Carleen Matthews Gives Up Macro Tracking, Credits CBG with Providing Newfound Freedom
Carleen Matthews didn’t know how she could be healthy without diligently counting her macros.
So every single day, for the better part of eight years, the three-time individual and three-time Masters Games athlete tracked what she ate, down to the gram.
“I was very much down the macro tracking road, “ said Matthews, the long-time gym owner from St. Helen’s, Oregon.
Considering her history of eating disorders, it seemed like a better option than past behavior. At least she was eating enough.
Little did Matthews realize, however, but macro tracking was still disordered eating in its own way, as it meant food still had a stronghold on her daily life.
That all changed for the 41-year-old Matthews when she came across CBG.
“I started seeing a lot of other athletes using them, and I was like, ‘What is this all about?’,” she said.
What intrigued her was that the CBG approach didn’t involve macro tracking.
“I liked the idea of not tracking macros, but I didn’t know how it would be possible,” she said.
Something told her to dig a little deeper, so she booked a call with nutrition coach Justin Romaire, the founder of CBG, last winter, and decided to take the plunge.
That being said, her hesitations were plenty.
“The first week I started working with Justin, I was like, ‘I don’t even understand how this is going to be possible,’” Matthews admitted. “I have always said it is more stressful for me to not track what I consume.”
“The first week, I was like, “Yeah, I can’t do this.’ I’m going to have to track a little bit,” she added.
Romaire said, ‘That’s fine.’
He didn’t force her to abandon what had become so ingrained into her life. Instead, Romaire met Matthews where she was at and worked with her on “gradually not tracking,” she said.
Matthews felt relieved that she wasn’t going to be forced to go cold turkey.
“I was able to just gradually do it, kind of at my own pace, when I was ready, and when I was ready to trust that process,” she said.
To her surprise, it only took a couple of weeks under Romaire’s guidance to feel more comfortable abandoning her tracking apps.
Why?
Because she quickly realized that she almost instantly had a better relationship with food when she wasn’t so hung up on hitting exact targets. It felt more natural, and she was able to relax.
“I was starting to listen to my hunger cues,” she said. “And I have literally never been like that. It was always like, ‘If you don’t hit your numbers, then you eat more, no matter if you’re hungry or not. And if you hit your numbers, then you don’t eat more.”
She added: “I feel like I was starting to learn to trust my body…and learn what my body needs, rather than just numbers.”
Six Months Later
Matthews entered the competition season feeling better than ever.
Her relationship with food had completely changed, and her performance as an athlete had reaped the benefits.
The result: Matthews finished third in the world in the Women’s 40-44 years-old division at the Masters Games by Legends.
Not only that, but she credits the way she fuelled herself allowed her to be “completely fine the Monday after the competition,” she said, adding that in the past her body has always felt ruined after a weekend of competing.
But even more important than her finish at the Games was the fact that her relationship with food was better than ever. Not only is this more important to her, but it’s important so she can pass this down to her daughter.
“That was the important thing for me, and that is the thing I can actually see,” she said.
Ultimately, Matthews is just happier now that she’s free from the tracking apps.
Recently, Matthews went to Disneyland with her family, and she said she was able to have a way better experience than she would have in the past.
“I was able to go and not have any worry and not go completely off the rails, and that was a big deal for me. I would have been very worried about a trip to Disneyland, food wise, in the past. So for me to have not been worried, and to have executed it without any stress…like my trip wasn’t about food for once in my life,” she said.
Today, when Matthews goes out to eat with friends who track, she can see her former self in them, and it only reiterates that she is in a better place today.
“I’m like, ‘Ugh, get off your phone. But that used to be me. I was there before, but now I’m just eating. It’s nice,” she said.
Matthews added: “For somebody who is like I was, stuck on macros, and maybe even thinks that it’s the easiest way, there is more out there. I didn’t realize how much tracking my food and tracking macros had a grip on me until I took it away. And it has been a sigh of relief that I don’t have to track.”
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