JOURNAL
Well, did you try walking more? Do you have a success story that you would like to share? I have had one person contact me to thank me for the advice. They told me that it motivated them to start walking, and they agree with me, that it helps you feel better.
If you missed the write-up on walking, it can be found on the tab to the right, under Health Tips, identified as “Move”
Now for this month’s tip. “JOURNAL”. This month’s issue of the American Medical Journal includes an article stating that those who “Journal” what they eat and drink tend to maintain or lose twice as much weight as those who don’t.
If you are like me, you tend to eat on the run. If you pass an open bag of chips or a bowl of candy you tend to take and eat “one or two”. Most of us snack while we watch TV. If you still work, you tend to eat on the run. All of this results in not having any idea of how many calories we take in during the period of the day. In a study at LSU, people were asked to estimate how many calories they consume in a day. Even the dietary experts guessed wrong by a factor of 10% to 25% LESS than they actually took in. Like I said last month, 500 calories per day less taken in than you burn in the day will result in about one pound lost in a week. Well, this works the other way too. If you take in 500 more calories per day than you burn, then you will gain a pound week.
The simple solution of getting control of your diet is to JOURNAL. Write down EVERYTHING you eat. If you pop one jelly bean (by the way that is about 6 calories) write it down. Office Max sells dietary journal books that fit into the pockets or pocket book. It takes very little time and the payoff is tremendous. Journals don’t just aid weight loss, it turbo charges it!
When researches from Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research followed more than 2000 dieters who were encouraged to record meals and snacks, they found that the single best predictor of whether a participant would drop weight was whether the person kept a food diary. It was a better predictor that exercise, age, or body mass index. The number of pounds lost, directly relates to the number of days HONESTLY journaled.
Here are five good reasons to journal:
- You’ll get a reality check about how many calories you consume. That has really been discussed above. When you start writing, then you will truly know where you are. You can not get to where you are going until you know where you are. A good manual for obtaining the calorie content of your food is “Calorie King Fat and Carbohydrate Counter” or go to the website nutritiondata.com.
- You’ll cut back on between meal munching. What did you have to eat yesterday? You will remember breakfast, lunch, and dinner but will more than likely not remember you’re between meal snacks. Did you pick up a handful of peanuts? Did you take a bite of your wife’s/husband’s dessert? Did you eat a mint or two? (9 calories each) Did you drink a soft drink? It is easy to overlook the bites, licks, and taste (BLT’s) that you do in a day’s time. On average, a mouthful of BLT is about 25 calories. Doesn’t sound like much, but six little bites per day will equate to about 15 pounds a year. By writing down everything, when you eat it, you will become more aware of what you are doing and will taper off on eating things because they are there. It will also help you choose better snacks, when you decide to eat a snack.
- You will discover where your diet detours. The key is a healthy diet. I thought that I ate a lot of vegetables during the week. When I started journaling, I found out that I, in fact, ate very few vegetables, and even less fruit. We have all seen the low carb diet, south beach diet, etc. The truth is that carbohydrates are not bad, fat is not bad, neither is protein or calories. To be healthy, you must have all of these plus fiber, but in the right proportions. To get an idea of how much of each of these you need to consume, go to mypyramid.gov. They will ask you a few questions on age, weight, height, etc and then give you the ideal proportions of each of the food groups for you to maintain a healthy body.
- You will learn why you pig out. As you start journaling, you should also write down the circumstances that prompt you to eat. I know that breakfast, lunch and dinner are obvious. But, what about the snacks. Do you eat because you are close to the vending machine at work? Do you get a frosty because you pass Wendy’s every day? Do you snack under stress? Make notes of what makes you eat. More than likely it is not because you are hungry during those snack periods between meals. When you start writing down why you eat, you will begin to see a pattern. Now go out and change that pattern. If you must snack, make sure that the snacks are healthy. Eat fruits, granola bars, or anything else that is high in fiber. Also, when you start writing down these snacks, and realizing what it is doing to you. “you will feel fuller sooner than if you were just mindlessly munching”
- You’ll see real results-quickly. As you review your eating habits, they will change. This week may be “Twinkie” filled on the journal. When you seriously look at the journal and take action, next week’s journal will be “veggie filled”. The results will be a reduction in weight, especially if you are walking every day as discussed last month.
To summarize, it is crucial that you record what you eat, how much you eat, what time you eat, and your general mood when you eat. If you do this religiously, you will see results in a short period of time.
Does it work? I started logging my food on April 28th and I weighed 225 pounds. On July 31st, just three months later, I weigh 198 pounds. You be the judge.
Okay, there is my story. Now choose your medium and start recording. Regular paper, the spiral notebook , the computer. It does not matter. JUST DO IT.