Friday, June 11, 2010

Dear {Diet} Diary...

I can already feel CC groaning and rolling her eyes at me and my post. She thinks I have an eating disorder.

Do any of you out there keep a diet journal? Or heard of one? Apparently keeping track of everything you eat helps you lose weight much faster? I'm not sure but my sister told me. I started one to help me maintain my weight and improve my eating habits. I eat small meals but tend to snack a lot in between so I end up eating a lot of calories per day; most of them consisting of empty calories coming from junk food. So I end up gaining weight easily.

I've been doing it for about 10 days. And I definitely noticed a difference in my eating habits. Knowing that I'll HAVE to write it down in the journal made me think twice before eating. It make me assess whether I am really hungry or eating out of sheer boredom- something I tend to do. Plus, I also set a daily calorie requirement and I know when I'm getting near the limit. Mine kind of looks like this. I couldn't get the picture on here.

I also keep a daily record of my weight. So far so good. It's not hard and doesn't take much effort. I carry a little notebook with me wherever I go and add on to it after eating. I can hear CC calling me a loser now. Oh, but I HAVE to take it with me, because then it's all "out of sight out of mind" and I end up eating so much and not remembering how much of what I ate. Then I can't do an accurate estimate of calories consumed. I think they have online journals where it adds the calories for you. But I prefer doing it on my own, because I don't have internet on my phone I can take a little book with me everywhere.

Have any of you tried this? Would you want to try it? Personally, I think it's great for what I'm trying to do and also dieters. I'll keep this up and let you know how it goes in a few weeks - months.

10 comments:

Farnnay said...

I think its kinda cute that you do that :)

Mark said...

Creating awareness is always an eye opener and it helps us to truly understand what we are doing and the impact it is having. Sounds like you are doing great.

Muslim Girl said...

Lol @ CA's comment :)

I think it's great that you do that! You are taking the initiative to control what you can instead of sitting on your ____ and eating away ;) I actually might do this when the need arises as well, so thanks!

Irie said...

I've never tried it, but I may...hm.

I've always had weight issues, and kind of just resigned to always having them...maybe I can actually do something about it since I'm on vacation anyway. I brought runners with me, so hmmmm....

LadyNansei said...

Although that is kind of weird it's pretty smart to keep controll of your eating like that

Rationality said...

Hello FU;
It’s nice to care about weight and follow a diet program but don’t you think that you are kinda obsessed? Especially when you said that you used to take a note book with you wherever you go, for checking up the calories you gained.
Well.. Having green tea with ginger is good for losing weight besides its healthy, try it. wish you get the graceful body you are aiming at :)
Have a good day

thenerdqueen said...

Hmm. That seems to be waaaay to much effort for it to be something that I could see myself doing, but then I'm generally to lazy to make myself food anyway. I found that having a retainer really helped cut down snacking (because taking out a retainer is much more troublesome than just not eating in the first place) as did having a list of alternative activities to do when I got bored.

Sana said...

CA: <3

Mark: I agree. And I feel a lot healthier, too! I noticed I think twice before reaching for chocolate and opt for healthier food choices.

Muslim Girl: Yeah, I'm glad I started this even though it not for dieting. I feel so much better, knowing I'm putting healthier food inside me. And the involuntary, unconscious snacking has gone down immensely so I actually know WHAT I am eating. :)

Irendi: I've always been going up and down with my weight since I love food a lot. But I also get self-conscious when I gain weight, so I'm dieting half the time. This, hopefully will help me avoid that. :)

Be: thanks :)

Rationality: Oh, I am obsessed with staying at the weight I am. sadly, it's true. I've been up and down a lot and dieting very often in order to stay down. I am fine with my current weight. I'm trying to figure out a new way to maintain it. I'm just trying to form new habits and this is helping me get there. :)

thenerdqueen: lol. :) I'm lazy, too. I thought I'd be too lazy to do this, but I finally started it and it's not so bad. But this alternate activities list sounds good like a good plan, too.

Anonymous said...

I've wanted to try this for the longgessst time. I've done it once or twice and then I forgot about it. It's so hard to figure out the calories of desi food! Tell me how you calculate that.

MaryAnne said...

The reason I would do a diet journal would be to also record how I feel each day. To eat something and truly recognize what it is effecting in our body (energy levels, less/more sleep required to regain energy, quick bowel movements or lack of- ooh gross I know but stay with me here) is a great way to learn how to properly use fuel for our bodies.

As far as logging weight, I'd rather log inches (waste, thighs, hips).

I think it's great!