I've been keeping a consistent food journal for the past 9 weeks. It's has been interesting in many good ways, one of which ended up relieving me of the stress of my upcoming vacation.. After I wrote the blogpost about not feeling like I had an "off switch" and worrying about leaving the comforts of my routine for so long I realized that my food journal held the answer to my worry.
I know the exact range of calories I need to eat to maintain my current bodyweight. It's true. It's not a mystery to me why I weigh what I weigh. If I want to lose weight I need to cut my daily calories and if I increase them I will gain weight...no mystery. This will not change because my physical location changes. Food journaling seems like work and no one wants to work while on vacation, isn't that the point? Last time I checked my scale doesn't take vacation! Some of you might think that food journaling on vacation seems like a big fat drag (no pun intended). Well, coming home 5-7-10 pounds heavier is a bigger drag. I'm not saying that I feel like I HAVE to food journal as a way of policing my eating, as I mentioned it's interesting and at the very least it is simply a gathering of data. (there's a reason why hotel rooms don't have bathroom scales!)
My plan is not to sweat the details, like the exact foods, but staying aware of simple portion sizes and calorie content of whatever kinds of foods I chose. As in my everyday life no foods are off limits. If I chose to have a pastry, or two, then it has to be accounted for. If I chose a big dinner then I have to plan on a light lunch....same approach as when I'm not away.....duh! As Mark always says "It's a meal, not a party!" My mindset is that our destination and the people that I get to spend time with are "the party"!
Here is video of our two friends who I hope to spend more time with this year, Judit (aka juci) and Aniko, swinging the beast.
Here I am with Andrea DuCAne and Haran (from Korea) in the picture above, taken at the RKC Hungary M & G last year.
I read somewhere: "your body keeps an accurate journal no matter what you write down".
ReplyDeleteUntil I started writing down what I ate, I really had no idea of the amount of food and calories I was taking in. It kind of brought me to reality.
Maribel,
ReplyDeleteOf course you body keeps an accurate count! We wear the evidence of it everyday!
It kills me when I talk with overweight people and the first thing they always, always, say is, "I eat pretty healthy"...come on, be serious!
But I know that most people, in this culture, have forgotten what that means.
Tracy,
ReplyDeletecheck your email please.
Love this post, Tracy! I had a long response typed out but Blogger is mocking me. :( I agree with 100%. We have to pay attention to the amount we eat if we want to get a lean, healthy body. If we don't, we'll see it later on the scale.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new DVD release!