Friday, June 5, 2009

My 3-week Observations with the Food/Health Journal

On my journey for balancing a healthy lifestyle, I have one priority now, which is to reduce my body fat. I say that I have one top priority goal because, I recently went to the doctor and my physical revealed that I'm very healthy - blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose, thyroid, etc. See even healthy people need to go to the doctor! That leaves only one thing to get me ready for pre-baby shape - losing body fat.

So three weeks ago, I started my online food and health journaling again after feeling my clothes get a bit tighter, (see my post). I did it religiously for many months and successfully shed some pounds. When I stopped in January, I started gradually slacking on my portion sizes.

The online food journal that I use is the free tool The Daily Plate. I enter in my food intake and exercises daily and manage my personal "balance sheet" to see my total nutritional breakdown for the day. I really like statistics so I find this really cool! I entered in my current weight and loss goal (1 pound per wk) and it automatically calculates my target calorie allotment for the day.

After the first 3-weeks, I'm noticing some cool things...
  • I'm eating LESS! Knowing that I have to document everything that I eat and drink (wine, beer, margaritas, etc), I'm more cautious about my portion sizes now. I notice that I'm going back to the computer to login my meals so that I can see what I should eat more of for the day, especially at night.
  • I'm exercising MORE! When I exercise, I log in the activity and it shows how many calories I used and adds to target calories I need to eat like a financial balance sheet. I like to workout 5 days a week anyway, but logging it really keeps me motivated not to miss or I might do something extra on day 6.
  • These 2 factors = weight loss! I'm focusing on losing a little at a time because I'm not making dramatic changes because I already eat a healthy, organic whole food diet. Besides slow weight loss is ideal for maintaining it long-term.

I will keep checking in with you on my progress. Now, I'm challenging you to join me in this effort if you have the same goal. Send me your comments and feedback as we take this journey together!

1 comment:

  1. When I wrote down all my details as well, I wanted to work out just so I could write it down. I loved to see 5/6 days a week with a workout noted. Great job. Keep up the good work.

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