Thursday, October 27, 2011

Keep on tracking!



Yesterday I wrote about how one of the components of my recommitment to weight loss, is to really be diligent with my tracking or food journaling. The good, the bad, the ugly is going to be written down. You have to own it before you can change it right? Well today one of the daily emails I get about nutrition, Joy Bauer's daily plum, cited this  recent study regarding food journals.

"Nutritionists and dieters have always known it, but now one of the largest and longest-running weight loss trials ever conducted proves it: food diaries work. Big time. The trial, known as the Weight Loss Maintenance trial, compared different approaches to maintaining weight loss over a period of 30 months, and found that subjects who kept a daily food diary lost twice as much weight as those who didn't."
FatSecret
When you think about it, it's simple to do and easy. Write it down. I'm trying very hard to be diligent with this. I write on my tracker, but also use fatsecret.com, and the tap and track on my ipad or droid.  The site www.myfitnesspal that Dawn uses is also great. I just started with fatsecret.com and for some reason the myfitness pal app doesn't go full screen on my ipad. I love to keep that on the kitchen counter ready to go. www.fatsecret.com also reminds you to weigh in weekly with a friendly email reminder. As if we need a reminder right?? I'm on and off that scale so much, scanning the numbers for any change in the right direction. Obsessive...I think not! Just diligently keeping track!

Enjoy the rest of the week. Hugs to you all from me!

Thought for the day: "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
 
 

8 comments:

  1. You are so right! It's the small bites here and there that I forget to track that keep me off track. If I could just stop that, I'd be golden!

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  2. Fitness Pal does look great. I love that Dawn links to it from her blog! Tracking is really key while you are losing Pattie, I could not agree more.

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  3. I think the reason that it is so important is that it really does keep you more accountable. Sometimes we think that we really aren't doing that bad and yet if we added up all the little extra bites all day, they take us over count. I am really lucky that I don't snack. I think that saves me a lot of S/C points. You also have to decide if that bite is worth it if you have to go write it down:) I'm also excited because if I do go off track, I can look back at my journal and see what I ate in the beginning. I will have to look at those sites. Pen and paper is my speed:)
    You are doing great! Blog everyday:) I will read it happily!

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  4. So true! WW is big on tracking & I have made it a daily habit. "If you bite it, write it"! I find that when I am lax on tracking, I am lax on my plan & usually go over my allotted points for the day. I usually tracck my next day the night befire in pencil & adjust if something changes. Sometimes I will pack something for lunch & not eat it or I will eat something & I adjust it in my points budget. Its all good my friend! Keep on keepin on! :)

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  5. Tracking is definitely a key component to losing weight. It really helped me to lose what I did by tracking. You are doing great Pattie.
    Have a great day :-)

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  6. Tracking is the key and I need to get back to it for sure. I think if you dont you are sure to eat over the amount you are allowed for the day and the scale will show it.

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  7. Maybe I should start tracking...hmmm. Something to think about. Love your thought of the day...so true.

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  8. It's funny that you wrote about tracking right when I got lazy and took a break from it for a few days. I have been doing it all along though and it is a good idea.

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