Friday I was on fire. Got up at 445 a.m., was out for a 2 mile walk by 5 a.m., and returned 33:28 minutes later. That my friends, is a new PR for my neighborhood loop. While I have met my weekly goal for exercise this week, I intend to get in another round of cardio today, not sure what but we'll get something in.
Food was good. Surprisingly, I ended up at Applebee's again today, that is twice in three days. I took the afternoon off work to hang out with my wife. Our afternoon included her doctors appointment so we went out to lunch, Applebee's is close to the docs, so that's how I ended up back at a place I am not a huge fan of. Had something off of their WW menu this time, a salad, which was Ok. Why do chicken breasts in these 'casual dining' places come out so bland and blah?
As promised yesterday's log looked like this....
5a - Exercise: 2 Mile Walk (Neighborhood Loop, 33:28)
6a - Tomato Juice, Pumpkin Flax Granola, Milk, Grapes (I put the grapes in my cereal, see below, what - they are just big raisins :-)
10a - Apple
1230p - Applebees: Paradise Chicken Salad
330p - Cherries
715p - Two Scrambled Eggs w/ Ham & Cheese (we had breakfast for dinner), Coleslaw
745p - One Small Square of Dark Chocolate
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| grapes in my granola, so good! |
Food Log, this week I have focused allot on my food log as intended when I committed to doing so this past Monday. Up top there you see a picture of what my actual hand written food log looks like. That shot is from earlier this week, Monday & Tuesday. That is as much detail as I keep daily. My purpose for this log, make it look green... want all of the food entries to be GREEN.
Why green, well I have a bit of old school in me, so I write with one of those BIC 4-Color ballpoint pens; and I use all 4 colors. For my log I use then as follows:
Black ink is for exercise entries
Green ink is for meals/snacks that are well balanced and portioned
Blue ink is for meals/snacks that are just OK, pushing the envelope on balance and portion
Red ink is for meals/snacks where I have missed the mark entirely in terms of healthy balance & portion
Here is an example of a day that is not all green...
These are the entries for Wednesday & Thursday this week. Thursday's dinner was blue because I pushed the envelope of good portion & balance buy having grilled wings and a burger patty. I didn't need that patty, I almost made this entry red. There was no confusion on what color to make my choice at 830 p.m. to eat an ice cream bar. Forget that it was a 100 calorie WW choice, even though it was better than a trip to Dairy Queen, I didn't really need it; I just caved into my gut saying feed me! So red for that entry.
Ok, I can't go on much more about my food log, I'd hate to bore you into an adhoc slumber on a Saturday.
Do you keep a food log?
Do you keep it on paper or online?
Do you keep it in greater detail e.g. nutrient grams?
Do you believe it helps you in your own mission?
Hmm, suddenly feeling like some doo-wop music.
Have an most totally bodacious and supreme Saturday!
Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!
Posts
I made some of my food journals into PDFs that you can download. (I'm a dork, I know.) Here's what they look like:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.phoenixrevolution.net/archives/61
I think food journaling is VERY IMPORTANT and it's great that you write it all down every day! I totally love the color coordination too. I get that. Brilliant. I luvs me some patrick!
I love your idea for a color coded food journal. I do my journaling on line using the Weight Watchers E-tools. I have an app on my phone that allows me to track and is synced (sp?) with my online journal. I also keep a photographic record on my blog. I have read that people who keep some kind of a food diary are more successful in their attempts to lose and maintain their losses.
ReplyDeleteYes i keep a daily journal. And yes i also have a blog in which i only have pictures of my food.
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ReplyDeleteSorry for the delete, I am currenly logging on myfitnesspal.com. I like how it works and I am really keeping and eye on my protein, carbs and fat.
ReplyDeleteCONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A new PR. Wonderful Patrick! Thx for answering questions too! Cool to read that!
ReplyDeleteI do not log food any more as I have been at this so long BUT if I add something new in, I measure it first for portion size & do that for a few times until I have the visual & can it without measuring.
Have a good one!
Yes, I think keeping a daily food journel is key. I keep one in my purse and then keep a daily Blog journel to stay inspired! Love your Blog.
ReplyDeleteLike Ron I also use myfitnesspal.com I like how it works since there are individual foods and also some restaurant plates in the database as well. I could never record my foods for more than a week. Granted I have skipped a few days and did none on vacation but I've used that website since the end of April a record for me. I concentrate on calories. I think it helps me really figure out how to use my calories. Like if I'm going out to dinner I make sure to have 500 to 700 cals available where at home for dinner I can do with about 400.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm feeling rocky about my food--portion wise or choice wise, I'll keep track on WW e-tools. I like it because it recognized my plan (CORE, simply filling) and records it with the appropriate # of WW points. Usually I don't record. I do keep a journal though. I record my weight, fat% and water% (as recorded on my Tanita scale) My BP always is higher at medical appointments and was once borderline high, so I record my BP and heart rate several days a week. I also record my daily exercise. I note my body measurements twice a month, and I record my weight on the 11th of each month on a separate page. Occasionally, 3 or 4 times a month I will write a paragraph or two of what I'm doing, how I'm feeling, what's happening in my life. I've done this for over two years now, and these are very interesting (to me anyway) to see how they correspond to my progress or lack thereof. Great job on the PR, Patrick. Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteI use LoseIT on my iPhone. I love it because I can keep it with me and enter food when I eat rather than trying to remember it later. The program tracks nutritional content and I can run reports whenever I want. Plus it has a friend option that I use w/ my BFF so we can see if we're going over our calorie allotment and what we're doing for exercise. It also shows our weigh ins so we can see each other's progress.
ReplyDeleteI track my exercise there and I have a hand written journal on my exercise in my exercise room.
I like your color-coding system. Keep up the good work!!
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