Tracking and junk.
 

Okay, so I have a question that is probably asked a lot in this forum, but I HAD to ask again so please bare with me :D.

How do you track? A lot of people say that they use tracking tools online like Sparkpeople, the Daily Plate etc.. which is what I plan on doing too, but what do you do before you can get online? Do you keep a little pad a paper to jot stuff down? Do you have an official food diary that you carry everywhere with you? Or do you plan your food before you eat it? This is the kind of advice I've been looking for, I've tried little notepads, but I tend to lose them. I'm curious to how a lot of you do it! :D. :D

Hmm... I had another question, but I guess I'll just ask it at another time.

I enter the foods I am gonna have for the day at sparkpeople.com at the beginning of my day.

I use the Daily Plate...it's more user friendly to me than any other one I have found. I usually plan before I go anywhere that I know I won't have immediate access to nutritional facts. and then I just kind of keep track in my head until I can get to a computer to log what I ate. I have a pretty good memory, so I don't worry about writing it down! I tried pads too, but I kept losing them and I found it tedious.

Hmm.. I like the idea of adding what i'm going to eat before i eat it to hold myself accountable. and then just leave some space if i'm unsure where i'm going to be.

and i remember my question! What would you have done differently in the beginning, of your weight loss journey?

I use a BodyMedia Fit (formally gowearfit) similar to a Bodybugg. It has its own food loging program. When I am "on the road" I have an app on my phone called lose it or sometimes I just use the notes section if I can't find a food or need to look something up.

I am NOT good about planning out the day ahead. but I do track everyday!

Another vote for Dailyplate. I plug it in early and if I have to I can easily alter to fit.

As for what I would do different...? I'd start earlier.

Or never get heavy to begin with. Har har.

I'm not logging food right now, but when I was, I would open up an email in the morning at work and log what I ate throughout the day. I'd then email it to myself at home and then log it all into My Plate at livestrong.com.

Hi congratulations on your weight loss!:congrat: I use different sources to track my calories...fitday, dailyplate, sparkpeople ect. I bought a pretty pink glittery small binder to keep up with my weight, daily diet, measurements and journal. I can't tell you how many times I look back at the weight loss section. I date the weigh ins. So during times it seems as if I have stalled real bad I can see a pattern that the weight loss will start back again. Some weeks I may lose 2lbs. some weeks 1 lb. some weeks 0. But I can see that it is continuing to go down. :carrot:
As for your question about what I would do different...Just realize how special and awesome it is to lose a pound. I have a 16 oz. bottle of lotion I keep on my computer desk to remind me that even one pound is huge! I will reach my goal one pound at a time!:cheer:

I use notepad on my computer and keep a running tally of my what I've eaten and I also use notepad to keep a running record of my daily totals. I don't know why but it's just easiest for me. I try to plan my meals out and will also keep a total on the calculator on my phone if I am out and about. If I am away from home and don't know the calorie counts for something I will write it all down and google the calories when I get home to see what different sites say for a calories count and then use the average of those sites. I know this way isn't for everyone but it works for me.

I have in the past used a little 59 cent notebook from the grocery store. (You know the kind that fits in your pocket.) The important thing is to track what you've eaten and keep the calorie count so you know how many calories you can eat and lose weight.

Hello Beautiful Days!

I like livestrong.com/myplate and also caloriecount.com. On an ideal day, I plan my food in advance and enter it in advance. This is the best way for me to stay on plan. If I don't plan my food in advance, I tend to wander around my kitchen thinking, what should I eat? what should I eat? That's never good! Planning snacks is particularly important for me.

Can't think of anything I wish I'd done differently...

I use fatsecret.com and the integrated calorie counter app on my droid! It makes it super easy because I always have my phone with me.

I track as I eat. I like the flexibility. I preplan much of my day mentally but I'm not bound to it.

On the weekend, I plan all my meals for the upcoming week using sparkpeople.com. Doing this, I know what to buy at the market, I know what foods to get out of the freezer at night to defrost for the next day, and it helps to prevent those "I'm starving what should I eat bad choice" moments. It also helps me to keep the mindset that Food Is Fuel. Food X may sound delicious, but I know that what my body really needs at that moment is what is on my plan.

I urge you to plan out your foods ahead of time. In advance. Know where each and every bite, lick, taste, crumb and sip is coming from ahead of time. Much easier to stay on plan when you've got one. Than you don't have to start thinking should I eat this or should I eat that. No. You should eat the healthy, tasty, foods that you decided in advance. Have it all prepared and good to go.

Another rule - don't put it in your mouth till it's written down. don't put it in your mouth till it's written down. Don't put it in your mouth till it's written down first - not after the fact, but first.

Set yourself up for success!! Plan, plan and than plan some more. Prepare, prepare, prepare. Write, write, write.

As for your question - I'm pretty pleased with the path that my journey has taken, right from the get go. The definition of insanity - doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result - so this time I did things differently - and got different results. The results I was looking for. You can't expect extraordinary results without taking extraordinary measures.

The only thing that I think I would have changed, and it's not at all about my food choices and what not - I would have taken my measurements. I am darn curious to know how many yards of me I lost. I didn't take them till half way through.

do you have an iphone? try lose it, it's a tracking app that doesn't require you to be on the internet. I think it's a great idea to plan your food intake in advance, but give yourself some wiggle room: life will get in the way and it's best to come at it with an open mind versus freak out because you are not following the 'plan.'

One thing I'd do differently is that I'd learn how much a serving of each food is and I'd spend a couple of days trying to figure out how many calories are in each thing. That helps me plan more easily and I can scrap my plan and change it and still stay within my limit. It's what I do know.

An other thing is that I would take it slower. I wouldn't try to change the way I ate so drastically and feel like a failure when I couldn't eat things that I avoided like the plague until that day.

I track mine as i eat. all day. But maybe before i eat is better

Like everyone else I try to plan my meals for the day the best I can and I put that in the Daily Plate in the morning. If something changes or I don't know what i'm having for dinner for instance I will visit it again that night or again the next morning. I keep track in my head I guess. If i wait longer than 12 hours I will forget though.
When I used to do this in excel (way back in the day) I kept a little pad of paper in my purse so I could jot things down after I ate.

I don't think I'd do anything differently this time around to start. I like the idea of going slow and steady in hopes of this being a life long journey and I won't regain everything I lost like i've done so many times in the past. In the past I would have changed not getting tired of tracking my food and giving up on losing more so going back to my old habits.

Good luck! :D

Yes.... it's better. It's much, much, much, much, much, much, much better. And wiser. And safer. And healthier. And simpler. And it will ensure your success that much more. BEFORE.

That sounds like a good rule.

This is a GREAT tip! I do this whenever I can. Like hhichick said, I have an idea of what my day will consist of, eating wise, but I'm not married to the idea of anything in particular. When I start feeling like I HAVE to eat something, I feel LESS in control and am more likely to eat something I shouldn't.

You can tweak what you're eating a little bit when you see it "on paper". Sometimes I'll log what I think I will eat, see how many calories it is and then I can decide to cut something back BEFORE i put it in my mouth (because once you throw it down you're gullet, you can't get it back -- at least not in a healthy way).

I keep a spreadsheet open at work where I can add up what I eat. So if I feel like going out for a latte or sandwich or whatever, I look up the calories first, and then see if that will fit into what I've already eaten. I try to stay to 1500 a day, and keep at least 500 for dinner.

If I do eat a bit more during the day, I balance it out with a lighter dinner. It's a ton of balancing for me, and knowing how many calories are in what I eat, and how many I have to "spend" on meals.

Thanks for everybody's support and guidance. From what I'm hearing it's good track what you eat BEFORE you eat it, so that's totally what I'm going to do tonight on Sparkpeople because I already have an account with them. I'll keep you guys posted to how it went. So excited! :carrot::broc::D

Yes, yes BEFORE. Just one other way to keep you firmly on track. And that's where you want to stay. You will find out fairly quickly that "the track" is a great place to be. The control, the sense of accomplishment, the knowing that you are doing right by your body feels incredible and then there's the unbelievable rewards that follow.

I'm so excited for you. You are going to do this!!! You are going to make this happen!!!! Hang on my dear, you're in for the ride of your life, better than you can possibly imagine. :smug:

I plan most days. This is a good way to start until you have a routine and cravings have reduced as a result of never giving in because they're not on your plan.

I plan my day first thing on FitDay. I also keep a little notebook in my purse that I keep track of my food throughout the day with, incase it changes from what I had planned and so I can keep track of what I had planned and so on. I also track my exercise, inches, and goals in my note book.

The beginning of the week, I write little exercise goals and food goals for myself and see if I accomplish them. I also keep track, in my notebook, of any irregularity when going to the bathroom or TOM or what have you so when I refer back I can know there were some factors that could affect the scale.

This may seem like too much, but organization has worked for me in the past so I'm trying it again.

I carry a little notebook with me and write down everything I consume along with my exercise for the day and thoughts. I can't keep online blogs or diaries up to date, so my notebook that fits in any purse works best for me. If I want something that isn't in my pre planned day, I look it up online at Calorie King or the brands website to see how many calories it is.

Well
i bought the book just haven't started writing in it yet. Reason. I just keep eating junk. Cookies popcorn etc.... I get so frustrated that I just give up and don't write it down.

I'm taking baby steps. I joined the gym 3 weeks ago and I've gone 3-4 times a week so thats a start. Next step .....start writing.

Thanks! Today was a success for the most part. I really liked how I could just eat what I put down last night and not have to think about it. I did go off a little bit, so I'm going to try and track breakfast, lunch, and a snack then track my dinner and if I can afford another snack later on that night when I'm tracking for the following day. I really hope this works, I'm getting really excited about it! Also, thank you for the kind words, this type of stuff gets me all warm inside and makes me want to work harder :hug: Thanks for the advice.

Hmm! I think I might start something like this but online. Like incorporate it into my blog more. Thanks for the idea!

Yes, writing it out before hand takes away the guess work later on. The thoughts of food stops spinning through your head. It's time to eat? Okay. what's it gonna be? Let me check. MUCH safer and easier.

But you can actually map out not just your meals, but snacks as well. Divide up your day. Breakfast is this many calories, lunch is this many and dinner is that many. And make certain to leave some calories for snacks. 2 or 3 of them in fact, even 4. Snacks are important. They keep you going. Just make certain they are good healthy, lower calorie ones. Ones that won't send you into a feeding frenzy and derail your efforts - 80 calorie fat free yogurt, cut up veggies with salsa, 100 calorie bag of popcorn., sugar free ices, laughing cow cheese wedge, sliced apple sprinkled with cinnamon, 25 frozen grapes, etc.

It's going to get much easier. You will see. You'll find foods that you will enjoy and be able to just turn to them. Right now you're still discovering them. Be creative. Think outside the box. Rethink what a treat is.

Keep us posted girlie. I'm looking forward to hearing more progress. One day at a time. One day better than the next. Get these good habits entrenched in you.

Embrace this healthy lifestyle. Become passionate about it. Fall in love with it. Transform your life. :)

In order for the writing to be affective, and man oh man is it a great tool, you will have to write everything and not stop. The good, the bad, the ugly. Everything, everything, everything. Stop letting yourself off the hook so easily. Push yourself. Take a no matter what attitude and see it through. Hold yourself accountable. Take responsibility.

According to many sources and I'm in full agreement, weight loss is 80 percent FOOD and *only* 20 percent exercise, so I urge you if you're going to take any steps that those steps should most definitely be in the food department. You can't out exercise overfeeding yourself. Exercise can't possibly burn enough calories to get the weight off of you.

You will have to get that food in check. It's the food. It's the food. It's the food.

At some point you will have to take some bigger steps, so that you get bigger results, or actually any results. It's very hard to do work and not see results. Kinda makes it feel as if it's not worth it. So kick it up a notch - and get some results going so that you will actually see your hard work paying off, which makes it easier to stick with. Make this hard thing easier. Do work that will produce results.

At some point you're going to have realize that the junk is just that - junk. And that you don't require it. You want better for yourself. It is doing you much more harm than good and it's just not worth it. The price is too high to remain eating it.

Mapping out your food schedule in advance is crucial to helping you avoiding that said junk. Have good foods on hand - get rid of the junk. Set some boundaries for yourself. Make the junk 100 percent off limits. Suck it up. Get past the wants. You don't have to have something just because you want it, not when you want something soooo much more - to be rid of the bad habits, to be rid of the weight and to have a better, more active, more fit, more productive, more joyous and less worry free life. :smug:

i use sparkpeople.com but i rarely use the actual site now that i found an app on my phone which made it 1000 times easier to track considering i have my phone with me 24/7.

it's so much easier to decide what to eat since i can go ahead and plug it in and see the calories therefore if it's too much i can skip it.

I have an iPhone and use the "Lose It" application. It has been so convenient to be able to record my food throughout the day. Much of my success is because of using a phone application to keep track. If you have any smart phone there are many applications out there to try.

I made up a spreadsheet on my computer that I print out each week. It includes every meal and snack, as well as my treadmill and other exercise, my water, and my meds. I plan my meals and exercise and then hand write the actual food eaten or exercise on my sheet. I keep the sheets in a notebook. It makes it really easy to check on previous weeks to see what helped me be successful. Whenever I stop logging, I stop losing.