Food Logging.

So many people shy away from food logging.  Yes, it's a pain.  Yes, it takes time.  Yes, you can find the time to DO IT.

Honestly, it takes a few minutes out of your day using a site like MyFitnessPal.com and is so worth it.  The basic to any budget is to start tracking your spending; the basic of any weight loss is to start tracking your food.  If you don't truly know the breakdown of calories, carbs, sodium, etc of what you are eating you have NO way of controlling your weight.

It was a lesson that repeated itself for me this week.  I haven't lost any weight this week.  I didn't gain, but I haven't lost.  I log every bite religiously and I remember a day or two of going over my daily allotment of carbs this week but I didn't remember anything excessive.  Just to make sure I pulled the report from my fitness pal showing what I ate over the last 7 days.  FOUR out of the last seven days were over my carb allotment.  That's WAY more than I remember and it's exactly why I didn't lose weight. 

Today I sat down and planned out the next few days of meals and snacks to be sure I was under my numbers.  If you don't write it down, you can't be SURE of what you are eating.

Planning is another way that food logging is useful.  I have my meals planned out for the next few days but today at lunch I had a hankering for Chicken Tortilla Soup from the cafeteria.  I logged onto myfitnesspal.com and ran the numbers.  It put me way over my sodium for the day.  I fiddled with my dinner and snacks trying to force that round peg into a square hole but it just wouldn't fit.  There was no way I could fit that soup into my day with the food I have available for dinner without exceeding either carbs or sodium.  NO SOUP FOR ME!  Without logging I would definitely wind up exceeding my numbers for either carbs or sodium today when I got that soup. 

I do log every bite.  Every hard candy that I pop in my mouth and any mindless bite has to be accounted for so that it stops being mindless.  One of those days that I went over on my carbs was shopping day.  I picked up bulk candy for the bowl at work and grabbed myself a little sugared orange jelly candy.  Just one, and ate it on the way home from the store.  It was delicious and wonderful and that little tiny jelly candy added the carbs that put me over that day. 

I think that once people start honestly (that is key) logging their daily intake they become really surprised exactly how much they are consuming.