Food Journal

(we got this photo here)

One thing that our hunkalicious trainer is really big on is food journaling. He asks us to write down everything that we eat and drink every single day. 

Let me preface by telling you that I have never balanced my own check book in my life. 

It's not because I can't add and subtract, but merely because it would mean that I had to be accountable for every check and debit card purchase I made. I have always known how much money I had and kept a running total in my head. It has worked fine for me all these years and I felt that journaling food was the same idea. Mike gave me a total calorie intake for the day and I just figured that I could do the same thing as I did with my check register. 

I quickly found out that not only was Mike not going to allow this, but it isn't very effective with weight loss. 

Once I started journaling, I was more aware of what I was eating, how much I was eating and the balance of the foods I was choosing. I was actually losing weight. A lot of times I chose not to eat things because I was just too lazy to log it. With weight loss there isn't room for error. There is no savings account to draw from when you over eat! Once you have used your calories, you are done. No amount of exercise can really compensate for over eating. Even with as much as we were working out we still kept to a certain calorie intake. Sometimes we were allowed a little more, but mostly we stuck to the plan. 

My best friend became a trusty little app called MyFitnessPal (I am not affiliated with this co, it's just my fav). It's amazing. There are a lot of different apps for food journaling, but this app is my favorite and it's free. Free is always good. It is like having a food coach in your pocket at all times as long as you make the effort to use it. As far as effort goes, it is very minimal. So, try journaling your food for a week and you will be surprised how easy it is! A heck of a lot easier than keeping a check register!

(When I was looking for a picture to include in this post, I found a great article that explains the relationship between exercise and good eating. It's not too long and I have no idea what this girl's background is, but I liked the article and agree with what she has to say).

http://www.bodyoverhall.com/2012/07/the-power-of-a-food-journal/