Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Staying the Course: Nearing the End of Week 1 of Tracking and Managing Intake



This is Week 1 for me with regards to managing my food intake. 

I was going to write about how hard it is and all that, but in actuality, I'm ready. I'm ready to monitor my food intake. 

My tracking week is Friday to Friday. I admit to weighing myself every day that I go into the gym. I don't own a home scale, and I'm resisting getting one. It'll just make me crazy and when things go sour, be a source of anger. Not. Gonna. Doit.

Weighing more than once a week can be daunting as things fluctuate a lot. I'm going to keep telling myself that this is science. I'm just getting data. In any situation, you cannot effectively make long range decisions based on anecdotal evidence. It can give you some guidance, but not long range. 

Because I'm now using my body for scientific purposes, here's what's happening: 

According to My Fitness Pal, I need to be eating no more than 1820 calories a day without exercise. Technically, if I workout, I get a couple slices a bread, but that's it. My goal is to stay around that 1820 whether I exercise or not and see what happens. 

Daily numbers are showing a downward trend, but I can't tell you if that's going to work for the long haul so stay tuned. 

Here's what I know about tracking: it is the ONLY WAY TO GET VALID FEEDBACK on my eating habits! I KNOW this from years of experience. There's something empowering about getting on the scale and no matter what the number, knowing that my past behavior was one way or another. 

It really is the only way. 

People who lose weight and keep it off for the long term 100% report that they continue to TRACK and EXERCISE. 

My Fitness Pal also monitors micronutrients, but for now, I'm just going to focus on calories in/calories out. 

I'm also paying attention to my hunger levels. 

The real weigh-in is Friday.

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