Should a get a diet journal?

[Amazing]

Hi. I was just wondering if it's really necessary to start tracking the foods I eat. I really just eat as much as I can as cleanly as I can yet sometimes I don't make the best choices in food sometimes. Maybe because I'm not that anal, but perhaps I should be if I really want the most possible gains. Your thoughts, Jordan?

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

To me it's all about the level of interest you have in optimizing your results. If you're really geeked out on this, then yes, of course you should track what you're eating just like we track our weights, sets, and reps, right? When you do, you can start to make small-scale changes in order to drive the boat one way or the other. If you don't know what you're taking in, you're just guessing, right?

Small changes one way or the other are the way to go unless someone is eating terribly, in which case a complete 180 might be needed. However, I've consistently found that making large scale changes in the absence of grossly inappropriate dietary habits seldom leads to optimum performance AND aesthetics gain. On the other hand, large scale changes can be appropriate when someone is drifting hard towards one end of the spectrum, i.e. get big and strong or get lean (without a concomitant goal of getting stronger too). At the end of the day, I don't think you can have too much data to make an informed decision, but if having all the data paralyzes you or you're the type of person who can't pick a direction and stick with it, maybe it's not for you at this point.