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food journal

Did You Forget These Calories?

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Are you keeping a record – virtual, written, or in your noggin – of how may calories you’re eating?

Even if you’re not (and some people find it very hard to do – actually loathe doing it) you probably take note of what you eat each day – at least most of what you eat.  But, all of us have things that we eat, and consequently calories we take in, that easily slip being added to our mental or written calorie ledger sheet. The reasons for the oversight vary but either:

  • we truly forget
  • we find keeping track of them to be an onerous task
  • we don’t want to address the fact that we ate what we did.

Calories That Are Way Too Easy to Forget

There are some kinds of calories that are particularly easy to forget.  Here’s some ideas – perhaps you’d like to take the opportunity to think about the mindless, sneaky calories in your life.

It’s easy to forget to include the calories in:

  • the candy bar you buy at the gas station and eat it in the car
  • the 3 tootsie rolls you snagged from the receptionist’s desk
  • the couple of samples of cheesecake at Costco
  • the crusts of the grilled cheese sandwich or the ends of the pizza that you finished from your child’s plate
  • the cookie batter you tasted and the dough you licked from the bowl and beaters
  • the leftovers you polished off because there was too small an amount to save
  • the  extra hors d’oeuvre you mindlessly popped into your mouth
  • the ice cream you licked from your child’s ice cream cone to prevent it from falling on the street
  • the peanuts and goldfish you nibbled on at the bar
  • the bread you practically inhaled from the breadbasket
  • the glass of juice from the fridge in the snack room
  • the extra coffee and cream in your tea and coffee
  • the extra wine in your glass that is half again the size of a “regular” portion
  • those “I’ll just have half a cookie” moments

How many more can you add?

This article is part of the 30 day series of blog posts called: 30 Easy Tips for Looser Pants and Excellent Energy.

What Are Your Eating Triggers?

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Is it almost a foregone conclusion that you’ll stuff yourself to the gills when you go home to your parents’ house for holidays or other events?  Is it almost impossible for you to navigate your office without stopping at the snack room and the receptionist’s desk to sample the never-ending array of holiday specialties or someone’s birthday cake?  What about the routine lunch for a not-so-good friend that makes you go home and eat a pint of ice cream?

Know Your Triggers

Most of us can name situations that make us want to eat.  Sometimes it takes  dedicated thought to precisely identify what it is that starts the cascade of events that leads to not just wanting to eat, but the feeling that you absolutely must have a particular food — sometimes in large quantities.  Keeping a food journal where you record not only what you ate but the environment and what was going on while you were eating can help you identify the causative factors.

Sometimes those triggers are big red flags – for instance you know that having a piece of pecan pie — or any other sweet food for dessert at lunch will trigger nibbling on candy at the office the rest of the afternoon. But do you eat it anyway?

Or, do you intentionally go to store A instead of store B for a cup of coffee because you know store A always has lots of free samples of freshly baked cake and cookies?  Do you know that if cookies are in the cupboard and ice cream is in the freezer that you will sooner, rather than later, eat it?

Which Foods And Environments Are Your Red Flags?

Be honest 
with yourself and admit that certain foods and environments are red flags for you.   I know that I can’t have cookies in my house and I also know that I tend to overeat at family events.

There’s no reason to psychoanalyze why certain foods or situations act as your triggers.  Just know which particular things serve as your red flags — your triggers — and have strategies in place to deal with them.

Calories Don’t Count When . . .

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  • You buy a candy bar at the gas station and eat it in the car
  • You snag 3 tootsie rolls from the receptionist’s desk
  • You grab a couple of samples of cheesecake at Costco
  • You finish your child’s grilled cheese sandwich
  • You taste the cookie batter and lick the bowl and beaters
  • You finish the leftovers because there’s too small an amount to save

How many more can you add?

Calories Do Count

Obviously, the calories do count, it’s just that all too frequently we neglect to add them – remember them – or acknowledge them (that would mean having to admit that you ate that candy bar).

That’s why a food journal can help with weight management.  By writing down everything that you eat – not at the end of the day but when you eat it  – you’re forced to acknowledge all of the random food that you either mindfully or mindlessly pop into your mouth.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest uses frozen yogurt to illustrate how mindlessly adding toppings adds a whopping amount of calories to what might be thought of as a healthy food.

“Let’s say you start with just 200 to 300 calories’ worth of frozen yogurt. (That’s a medium or regular at places like Red Mango, Pinkberry, or TCBY.)

But then the toppings call out. Forget the chocolate chips (80 calories per scoop), the gummy bears (80), and the Oreo pieces (60). Even the ‘healthy’ toppings like granola (60 calories), nuts (100), and ‘yogurt’ chips (100) pile on the calories.”

Think about it:  when don’t your calories count?

Diet Diary

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I will lose 20 pounds.  If only saying it could make it happen.

Recent research shows that keeping a food diary can help. According to a study, people who write down everything they eat each day lose twice as much as those who don’t.clip_image002_0001

Nearly 1,700 people participated in a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/podcasts.cfm?id=60-second-science , (July 11, 2008). They followed a heart-healthy diet full of fruit, vegetables, and low-fat or nonfat dairy;  attended weekly group sessions; and exercised moderately for 30 minutes a day. After six months nearly two-thirds had lost at least nine pounds. The biggest surprise came from the food logs — people who kept track of what they ate lost twice as much as those who didn’t.

Why should you write down what you eat?

It helps you remember what you’ve consumed. Your short-term memory (your active memory) stores info for about 18 seconds. That’s why it’s important to write down what you ate right away.  You forget – or overlook – if you wait until the end of the day.  You mean you forgot about the candy bar you bought when you stopped for gas?

It creates a record of what you consumed. It’s way too easy to forget the candy you snagged from the bowl on someone’s desk or the rest of the grilled cheese sandwich you ate off of your son’s plate.

It shows you’re serious. Putting your goals on paper takes them from thought to commitment.

A written record keeps you accountable. At the end of the day you have to account for your actions to yourself.  Seeing what you’ve eaten in writing makes it a lot harder to lie to yourself.

It can help you to spot patterns. You may not even realize that you routinely hit the vending machine every day at 11AM and 3PM – or that your car always navigates its way past the donut shop for your glazed chocolate fix on the way home.

Seeing what, how much, and when you’re eating can be a real eye opener and the key to a strategic eating plan to fit your lifestyle.