Hard Days - Log your food tips

cherrybergher

For those with their food diary open to viewers I take a peek here and there and see some who have gone over on their calories by a little or a lot.

I need tips on how to stay honest and log everything. On the hard days I would just rather not bother logging and seeing that red number. Those are typically days I will fall off the rails.

Really easy to log my food when I am on track but how do you stay on track (i.e. and log your food) but fall off the rails and eat way too much. For me the eating way to much goes hand in hand with not being honest with myself and logging my food.

My goal is to log my food no matter what but I would like to hear if anyone else struggles with this and how they keep the momentum going.

tnm7760

I've done the same thing for years. If I "mess up" or go over I just quit logging for the day (or week, or month! Yikes!).

This time I'm committing to not letting my perfectionism get the best of me. I want my food diary perfect, my workout routine perfect, the scale to show perfect losses, etc. My mantra this time is "trust the process."

I've been doing a lot of "soul searching" before starting this time, and decided that I give up when I'm afraid of it not being perfect. Afraid that I screwed up, I decide it's easier to quit than fail, and wait for a time when I'll commit perfectly. Ha. The perfection lasts about 2 weeks max in my case--and that's if the scale cooperates those first two week. I think I'm dishonest with myself about logging because I don't want it to not be perfect.

Anyway, this time I'm using those "red" days to learn a bit about the process. Sometimes I'm surprised at how much I can mess up and still end up under maintenance (still red, but at least not gaining). A 50cal deficit is better than none.

Also, I'm often surprised at how much I can "fix" a mess up by a treadmill walk while I watch TV and/or cutting back on the next meal a bit. I was over by 200 a few nights ago, but I watched TV while I walked and went without bread at dinner. Yet I initially felt like the two, unplanned cookies I snagged had totally ruined the day.

And, it's been interesting to see what I waste my calories on when I'm not paying attention.

So, I've been using the honesty as feedback and am actually learning a lot about my eating habits.

Ninkyou

You're viewing logging from an emotional standpoint. You need to change that to a more "gathering of data" view.

Also, if you don't log honestly and you're not losing weight, how can you go back through your diary to look for ways to improve?

And lastly, one day of being over calories isn't going to make or break you. When you fall on the ground, do you just sit there and cry forever or do you dust yourself off and keep walking? It's the overall trend that's important. You're human, not everyday is going to be perfect.

Marilyn0924

Ninkyou wrote: »

You're viewing logging from an emotional standpoint. You need to change that to a more "gathering of data" view.

Also, if you don't log honestly and you're not losing weight, how can you go back through your diary to look for ways to improve?

And lastly, one day of being over calories isn't going to make or break you. When you fall on the ground, do you just sit there and cry forever or do you dust yourself off and keep walking? It's the overall trend that's important. You're human, not everyday is going to be perfect.

^^This^^ Plus, I'd add that if you pre-log your food, you know exactly what you are going to have left in case that cookie becomes an imperative I find it can help keep you on track.

Cahgetsfit

I just log it all. If I ate some ridiculous amount without weighing it (like if I eat somewhere not at home) I just guesstimate and put donw +1000 calories or whatever. I put everything down in my diary. I weigh out my ice cream - if I go back for seconds and thirds I keep weighing and keep logging. Same with chocolate, and everything else.

It's my diary so I want to be honest with myself.

I haven't had any of my friends have a go at me (yet!) for anything - and if they did, then they are being too anal and most likely not logging truthfully themselves because I am yet to come across someone who doesn't have a blowout every so often unless they have an ED.

So - log it all and don't worry about what people may or may not think. You'd be surprised at how many people actually look at diaries on a daily basis. I think I have ONE friend who does and that's it.

lilawolf

I always want to say "eff it" too when I'm really hungry and know I'm not going to hit calories. I just tell myself to calm down and that I KNOW I'll wish I had the data later when looking at weight trends and why/when I tend to over eat (day after lifting, monthly cycle, lots of cardio, not enough protein...?). Sometimes, I will say "eff it" in the evening, and then go back and log in the morning. Thankfully, I have somewhat photographic memory, so even if I'm drinking heavily, I can remember every bite and every drink.

The other thing that I tell myself, is that it's ok to eat if I'm really hungry, especially if I'm still under my maintenance calories. I'll eat a little more, log it, wait a bit, and continue. No big deal, and keeps a little from being a lot! Last night was a case in point. I was starving so dinner was well over what I had left. An hour later, I was still hungry, so I ate one serving of cheezits with a small glass of wine that I really wanted. At that point, I really wanted to not care, and have more cheezits and more wine, but when I really thought about whether I was still hungry or not, I knew better. Logged it and moved on. If I'd blown of logging, I would have had at least 300 more calories.

Don't really know if that was helpful or not.

TLDR: Especially up to your maintenance calories, tell yourself that one day doesn't matter. Without guilt, logging is easy. Either way, you'll want the data later. Live and learn and move on.

vespiquenn

Ninkyou wrote: »

You're viewing logging from an emotional standpoint. You need to change that to a more "gathering of data" view.

Also, if you don't log honestly and you're not losing weight, how can you go back through your diary to look for ways to improve?

And lastly, one day of being over calories isn't going to make or break you. When you fall on the ground, do you just sit there and cry forever or do you dust yourself off and keep walking? It's the overall trend that's important. You're human, not everyday is going to be perfect.

This. In the end, you're only lying to yourself. If that's something you're okay with, no tip can really help. But the end, if you're not losing at any point of your journey, you have no way to go through your numbers to see where there might be an issue.

grinning_chick

I no longer bring emotions to the table when it comes to tracking my caloric intake.

If I can't be honest with myself about what I'm shoving into my pie hole, then who?

I'm the only person who can convince myself to lose weight. And I need to learn through the accumulation of reasonably realistic data at what general caloric points I lose, maintain, or gain. Especially at whatever weight I decide I'm done losing at. Otherwise, I have no way of knowing how much I can eat and not just regain it all + the standard additional 10-40 lbs for my efforts.