Showing posts with label food journal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food journal. Show all posts

Monday, September 29, 2014

PLAN FOR SUCCESS

Posted by whatsapp status on September 29, 2014 with No comments
Having a plan is so important in our success in life and health.  I think this quote says it well: “A goal without a plan is just a wish.”  When something is planned out and written down, not only is the motivation kicked up, but also the personal challenge to reach that goal increased.  Besides, it is a written plan right in front of our face, and not something that we are only thinking about and may put into place someday.  See the difference?  If we are good stewards of our money for example, we are budgeting for expenses with our income and successfully paying our mortgages, rents, and overall bills.  Without that budget plan in place, I am sure we can all agree a huge financial mess would be the result of our irresponsibility.  Planning takes responsibility and a commitment to do what is best for our life and health.  Failing to plan sets us up for failure. 



Let’s get back to the plan and what it takes to put a health related goal into place.  I highly recommend an accountability journal to plan out strategies for exercise scheduling and also a healthy food tracking area to record food intake daily.  I also like to keep track of water intake, sleep and my overall mental game.  Tracking your weight on a scale one time per week is also motivational to see your progress and to ensure that the plan is working.  When the plan fails to function, it is never the goal that changes, but the plan or program.  Finding what works for each of us is a trial, error and fine tuning of our plan until we see the results of our investments. Just as it is exciting to pay down debt with a responsible budget plan, it is equally or even more exciting to reduce our waist lines through our commitment to the plan of adopting a healthy lifestyle. 



Everybody understands the need and importance of money to support our lives and my goal is to convey that our health banks are even more important. Imagine not balancing our checkbooks and leaving out transactions each day to the point of not knowing the balance.  Accounts would be overdrawn, additional fees paid, collectors knocking at the door, and stress increased tenfold.  That same analogy can be applied to our daily exercise and food intake.  If we do not balance our food intake, write down what is consumed, or never record our exercise expenditure, we are setting ourselves up for weight gain, increased risk of disease and illness, increased stress, and eventually doctors knocking at the door. Looking at how important a plan is for success in these terms should motivate all of us to implement them today. 

Living a healthy life is not a guessing game or a wish and we are only kidding ourselves when we run around without a plan.  Success comes when daily habits of eating healthy and moving our bodies are made a planned priority. Do we sweep our money responsibilities under the rug?  Well, I suppose some may but the outcome is always an unhealthy consequence in doing so.  How much more important is our health and that so many people do just that, sweep it under the rug.  Let’s turn the goals of obtaining a fit body into more than just a wish by starting today with a plan for adopting a healthy lifestyle. 


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Be well and Stay Healthy 

Friday, August 15, 2014

THE FOOD JOURNAL DILEMMA

Posted by whatsapp status on August 15, 2014 with No comments
The dreaded food journal can be your best friend and accountability partner when it comes to implementing a healthy nutrition program.  I have heard it all when it comes to fitness and food journals and the love/hate relationship that keeping track of food intake can cause. The problem is really not the food journal, but it is the issue of not being honest with ourselves.  When life is going great and our program is on track, we gladly write down every healthy morsel placed in our face with a smile and will even share the exciting events that are producing the positive results.  

On the other side of that coin is the need to hide or even toss our journals to the curb as temptations to go “off plan” creep into the program.  It is almost as if we convince ourselves that being unhealthy is not happening if it is not written down in the journal.  Believe me, you can run but your body will not hide the consequences of unhealthy choices.  The fact is the food journal wants to know all the dirty little secrets whirling around in our heads: our thoughts, if we are having triggers, cycle approaching, crappy day, or anything else that may send us into an unhealthy eating pattern.  Often times using the food journal as an emotional outlet helps to resolve behaviors that may occur, and allows us to get back on track sooner than later.

Giving our food journal the stink eye for poor food choices is not where that stare should be placed.  Living a healthy lifestyle is a personal choice and responsibility that we all need to realize.  If our fitness programs are off track that is on each of us and we need to own the consequences of those choices.  Keeping secrets from our food journal does nothing to help in a positive way, and in fact will prevent us from reaching the goals of a healthy body.

We can come up with all kinds of reasons to not journal our food intake: pain in the ass, waste of time, it’s not working, controls me too much, refuse to feel micromanaged, and the list goes on.  The food journal needs to stop getting the bad rap for our poor food choices, and the fact that it is not working is about the dishonesty that is occurring when we cheat on the journals.  Studies have shown weight loss success and overall health improvement when food and fitness journals are in place.  It is our unwillingness to take our health seriously that prevents us from reaching our goals.  When we cheat on the food journal we only cheat ourselves and it is true “what we eat in private, we wear in public”. Also, we are walking bill boards of the type of life we live, healthy or unhealthy.



We have the choice to view the food journal as friend or foe, and that choice will determine how serious we want to reach our goals and live a healthy life.  If we view the food journal as a friend that will always be there and never let us down, the success rate of weight loss and overall health improvement would increase by a great margin.  I believe it is time to do what we can to be accountable to a healthy lifestyle and although it may be difficult to see the real stuff behind our choices when we journal, it is necessary to make the changes that will get us going in a healthy direction.  Friends should be able to offer constructive criticism and have it be accepted in a positive way without defensiveness.  The food journal is there to do that very thing: show you what has gone wrong, where you can improve, and ultimately help you make better choices for living a healthy lifestyle. 



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Stay Healthy!



Darla