The point off keeping a food journal is the consistency of the effort. You can measure how well you are keeping to your plan, over a really long term. If you have a good week, or a bad week, that all fits in and you can track it. It gives you total awareness of how you are acting and how the consequences show up.
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – 2/3 cup yogurt (125); 2 tablespoons strawberry preserves (70); 34g waffle (100) Johnsonville bratwurst (260); flatbread piece (45)
- 610 calories
Lunch – 8oz chili (400); 1oz chips (140); pretzels and cheese (300); Klondike bar (250)
- 1090 calories
Dinner – pizza (200); noodles and jambalaya (600); Snickers ice cream bar (180); Twix ice cream bar (160); 3/4 Cup ice cream (250); 1 cup cereal and milk (400)
- 100 calories
Snacking – cookie (100); chocolate (200)
- 300 calories
Total for the day: 3800 calories (limit 1800)
A regular occurence
Today I may have had a few more calories than was good for me. The usual excuses apply – it was a tough day, I didn’t get a lot of sleep, a stressful 4 hour drive in the rain, and bad meal planning and management. The point is, it happens. The question is always, what do you do now?
You should not be mad at yourself or punish yourself. Look at me. I have lost 65 pounds and should be rewarded for my success, not punished for a bad day. I have proven that I will recover, and pretty quickly. Trying to make up the calories tomorrow would be foolish and counterproductive. Bad days and bad weeks happen with some frequency. I will easily reorient myself, learn and move on. The weight loss will continue. I have said before that I don’t have the kind of willpower that can make myself act perfectly. But I can learn, in time. Keep yourself focused on what you can become and what good you can do. Nobody will do it for you, but you can get a lot of it done yourself if you figure yourself out.
What do you do now? Why, tomorrow is a new day. It is a new day where you can get things to go right. Based on past experience, I won’t be hungry tomorrow for a meal or two. My plan is to watch myself carefully and eat when I get hungry. That is, after all, always my plan.
-The Doctor