Starting a Weight Loss Journal
I had a really hard time starting a weight loss journal. I am really just a kind of get up and go kind of person. I whisk the family off on 2 day trip with little to no notice.
When I buy clothing I walk in, and walk out a few minutes later having accomplished the mission for fulfilling the apparel need. I purchase cars after going to the first dealer and spending less than ten minutes searching.
Even after the speed of buying things,I am happy with the things I have chosen. My clothing is fine and my car is okay too.
That is why this attempt to lose weight is so dang hard. I want to be able to go into the thin store and walk out 100 pounds lighter. If you know where one of these stores is located please email me!
In my weight loss travels I have learned that one tool that really helps me is to journal my intake for food on a daily basis. I went into this “journal thing” kicking and screaming all the way.
It took too much time, it was boring, and it was not worth the trouble and blah blah blah. I really did not try too hard at first, and with my spotty record keeping it really meant the whole thing was a colossal waste of time.
Only putting in half of my daily entries, and then fudging the quantities was like the old computer saying. GIGO, which stands for garbage in, garbage out. I kept floating along thinking I could just keep a mental note of it all and do just fine. That was until the day of potatoes and rice. This is the day my spouse convinced me to keep an accurate weight loss journal.
The Saga of Potatoes and Rice
The day was like most other days, and I had prepared a feast of low fat selections because we love to eat, and hate to go hungry. After the day was done we went to sleep and I was shocked to learn the next day that I had gained weight.
I went to my mate and displayed my dismay at the unwarranted weight gain. When asked what I had eaten I replied “I ate what you ate, we were together all day”. I was again asked “what did you eat yesterday?” I stammered and struggled and could only repeat again that “I ate the same as you!”
Only this time I was led to the computer and the love of my life clicked on the internet and went to a web site called fitday.com". The icons were clicked, and the passwords were entered, and out of the monitor came everything, that my spouse ate the day before.
Every food, every carbohydrate, and every calorie was present on the computer screen. I was silently impressed, and felt inadequate in my endeavor to lose weight.
The site was not only free, but it was easy to use. It asked questions and added up my food intake and spit out the totals. It was now easy to observe my carbohydrate consumption for the previous day was too high. I was impressed. Potatoes and rice were too many carbohydrates for my body to handle.
It Was a Pain at First
Having becoming a believer I struggled for the first few weeks with the program. I would forget to save a label from a snack or I would get lazy and forsake an entry.
Then something happened that was pretty cool. The daily totals started to show a trend. The program itself became second nature, and I started to get really interested in the daily results.
Now that the journal has “history” I do not know how or even why I used to resist the use of one for so long. If you are serious about losing weight I highly encourage you to keep a food journal.
Record what you eat and you will give yourself the advantage of having the knowledge as to how specific foods affect your weight loss regimentation. Knowledge is power and this power is free as long as you take advantage of the knowledge you have! Keep a food journal, it is to your advantage and it helps.