Sooooooo... well... *look around guiltily*
Truth be told, Sunday's weigh in, which initiated my little burst of indignation, was following a friend's call for support in her own effort to get back "on track". Call which I gladly took, first and foremost because I really do care for her a lot and would do pretty much anything to help her out, but also because I had a feeling that my own lifestyle was slightly slipping. Not badly mind you, I'm too good for that, just thought that here and there, I was slowly adding a snack or two which wasn't the most effective way to stay on track.
With that in mind, I stepped on the scale expecting my weight to be on the high edge of my usual maintenance range, a sort of "get your ass back in the game" kind of weigh in. Surprise, surprise! I was past a number which I hadn't seen in months if not years. Nothing horrible, I have lost 70 lbs and am nowhere near getting even close of maybe gaining it back, but high enough to make me weigh in 4 times in a row. "That cannot be right..." It was!
So I got angry, I got depressed, and then I got myself a plan! I trotted out my tracker and got busy! Here's what my tracker looks like:
The black line in there is a desk calendar plastic
corner I use to hold my page.
It's a Moleskin which I paid entirely too much for, but it's perfect for what I want to do:
- It opens on the short side, making it easier to open and to keep open.
- Pages are big, so I can use the recto for tracking, and the verso of the previous day to make notes, write recipes, detail my work out, or make shopping lists.
- It's hard cover, so writing on the go is easier both on the recto and the verso.
- There's an elastic band that keeps it closed, and that I also use to keep my pen close by.
- It's very thin, doesn't overtake my purse.
- There's a little pocket in the back where I can keep my gym schedules.
- It's very nice and sophisticated looking (or was when I got it, it's getting beaten up).
So there! It is big, it is expensive for a notebook, but it works for me!
Tracking is not only a way to "stay on track" for me, but it's a way to really slow me down and force me to think about what I am doing. Do I really need this? Am I eating it because I'm hungry? Or because I'm bored?
People who do not have compulsive tendencies will not understand how important monitoring your behaviors is, how actually relaxing and healing it feels to know what you are doing, and how it impacts you directly. It's not a headache for me to monitor myself, it's a freeing experience. I know what I'm doing, I know where I go wrong, and I can easily adjust if needed.
When I'm not tracking, I don't know. I feel like I'm doing everything right, and nothing is working. How frustrating is that? I'm working out like a fiend, but I'm not improving. Worst, I go directly from being overly strict to I don't give a falala, back to being super strict and it goes back and forth with food and activity until I end up hurting myself at the gym, or eating my way through an entire box of crackers. Not a good outcome.
There's a "reset moment" of when I sit down and prepare my tracker for the week. Because I use a notebook, I prepare each tracking page for the coming week on the weekend, so that I have it nice and ready. Having to put everything together could be an excuse to not track. Then all I have to do is fill the blanks. Easy easy!
Today I'm home, so I'm eating fewer (and bigger)
snacks and meals.
Having that extra page for notes, recipes, or whatever I want to write about is very helpful. Often I put together a recipe on the spur of the moment, and it turns out delicious, writing it down in my tracker permits me to count it accurately, but also to do it again, or to blog about it later without forgetting anything.
There's a work out plan and 2 recipes there. Both
delicious I must say!
Like anything else, it's not about perfection, it's about persistence. Some days I track every single bit as they happen, and detail every single morsel. Some days, not so much. I know that if I track what I eat and what I do, I am happier, more relax, more in control. I am successful and motivated. Sounds like a good reason to keep tracking doesn't it?
I lost 70 lbs, in less than 9 months by tracking every bit, every piece, every sip, every move. It works for me, that's all I need to know.
Be good n stuff!
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