“I feared that if I ceased macro tracking, I would lose my physique.”
After countless years of meticulous macro tracking, Dr. Fundaro ultimately came to terms with the fact that the approach no longer suited her. Nevertheless, she was hesitant to abandon it.
If anyone should have faith in their dietary choices, it would be Dr. Gabrielle Fundaro. After all, she holds a PhD in Human Nutrition, boasts over a decade of nutrition coaching experience, and has participated in six powerlifting competitions.
Yet, upon honest reflection, Dr. Fundaro recognized that she felt anything but self-assured about food. For many years, she relied on macro counting to maintain her eating habits.
And it succeeded… until it didn’t.
After years of tracking macros, Dr. Fundaro grew weary of the entire process. She was exhausted from ensuring her macros were consistently balanced. She longed to choose whatever she desired from a menu and enjoy the meal, confident that her health and physique wouldn’t suffer as a consequence.
However, the thought of not tracking terrified her. Each time she stopped tracking, she fretted:
“What if I fail to consume sufficient protein, leading to muscle loss?”
“What if I indulge and gain fat?”
“What if I become clueless about how to nourish myself without tracking macros? And what does that imply about my expertise in nutrition?”
The more Dr. Fundaro grappled with macro tracking, the more she yearned for an alternative.
Something that would aid her nutritional aspirations while also providing her with a sense of freedom and tranquility around food.
Calorie counting wasn’t the answer. That was equally constraining as macro counting—perhaps even more so.
Intuitive eating appeared to be an inadequate solution as well. Intuitive eating heavily depends on an individual’s ability to listen to internal hunger and fullness signals to guide food selections and portions. After years of depending on external cues (such as her macro targets), Dr. Fundaro found it hard to trust her own instincts; she craved more structure.
At the same time, in the gym, Dr. Fundaro started lifting according to the Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale—a method that enables individuals to gauge the amount of effort they’re exerting during a specific movement or activity. It’s regarded as an effective tool to help people train safely and efficiently in alignment with their capabilities and objectives. (More on that shortly.)
Using the RPE scale during her training, Dr. Fundaro discovered she was both gaining strength and recovering more effectively. There was something about this blend of structure and intuition that simply worked.
Then, it hit Dr. Fundaro like the apple on Sir Isaac Newton’s head:
If Rate of Perceived Exertion could enhance her training, why not a similar framework for her eating?
Thus, the RPE-Eating Scale was created.
Dr. Fundaro has since employed this alternative approach to assist both herself and her clients in regaining confidence and self-trust surrounding food; enhancing nutritional awareness and skills; and liberating themselves from food tracking.
(Indeed, Dr. Fundaro now trusts her eating choices—no macro tracker in sight.)
In this article, you’ll discover how she achieved it, plus:
- What the RPE-Eating scale entails
- How to implement RPE-Eating
- How to apply RPE-Eating for weight loss or gain
- Whether RPE-Eating is suitable for you or your clients
- What to consider if you’re doubtful about the concept
What is RPE-Eating?
Devised by Gunnar Borg in the 1960s, Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) is a scale used to evaluate an individual’s perceived level of effort or exertion during physical activity.
While Borg’s RPE employs a scale ranging from 6 to 20, many contemporary scales operate on a 0 to 10 continuum (which is the