Tracking food and exercise

You will always find me with a notebook and a pen or sometimes I am using my laptop/tablet...I am always used to putting down my thoughts so when I read about writing down my food and exercise it was not too much of a hassle for me. In fact journaling was one of the easier things of weight loss for me but I noticed for a lot of people it’s difficult, they find it tedious. I have had many people saying they don’t agree with tracking food this post is about why I feel tracking food & my workouts helps me

1. You really don’t know how much you are eating or working out  till you don’t note everything :  Every time I would start a new plan the only thing I would keep in mind is the date I started my plan and the actual plan then after a month I would look forward to great result without realising in the last month there were many days when I was side tracked. Days when instead of working out for 1 hr I would get back home in half hour but in my mind I was still on track. There were days when I would have a muffin or nibble on something unhealthy without realising that I was not sticking to my plan because in my mind was still eating properly for the remaining meals or because I was still eating less than I used to but the fact was I was again not on track. All this would definitely reflect in my results and the result would never be as expected because my effort was never as planned. From the time I started writing down everything I could judge my results properly based on my actual effort, instead of being disappointed I was usually happier because I was measuring the actual effort rather than imagining one.
2. Get to know yourself better : There are days when I don’t feel like working out or days when I have less self control or I find it easier to give up on certain things than others. When I started tracking everything down I realized I was eating more bread than I imagined (eggs and bread, soup and bread, salad and bread so I was eating healthy accompanied with lots of unhealthy bread). Even now I noticed I have no control over eating nuts and dates. I know they are healthy but I can eat the entire packet without even realizing. I noticed I prefer working out when I know what I have planned I am not used to working out without a plan, if I have no plan I find it difficult to get a workout done. Also I know there are certain times during the day when I want to eat something sweet so I will always keep something healthy and sweet around to avoid eating something unhealthy.Because of noting everything down I learned all this new stuff about myself and it has helped me with making plans which are easier for me to follow.Noting everything down helped me understand my triggers and patterns. I understood myself better.
3. It’s like a daily report : At end of my day I can see where I went wrong or where I did better and I can use this to improve the next day.Everyday becomes a new day to do my best.

Is it really tedious? 

No it’s not. You don’t have to start with writing down calories or the detailed nutrient list. Start with just noting down everything you eat. Once you are used to just writing down your food then start with adding details. Usually most of us stick to our eating habits so after a few months you will know your calories too or if you don’t like writing things down use one of the Mobile apps (I use MyFitnessPal, CardioTrainer & most recently Fitbit). For me it definitely worth the little effort.

What do you think? Do you agree with noting your food and workouts or do you use some other means to stay on track?

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Tanvee