Monday, February 6, 2012

Food Journals vs. Workout Trackers

One method that lots of people who are trying to lose weight use is the food journal. I used to keep one for months at a time, adhering to the If you bite it, you must write it. mantra. But I hated those occasional, and sometimes frequent entries that read something like, “six pints of beer and a quesadilla” following a night out. I loathed writing that, even though it was true. But to me, it was obvious. I knew that was not a shining moment, so why did I need a permanent record of it? I mean, what would your food journal say about yesterday’s Super Bowl parties?

Actually, starting with last year’s ECG, I opted instead for what I call the “Workout Tracker.” There’s an app for that [for iPhone; for Android, though there are literally hundreds of others], but for me, it was a simple spreadsheet with every day of the year, and what I did for physical fitness on each day. That way, at the end of each week, I could see, whoops, I only worked out twice, I should go for a run right now! Or I could see that my 6 days of working out lead to a greater weight loss that week.

It showed the good things I was doing each week, my accomplishments, not my failures. To this day, even the act of entering my workouts into Excel feels like a small victory.

It’s different for everyone, but please don’t let the weekly weigh-ins be the only measure of your life for the next 12 weeks!

Head to the comments to share what works for you!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'll tell you what's not working. that burger and onion rings i just ate. with a coke.

Mary said...

Weighing in every day is something that has worked for me in the past. It helps me to be able to reflect on what I did right (or wrong) in the immediate past (the day before). The only problem is that sometimes there really seems to be no rhyme or reason to a weight fluctuation and it can be discouraging if the scale goes up the morning after a perfect day. But in general, I notice that if you weigh in every day, you can catch unwanted weight gain quick (before it gets out of control.) p.s. from oct-dec of last year I did NOT weigh in daily and it caught up with me big time.

Tom said...

Hey is anyone else allowed to post? I just wanted to note that for much of human history being fat has been a sign of success. I submit that the present focus on the sysphean (sp.?) task of weight loss has more to do with the folks selling boulders than the rewards of pushing uphill. be fat, love yourselves and each other, my fellow contestants, and happiness is all but guaranteed.

La Cubana Gorda said...

O' Tom, I love your comment... you are definitely in newborn baby bliss mode.

Tom said...

gracias la cubana gorda! i, like billy joel, love you just the way you are.