

17:55

So we are coming at this from two different angles.

17:58

We have got two very different points of view on this issue.

18:01

And we are going to present those

18:03

two contrasting views without hitting each other.

18:06

We'll try.

18:07

Without arguing.

18:08

No, the thing is, I see it from,

18:09

I do see it from both sides.

18:12

I think though, if you have a goal and

18:13

you want to reach that goal, it's better to

18:16

be a bit more focused on your calorie intake.

18:20

And I use this phrase quite a lot.

18:22

If you're not assessing, you're just guessing.

18:24

So I might go a little bit bad cop here.

18:27

And usually I am good cop.

18:29

Now, if someone tells me that they don't have time to log

18:32

their food, I might approach it with ways to help them.

18:37

There's certain tricks on MyFitnessPal that you can use.

18:40

You mentioned one just there about copying food,

18:43

but it literally takes

18:45

five minutes to do something like that.

18:47

Now, you're looking at me

18:49

and your eyes are boring right through me

18:51

because I know what you're going to come in with.

18:54

So you tell me from your point of view.

18:56

I think before we do,

18:57

it might actually be good to

18:58

take a minute out to explain

19:01

why calorie tracking is important.

19:03

Go for it.

19:04

So again, as you already said,

19:08

it depends on your goals.

19:09

But if your goal, in general,

19:11

is to lose body fat or to put on muscle

19:15

you do need to calorie track

19:17

and you need to track your macronutrients.

19:19

So that is carbohydrate, protein and fats.

19:21

And you probably want to track your fibre

19:23

intake as well, because that's pretty important too.

19:25

So the reason that this is so important is because,

19:29

as you say, if you're not assessing, you're guessing.

19:33

And from my point of view,

19:37

I know that I tend to underestimate.

19:40

So I can think that I'm

19:42

getting enough calories, enough protein.

19:44

And then when I log what I've eaten in a day,

19:48

I suddenly realise no, I'm not eating enough to reach my goals.

19:51

So that's why it's important for me.

19:53

Some people may think, oh, I don't want to do that.

19:56

But it is a necessary evil.

19:58

Do you know what when clients start tracking their

20:01

food, it is a bit of an awareness and

20:03

education because they're like, oh, like you just mentioned,

20:07

I'm actually under where I should be.

20:09

That's generally what happens most of the time.

20:12

And being in a chronic deficit all

20:14

the time isn't a good thing.

20:16

It really messes with with your hormones.

20:19

So actually tracking your food gives you a good idea

20:22

if you're hitting your macros, which are super important.

20:25

And if you're hitting your calories as well.

20:28

Now, I will say I know it's a pain in the

20:31

arse, because it's just something else that you need to do.

20:35

But it's so, so, so important.

20:37

You could be spending hours in the

20:39

gym and putting in all the work.

20:41

But if your nutrition isn't on

20:42

point, it's just totally pointless.

20:45

And it's funny because when clients come to us, and

20:47

I think we've touched on this before,

20:50

they think it's the workouts

20:51

that's going to be the hard part.

20:52

But actually, that ends up being the really easy part.

20:55

It's tracking the food and being consistent with it

20:58

that is the tough part.

21:00

But once they get that,

21:01

everything just falls into place.

21:03

I get how important it is.

21:05

But the point of view that I'm coming from

21:07

is that I also know how difficult it is.

21:10

It's not difficult for you.

21:12

But for my little ADHD brain,

21:14

it is really, really difficult

21:16

not only to start the habit of

21:18

calorie tracking,

21:19

but to stay in the habit.

21:21

And some of it comes from that all or nothing

21:24

mindset as well that we all can fall into

21:27

where if you forget to log something,

21:29

that's it ruined.

21:30

And I kind of think it needs to be perfect.

21:33

But it actually doesn't need to be 100%

21:35

perfect, because it's not 100% science here.

21:41

It's impossible to know exactly how many calories you're

21:43

taking exactly how many calories your body's expending.

21:46

All of this is a bit of an estimation.

21:49

But because we're taking it over days and

21:52

weeks and months, everything kind of averages out

21:55

and you can tweak it a little bit.

21:57

And if you're taking your measurements,

21:59

you're weighing yourself over that time,

22:01

you can know if a certain calorie intake

22:04

is going to be too much or not enough for

22:05

you based on the results that you're getting.

22:08

So it's not an exact science anyway.

22:10

So I think that would be the first tip that I would give.

22:13

Don't focus on perfection here.

22:15

It's more about just logging.

22:16

Yeah, get into the habit of it.

22:18

It's like we've spoke about before.

22:20

You've got an end goal.

22:21

But what is it that gets you there?

22:22

It's all the little building blocks to get you there.

22:26

And part of that is logging your food.

22:28

So like you were saying, see if all you

22:30

can do this week is log all your breakfasts.

22:33

Do that.

22:34

At least you're getting those in.

22:35

Or another approach would be if you cannot

22:38

commit to logging everything every single day.

22:41

Why not start off,

22:42

meet yourself where you're at.

22:43

So start off perhaps logging your food one day a week.

22:47

Pick the day that you know that you can do it.

22:49

Maybe it's at the weekend.

22:51

Maybe you can do it twice a week.

22:53

Maybe you can do it every other day.

22:55

Whatever you can commit to, commit to that.

22:59

Get in that habit first and then

23:01

see how you can increase that.

23:03

That's one way to do it definitely.

23:05

If you're someone that's already tracking their food

23:08

relatively consistently,

23:10

but maybe you forget and then

23:11

it's halfway through the day and you're like,

23:13

"Oh no, I haven't tracked today."

23:15

Try and track it the night before.

23:18

So when you're lying in bed,

23:19

when you're doom scrolling,

23:20

take five minutes out,

23:22

jump into MyFitnessPal.

23:24

If you know what you're going to be

23:25

having the next day, like we mentioned earlier,

23:27

we generally eat the same things every day.

23:30

And if you've meal prepped, you've already got that

23:32

stuff there, stick it into your MyFitnessPal because you're

23:36

probably less likely to deviate from that as well

23:39

because you know what's already in there.

23:40

Yes, that is really good advice.

23:42

And perhaps it might be the morning time that

23:44

somebody can do that rather than the night before.

23:48

But that is a bit of a revelation for some people

23:50

because when they think of tracking, they think it has to

23:52

be then and there in that moment while they're putting the because when they think of tracking, they think it has to

23:52

be then and there in that moment while they're putting the

23:55

thing in their mouth that it gets tracked.

23:57

No, you can actually put your stuff in

23:59

in advance, you can put it in

24:00

that morning, the night before, you could do it two days

24:02

before you can plan out, put it in there so that all you

24:06

need to do on that day is maybe minor tweaks.

24:09

So add a snack or take something out that you didn't eat.

24:12

That can really help as well.

24:14

On the flip side of that, doing it in reverse.

24:17

So say there are times of your day where you are

24:20

really busy, and you just, you know that you're not going

24:23

to track something and you're getting stressed out about it.

24:26

Take a photograph and then commit to

24:28

each night just catching up with yourself.

24:31

So it could be a wrapper of something that you've eaten,

24:34

or it could be your food, or even just the ingredients

24:37

if you're cooking something

24:38

to remind you later on.

24:40

Or you could keep a little notepad while you're cooking

24:43

and just quickly write down what you're putting in and

24:45

take a photograph of that and then input it later.

24:47

It doesn't necessarily need to be then and there.

24:50

And actually a lot of calorie trackers will allow you

24:53

to enter data a week, two weeks in advance.

24:56

So if you know for the next two weeks you're going

24:58

to be eating the same breakfast, the same lunch, the same

25:01

snacks, stick all those in and then the only thing you

25:03

need to add in then is your dinner.

25:05

There are two more things I

25:06

would probably say about calorie tracking.

25:08

Number one is it's a bit laborious at the start so

25:13

when you started doing it, it does take a long time

25:16

to log everything but over time most calorie trackers, most of

25:21

the digital calorie trackers, apps in your phone, have got a

25:24

have got a recently used items function

25:28

so it will bring those up quickly

25:30

because they are already there in your personal database

25:34

and that gets a lot quicker because

25:36

inputting things doesn't take as long.

25:39

And the other thing I wanted to say is

25:42

while there are lots of great calorie trackers out there,

25:45

there is this whole flood on the market,

25:47

and I know this because I keep getting advertisements for them,

25:50

but these AI calorie trackers

25:53

and they basically promise you that

25:56

all you need to do is take a photograph of what you're eating

25:59

and it will accurately log

26:01

what's in that.

26:02

And that's nonsense, that will not work.

26:04

It will be able to give you some sort of guesstimation,

26:08

but it's going to be a really

26:10

out there guesstimation which

26:11

is not going to be accurate enough for your needs.

26:14

Yeah, I wouldn't rely on those at all,

26:17

you may as well just not track.

26:19

No, because the thing is you could

26:21

take a photograph of a

26:22

plate of mashed potato

26:24

and that mashed potato could just have like

26:27

perhaps a little bit of milk in it and nothing else,

26:31

but you could take a photograph of a different plate of mashed potatoes

26:34

and there could be,

26:35

you know, a whole pack of butter in there.

26:38

But the calorie tracker, the AI element of it is not

26:42

going to know what's in that.

26:43

Yeah.

26:44

So it can give you

26:45

a ballpark, it can look at it and say

26:47

oh well this... this is what it thinks

26:50

is in mashed potato, but it's not going to work.

26:52

No, definitely not.

26:53

So don't fall for it, do not pay for these

26:55

AI trackers that promise to just

26:58

track it through a photograph.

26:59

Yeah.

27:00

There's pros and cons to it all, you know,

27:02

I think as long as you know what your goal is

27:04

and what you need to do

27:05

to get to your goal,

27:06

pick what's going to work for you in

27:08

the short term and then you can just build on that.

27:11

You know, I think that's probably the overarching

27:13

message that we're trying to give here.

27:15

Yeah, definitely.

27:16

Just don't overcomplicate it.

27:17

Do what you need to do in order to make this work.

27:21

If that means that you need to sit down for an

27:23

hour someday and just think through

27:25

about these different tips,

27:26

about different ways to approach it,

27:28

about how you can do it.

27:30

Stop stressing yourself out about it, basically.

27:32

Yeah, drop us a message as well.

27:34

We love chatting to people about this

27:36

kind of stuff and helping people out.

27:37

So if you're stuck with a calorie tracker or

27:40

you don't know where to start, or you don't

27:42

even know what your calories should be, then just

27:44

give us a shout and we'll answer your questions.

27:47

And how can they get in touch?

27:48

So you can get in touch by

27:50

either sending us an email at

27:52

podcast@outlift.ing

27:55

or you can catch us on social media

27:58

and our handle there is

27:59

@outlift.ing

28:02

And we'd love to hear from people so please

28:03

do, if you've got a question, get in touch.

28:05

Are we done then with calorie tracking for the moment?

28:08

I think we are, yes.

28:09

Let's wrap up the show.

28:13

Thanks as ever for tuning in to the show.

28:15

Just while we're talking about calorie tracking, I want to touch

28:18

on one of the things that we do for our clients.

28:21

If you don't know, Alan and I run Outlifting, which

28:24

is a service for gay, bi and trans guys who

28:28

want to change their bodies while building unstoppable confidence.

28:32

So we're talking online personal training, nutrition

28:34

support, accountability, coaching, and much more.

28:38

One thing we do have as a service for our members is

28:41

an online member hub, and that has got a searchable database of

28:47

recipes, and we add new recipes every week to that.

28:50

On every recipe, there is a barcode that they

28:53

can scan with their MyFitnessPal calorie tracker, and that

28:57

automatically logs a serving of that recipe into MyFitnessPal,

29:01

and that's all they need to do.

29:03

Scan and go.

29:05

So there is so much more to it.

29:07

If you are somebody who has struggled with calorie tracking though, and

29:11

you want extra support, and you think you might benefit from what

29:14

we do, all you need to do is book in for a

29:18

no pressure free discovery video call with one of us.

29:22

I will put the link in the show notes or the

29:25

description, and you can just click on that, pick a time

29:28

that suits you, book in for the free call, and we'll

29:31

have a chat about your goals, and you can figure out

29:34

if we are the right fit for you as well.

29:37

As I said, totally no pressure, no obligation.

29:40

That is free to use, so book in now.

29:43

Thank you so much for tuning in.

29:45

Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss out on

29:48

the conversation, and you can find us on all streaming

29:51

platforms, including YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.

29:57

But that's us for another week.

29:58

Until next time, over and Outlifting.