In August 2026, I ran an experiment: I logged every meal and item of food in a nutrition app. I wanted to get a clear, grounded picture of my daily nutrition, track my actual results, and spot any gaps in my macronutrient or micronutrient intake.

Before diving into the key lessons, here are a few observations from the logging experience itself:

• It was smoother than expected. I imagined scanning and tracking every meal would create friction, but it actually fit into my daily routine very naturally.

• Estimations aren't 100% precise. Cooked meals, estimates by volume, and dining out mean you get a pretty clear picture, but not absolute perfection. At times I weighed some food at home to establish a benchmark, but I made sure not to stress over variances.

• Not all micro-data is tracked. While calorie and macro tracking in the app is very clear, some vitamins and minerals (like calcium or magnesium) aren't always fully documented by food database entries.

Overall, it gave me a strong snapshot of my baseline intake while highlighting where my assumptions didn't match reality. Here is what I learned:

Eating Enough Is a Full-Time Job

On heavy training days—especially long runs—my calorie requirements skyrocket. A 25+ km run can easily burn around 1,700 calories, pushing my total daily requirement well over 4,000 kcal. Eating that much quality food takes deliberate effort; relying on natural hunger signals alone simply isn't enough to cover the recovery debt.

Macro Breakdown Surprises

I was confident in my everyday eating habits—oatmeal for breakfast, rice with meat or fish with light salad and veggies for lunch or dinner, yogurt with nuts and fruit for snacks. However, the data revealed my meals didn't fill the desired split of 50% carbohydrates, 30% fat, and 20% protein evenly. Fat intake hit its limit quickly even from healthy sources like nuts, cottage cheese, croissant, and ground meat, while carbs and protein were often slower to fill. Reaching 2 to 2.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight required conscious planning rather than relying on intuition.

The Micronutrient Challenge

Even with a high intake of 3,000 to 4,000 calories a day, hitting the recommended targets for key micronutrients like calcium and iron was surprisingly difficult. It highlighted just how critical dense, nutrient-rich foods are when supporting an active lifestyle.

The Takeaway

Outside of these adjustments, there were no major surprises—just a clear realization that nutrition needs to be taken seriously. As an older athlete, proper fueling is what allows me to stay healthy, recover, and continue making progress.

Important note: during this month of tracking, I managed to gain 1.5 kg while setting personal bests in the 5K, 10K, and half-marathon, and gaining extra strength for my HYROX goals. Fair to say the food logging helped ensure I was properly fuelled for my key workouts and after them—and that the food went to all the right places.