On Day 13 I posted a portion of a conversation I had with my friend Tee, who encouraged me to write down everything I was eating. Well, since that post, I have been religious about keeping a food journal (albiet four days – nevertheless I’m doing it).
Following that post, I received an email from my friend Danielle encouraging me to follow through on the tracking. Here is a portion of what she said:
“When you are used to overeating it is very easy to fall back into those habits. When you measure and write everything down it holds you accountable.”
She is so right! Here’s what I am finding:
Like Danielle said, it holds me accountable. It cause me to be honest with myself, especially on those weeks when I weigh in and see that I’ve gained or that the scale hasn’t moved. I can go back in my journal and clearly see that I did not make healthy choices. Now this is not always the case because there are many factors that come into play when the scale doesn’t budge, but on those weeks where I can see that I didn’t make better choices it at least gives me a “reason” for the setback.
It slows me down, makes me think before I eat. I’m not on a restrictive “diet”. There are days I opt to eat what I want. I just don’t eat so much of it (and not as frequent).
So, this falls on the same lines of the accountability piece, because if I know I have to write it down, hopefully I will “think” before I eat something I know I probably shouldn’t have.
I can see patterns of days/weeks were I do well and not so well. Tracking serves as a point of reference. This is particularly true for those high stress days/weeks of my life and also my womanly issues weeks (scusi guys). But tracking can help me to better anticipate those times by spotting them as triggers, so I can prepare a contingency plan (a way of escape).
I can track my feelings. I am an emotional eater. I eat when I’m happy, I eat when I’m sad, I eat when I’m stressed, anxious, bored, tired, etc. etc. etc. So when I find myself binging on a Hershey bar, and I write how tired I was today alongside that entry, then that’s a sign for me to take a step back to figure out what’s going on in my life that I need to get a handle on vs. reaching for the candy bar.
It shows me if I’m not eating enough or if I’m waiting too long between meals to eat. As much as I like food, I am not a big eater (if that makes sense). There are days when I’ll eat one or two meals, and that’s it. There are days when I’ll skip breakfast and lunch and won’t eat until dinner. There are days at work when my one and only focus is completing a project, and I don’t take time to go to the bathroom, let alone eat. Clearly these are bad habits that must be broken, and again tracking will shine the light on these trouble spots.
So when I think about tracking in these terms, it makes sense to discipline myself in this area. Tracking is a tool that can lead to better habits and decision making. Thanks Tee! Thanks Danielle!
Much Love
~ Stacey