Wiriting It Down

Every book I’ve ever read on fitness recommends writing down what you eat. When they say that, they mean EVERYTHING. So when you eat the 1/4 of a toasted cheese that your kid didn’t eat (but you did) write that down. We are shooting for accuracy.

There are so many ways to keep a food journal. You can use paper, or software, and if you are using fatsecret.com you can use your phone (video coming soon). Does it take time? At first, yes. So its a bit of a pain, but its worth it, and if you are like me I eat the same things over and over.

Here is a list of all the free/paid software/websites that allow you to keep a food diary and more.

By writing it down and tracking EVERYTHING, you will be amazed. I currently am shooting for 1800 calories a day, and keep over shooting it. Writing things down is also good at work (it helps keep you organized) and at home. Check out the book First Things First by Stephen Covey (the guy behind the Seven habits of Highly Effective people).

Identifying Hurdles

Because I entered all my food, it made me very aware of my calories, and it inspired me to exercise more. Then I noticed that I had four good days in a row (and my weight went down). Then the weekend hit, and I went to eat with a few Friends. I made the best of bad choices (skipped the bread, had water instead of coke), etc. However, I saw by the following Monday the work I had accomplished during the week could be wiped out by one bad weekend. So now next weekend I need to identify some healthy food, and be sure to have a plan in place. One thing I did was I now have a resealable bag of raisins in my glove compartment in my car. This way if I get caught out and I’m starving I can eat some raisins, and that should hold me over until I can get home to something more healthy than burgers.

Watch How Fast You Can Enter Food Into Fatsecret.com (works with iphone, droid, blackberry).

OK, this video is fairly awful (don’t try to be in front of, and behind the camera at the same time). It’s blurry, but you will see how easy it is to enter your food. (It takes about 4 seconds if you’re not explaining it, and trying to create a video at the same time).