Food- It's SO easy to think you're doing better than you are when it comes to your diet. So much of the American diet is filled with processed foods which sneak in lots of fats and sugars and therefore way more calories than anyone should need. To counter this, I have tried a few different things to track my dietary goals. The first is a food journal. When I first started watching what I ate more, I tried writing everything down that I ate. This was good for seeing what all was going in, at least at a glance. It did discourage me from eating unhealthily because I wanted to be able to look back and be proud of the way I was eating. I soon learned however that although I knew the face value of what I was eating, I didn't really have any idea how many calories I was cutting, which is important when you want to lose weight. I also didn't always have my journal with me, and it was a pain trying to keep track of things in my phone or something then transferring it all over later. Not feeling completely satisfied with this approach, I started looking for an app I could use on my phone instead.
I soon came across MyFitnessPal which I've talked about before here. You can catch up from my earlier post, but as a summary, this app has a huge catalog of foods both from grocery stores and restaurants. The company has also started to verify the user's entries so when you look up a food, you can know it's nutritional facts have been confirmed when you see a green check next to it.
Another thing I love about this app is the prompts it gives you as you add in your food. It will remind me when I'm getting close to my sodium limit for the day or when I've reached my protein goal for example. These prompts are based on the settings you create when you first set up your app and can always be changed. The hard thing about something like this is that you still have to be very consistent, which is a pain at first. Once you're in the habit of it, it's a breeze. I just take a minute or so after each meal to log my food and I'm good for the day! Another tricky part is specifying the serving sizes. For me it's helped me to be more mindful as I eat because I stop more to think more how much of something I'm eating. Again though, this is a habit that will come but can be annoying at first.
On the other end of the spectrum, you can choose not to track your food and count your calories. In general, if you eat a balanced healthy diet, the weight will take care of itself. And in general, I would say I fall into this category. However, for me it still helps to know where I'm at. I've been doing this long enough that I really don't have to try much anymore to stay within my calorie goal for food, but logging it helps keep me focused and on track.
Exercise- Exercise is the other half of the equation. When I first started exercising a few years ago my goal was simply to exercise every day. I didn't keep track of what I did at the gym, how long I did it for, how many calories I had burned, nothing. I didn't even always use a program on a machine. I would just go until I felt done (which was maybe 30 min. tops) and head back home. My efforts were difficult to measure this way so it was hard to analyze what I was doing well and what needed improvement to reach my weight loss goals.
When I started using the MyFitnessPal app, I began logging my workouts and things started to change. In a month and a half I lost about 10 pounds because I was setting goals, keeping goals, and pushing myself more. I wasn't entirely sure how accurate the exercise stats were but something was working and that worked for me.
As I got more into exercise and started leaving my comfort zone of the elliptical, the app became less useful for tracking my exercise because there were no caloric estimates for things like weight lifting and body weight exercises. I kept up with them anyway because I knew they were good for me but it became harder to track my goals accurately. Enter the FitBit. I've already talked about that here but I'll say it again, I LOVEEEEEE this thing. Best investment ever.
Stats- Day to day tracking keeps me focused and headed in the right direction but I also like to record stats on about a weekly basis to make sure my daily efforts are taking me closer to my long term goals. I kept a small notebook for a while just for this purpose but I ended just using my planner/calendar to do this. Only having a small square to write in forced me to only include the most important stats. This meant less recording and a smaller focus- in my case, focus on my long term goal. Here I would write my caloric intake, output, and deficit. Then on days I weigh myself, I add that too. I've also started taking measurements for body fat percentage and BMI. So far I just have them in my phone as I've taken snapshots but I'm planning to add those stats in too.
The point in all this is that there are a lot of ways to track your goals but finding one that is convenient and easy for you is important! If it's too complicated, you probably won't stick to it. And if you're working towards a long term goal, it really can help to track your progress as you go. So just do it ;)
A few quotes to remember in all this
Ain't this the truth??
Any progress is better than no progress. Work hard and track it!
I was so tempted tonight to skip my workout because I finished homework around 9:15 and almost convinced myself that showering and getting to bed earlier would be just as beneficial to my health as going to the gym (the little devil on my shoulder makes some excellent points later on in the day). BUT I GOT DRESSED AND WENT TO THE GYM ANYWAYS. And now I'm laying in bed, fresh and clean, having met my goals for the day, and feeling awesome. Every day matters. Every minute in the gym makes a difference and I'm so glad I went.
Happy sweating <3
Kayla
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