DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT a professional fitness trainer OR nutrition specialist. I am merely providing input on MY experiences and goals. This is IN NO WAY a suggested line of diet or exercise. Please consult your own physician & trainer for the best program for you.
I wanna talk a bit about counting. Calories that is. I’ve never been one to count them, ever. In fact, it irritates me to think of it. I DO however advocate monitoring what you’re eating. Busy people eat when they can which always isn’t a regulated time, or meal. Keeping track of your intake makes you more cognitive of when and what you are eating enabling you to adjust if necessary. If I don't know where or if I'm doing it wrong, how can I fix it? I wanted to share with you my experiences with how keeping a “food diary” has benefited me in the past and in the present.
Goal Defining
First and foremost, I needed to define what my goal was. Whether it be eating healthier, eating less carbs, eating more veggies & fruit or eating at better times in the day. This was the start of my goal. I was waiting until mid-afternoon to eat and starving. I’d wolf down a carbo-laden meal and then eat dinner a few hours later. Spreading my meals out and portion controlling them has led me to not be hungry all day and eating healthier items. Since I started tracking my meals, which simply was tracking when and what I ate, made me more cognitive of the really bad meal decisions I was making based on my hunger level. I was waiting until I was over hungry and gorging on heavy doses of bad carbs leaving me feeling sluggish and bloated. It also made me see that I wasn’t drinking, if any, enough water. I was literally so thirsty on the way home from work I had to stop and pick up a vitamin water, chug it, then listen to it slosh around in my poor belly which was still suffering from the carb-fest I had a couple hours prior. I didn’t stress too much about my goals. I kept it simple at first, then added to and altered them later. The most important part was action.
How to count - 1-2-3 ah-ah-ahhh
There are a handful of ways to document daily intake. Simply write it down, physically or electronically, journal style. The difficult part of this is it’s time consuming to write down all of the nutritional information, and that’s one of my goals. If I simply want to know when I’m eating then this method would be perfect but I needed something more robust.
Another way to keep track is to get an app. There are several out there for both Android and iOS. I’ve used Lifesum in the past. I really like this one as it integrates seamlessly with GoogleFit. In fact, now that I’ve just wrote that, I might go re-install Lifesum. I’m currently using Livestrong’s app. So far so good. I especially like the dashboard. It has a bar code scanner, like Lifesum, to aid with adding food items and (my favorite part) it has suggested exercises with videos and explanations and daily “coaching” videos to cheer me on, you can add your own exercises too. The only pet peeve with the Livestrong app is: I’ve been doing their 30 Day Ab Challenge (if you've been following my "Journal" then yes, I've jumped ship from sugarsixpack's ab plan) and am just getting finished week 1 (1 more day!) It’s a really good program so far, however, the exercises included in the program don’t exist to be added as completed exercises in the app?? I found this a little confusing and frustrating seeings how they created both the app and the challenge?? I think what I’m going to do is use both Lifesum and Livestrong and see which one I use the most. I’ll just use GoogleFit to track my “on-foot” activity and plug it in to Livestrong at the end of each day. I’ll let you know in a couple of weeks what the verdict is. (NOTE: I am NOT affiliated with any of these companies and they DO NOT know I am writing this. This is purely my opinion, honest opinion, with no agenda or personal gain) Crunching Numbers, HaHa, see what I did there?
Now that I have all of this data, what shall I do with it? Well, I’ve made adjustments to my eating habits and my water intake. Even just after about 2 weeks of monitoring and adjusting I notice that I feel better, I’m not as lethargic (or thirsty). I’m also finding new foods and new ways to eat them. I’m not hungry all of the time so my portions are much smaller as a by-product (YAY!) therefore, I’m eating more vegetables & fruit and less starchy carbs. I’m finding the breads, rice, pasta and potatoes of the world too heavy now. Don’t get me wrong, I still LOVE these foods, just in more moderate portions. (I’m part Italian, loving pasta and fresh bread is literally in my DNA ;) )
do you track your diet & what do you use?
Let me know in the comments! I'm always looking for new great apps!
1 Comment
Damir Radovic
1/17/2018 07:50:10 am
There are numerous ways of dieting, but I found that tracking food (or in my case tracking macros) proved the best route for me - 20kg down in 4 months. I used MFP at first then I switched to SparkP - it's a little more aesthetically pleasing :)
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AuthorI am a working mother and "wife" trying to make it by with a smile on my face! What you'll find here are my thoughts, dreams, and general musings as I explore this journey. "Positive thinking is more than just a tagline. It changes the way we behave. And I firmly believe that when I am positive, it not only makes me better, but it also makes those around me better." Archives
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