Ok, so the competition has officially started! It appears everyone is pretty excited about doing this which is key! So, I've already been hounding about water and fiber.........let's go onto the next topic! Journaling. No, not keeping track of your feelings or life events. This is being accountable for what you are eating and how much you are moving!
The first purpose of Journaling is first and foremost - be aware of what you are eating. You may think that you are being careful, being cautious, being healthy. Then you take a look and calculate all those calories and boy oh boy........there where the problem may lie. Become aware of your eating habits and there is no better way than having them written out in black and white in front of you!
There are many many different 'tracking' websites out on there on the internet....but I highly, highly recommend http://www.livestrong.com/ There are many many things you can do on this site with the 'free' program. You don't have to download anything, you just register and get started. There is also a 'gold' version but honestly, you can do SO much with the free version, I don't find it necessary to upgrade.
So, what can you do on livestrong.com after I am registered? And, everytime you log on, you will go to your 'dashboard' - this is a general overview of your account and how you are doing. Ok, so what should you do first?
Well, first and foremost you can calculate how many calories you should be eating to get to your weight goal. Click on your "My Goal" portion of the dashboard to put in your goal and also this helps you calculate your calorie goals. I had a nutritionist once tell me, you should not be less than 1200 calories/day ever! Your body goes into starvation mode and you may see some weight loss initially - but then your body will be storing the calories vs burning them because it's natural instinct is to think you are needing to hold onto these calories. That is what our bodies were evolved to learn.....back in the beginning days of man - you may only have a low amt of calories to survive......not like nowadays where we over feed and have abundance of calories that we don't need!...our bodies don't know the difference - they only do what they have evolved to do.
From this dashboard, you can also 'track your weight'.......they will give you a graph of your weight trend. This leads me to another point I want to make. DO NOT weigh yourself everyday..........this is only going to lead to unneccessary frustration! Water weight can fluctuate SO much at the beginning of a diet and honestly - daily weights is not very accurate. I know how obsessive it can be to want to step on that scale and see if there has been any progress made but I don't find it helpful.....it can be more frustrating than helpful. So.........even if you can go every few days if you are one that just needs to know :)! Also, know at the beginning, there won't be much consistency. You may see a quick 5 pound loss - especially if you are one that hasn't been real good about drinking water...........just the switch to water will initiate a big weight loss - but typically this is in relation to how much water we have retained based on our previous diets......which typically includes a lot of sodium! not just in the food we eat but the drinks we drink as well (ie soda!!) Rejoice in the numbers you see on the scale...........but do not let it make or break your determination to continue on this journey to a healthy lifestyle. We are not just hear to lose weight - we are here to learn, develop and create healthy lifestyle changes. For this to be successful and a permanent weight loss - you must committ that this will be something you are going to do for the rest of your life - not just the three months!! It's going to be hard to commit to these choices or stick to them initially but soon it will be just a part of life!
So back on track here :).....next thing on livestrong. On the Track your weight option, you also have the option to put in your body measurements. Now THIS is where you are going to see the graph sloping down faster and will be very motivating! I thought we would be encouraged by watching these numbers along with the weight with our monthly weigh ins. It can be SO frustrating to not see much moving on the scale but when you can see in numbers on the tape measure, that is inspiring. I can send you your baseline measurements if you wanted to track these on your livestrong account.......and then can send them monthly for our weigh ins as well.
So let's get onto the really important part of Livestrong.........the tracking of your calories and exercise. Ok, so the place you find this is "My Plate"........you can get there many different ways - one way is the 'Start Tracking" tab about a third of the way down the page. From this page, there are three different tabs, Food Fitness and Equipment. Be sure to click on the food tab (defaults to that tab). Then you just type in what you ate. You will have a variety of foods come up - the great thing is there are SOOOOOO many foods on there, so type by brand name or restaurant name! you will be amazed at how much there is. But if it's something simple like an apple.....that will show up too. I typically look for the foods that say 'verified' next to it - then you know it's accurate nutritional information. If your food doesn't show up - find one with similar nutritional conents. You choose what your porition size was and what meal/when you ate this and it automatically gets deducted from your calories for the day. I also love the fact they break it down to calories, fat, carbs, sugars, protein, fiber, etc. this is SO informational!!! For some of us, the higher protein and lower carbs food work better for weight loss.......others it is low fat/low calories. But, this lays it all out for you and breaks it all down. They also give you a pie graph at the bottom that shows you overall how your meals are composed.......do you eat more carbs than protein? More fat than protein........use all these graphs/tools to help you learn how you eat and maybe help you learn why maybe weight loss has been difficult for you or why other diets may not have worked.
I think just looking at how your eating is the big eye opener! Am I taking in too many calories? Are my portion sizes too big? Am I eating too many carbs or sugar? This can be very educational for you if you have never tracked before.
You can also put in your own recipes, which is another feature this site has that I love! If there is something you make a lot and you don't want to list every single ingredient (ie - one of my homemade lattes) - I will just make it up in a recipe as a single serving. But, if you make something at home - my tuna salad - I will make it up and they will calculate out the nutritional info per serving of that recipe! How awesome is that?!?!?!
Ok, so next tab is the exercise tab! Get your butt moving and get the credit for it! You will learn about your exercising by journaling as well. This is great to track here - whatever calories you burn - they will add it onto your calorie goals for the day! If you have a heart monitor, those are great ways of tracking how many calories you burn......but also, most of the equipment you have will tell you how many calories you burn. But, livestrong can help quesstimate calories as well. Push yourself with the exercise.........if it's something your body is used to doing - you are not going to be burning the calories as well as maybe you did at the beginning. PUSH yourself.........get your heart rate up - break out in a sweat.......these are GOOD things........you are working - your body is burning calories. If you are a walker - walk faster! Walk fast enough that you are having a hard time talking while you are exercising - you are burning more calories that way! Pump it up a notch from what you may have been doing already. Make it worth your while. Why do it if it's not going to be productive!! Ok, so back to calories and exercise.........I will be having another blog entry about exercise later. But....
If you want to go out to eat for lunch and maybe don't do very well or are going to treat yourself to some not-so-healthy food..........exercise a little more that day to help balance out the intake! You are allowed to do that!!! For any kind of weight loss - calories in has to be less than calories burned.....plain and simple...........so feel free to have those 'cheat' days.......but still be accountable. And speaking of cheat days.......you do not have to do this 24/7........you can have slip ups.......treats..........nights out...........but DO NOT let that ruin your ambition to have overall weight loss and healthy lifestyle changes. Allow yourself to do these things - it's much easier to comply to a change if you are allowed to deviate once in a while......but DO NOT let that bring yourself back to where you were. You need to use self control and moderation.......this is all about self-discipline..........and talking yourself into the fact that YOU CAN DO THIS! So do not fall off the wagon and lose all the momentum you had going. Allow yourself a slip up from time to time - but few it as a minor/temporary time in the grand scheme of things. Get back at it!!
There are also thousands of articles and info on anything you can imagine on health and wellness. Use this site to educate yourself on food, exercise, and other healthy lifestyle choices........it truly is amazing!
Just some helpful hints
:
Track after every meal........take the time to do this. It is SO easy to think you are keeping a good tally in your head and then it's the end of the day and you've gone over! ;( Be accountable, do this frequently! It will create success!!!
This leads me to another point - DO NOT save all your calories to the end of your day! I think this is a huge reason why our society is in the mess it is in..........we focus more of our effort/attention/and calories for that matter to our last meal of the day........wrong!! How on Earth are we supposed to digest and burn those calories when it's just a matter of hours later we are in bed laying completely dormant for 8 or so hours???? This does NOT give our bodies time to get rid of these calories. Take the time in the morning or even lunch to have those bigger meals. Eat meals full of protein and even more fat in these meals..........they will keep you full and satisfied longer. I am a firm believer in a big breakfast!........eat meat, eggs, etc! If you eat a carb ridden meal - you burn that faster and you are hungry in just a few hours. Have you ever experienced that the mornings you imght have toast for breakfast, you are more hungry than if you didn't eat at all? You have your metabolism going but it's been fed with carbs and we don't feel satisfied as long.
Another good point - and you've heard it a million times.........small frequent meals. That doesn't mean a full out meal every few hours.........but I can attest to the fact........you nourish your body every 2 hours......you will NOT be hungry!!! It feels like you are constantly eating but you don't get hungry and you are not looking for those 'sweets' or snackies. Bring to work with you fruit or veggies that can easily be grabbed and eaten in between your meals..........you will eat less at your meals and you will be making healthier choices! This will also keep your cravings at bay. You will have WAY more energy than you imagined! This is a very different style to how we eat - three meals/day. But this truly truly works! Then you're also not starving at the end of the day and more apt to 'cheat'........
Portion sizes is another thing you hear so much about too. The problem is - we want our money's worth....so when we go out to eat, they give you a lot of food!...about twice as much as you need. Also, our plate size! (? huh? what does that have to do with anything???) - yes - even our plates have gotten bigger! And of course the more room you have on a plate, the more you are going to 'fill' it up. Grab a smaller plate and use that in helping you transition to smaller portion sizes. This will make a big difference.
Here is a good link with some helpful hints:
http://www.win.niddk.nih.gov/publications/just_enough.htm
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/portion-control/NU00267
Ok, that is all the rambling I'm going to do right now! I hope everyone is doing ok these first few days! Any questions, suggestions or things you want to share, let me know - I can get them up here or respond to with your comments!!
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