The food diary is important

scotthva5
scotthva5 Posts: 9 Member
edited May 20 in Health and Weight Loss
Last week I had one of those weeks where just about everything that could go wrong....did. Repeatedly. In between minor disasters (and non-stop rain) I stopped documenting my calorie intake due to lack of time (see above disasters) and my word does it show. Mr Scale (he deserves the honorific) and I have a love/hate relationship at the best of times but this morning he most emphatically delivered the bad news...almost 2 kg. After raging at the Heineken Gods® for their interference and cursing the Lords of Gravity after a brief look/see in the floor mirror I realized just how important that diary really is. Anyone else draw the same conclusion?

Replies

  • ehju0901
    ehju0901 Posts: 394 Member
    I've found that the food diary really helps keep me on track and how to better balance my calorie usage. Whenever I quit logging is usually when I start gaining weight back. :)
  • medinaromo16
    medinaromo16 Posts: 2 Member
    I’m going through the same thing (kinda). In 22 days I gained 10 pounds…I’m shocked and honestly really upset about it. I didn’t log in that time because I used food to cope with the stress of my cat being sick and hospitalized. Is there any way to get rid of the water weight and bloating that you’ve found works for you?
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,234 Member
    medinaromo16 wrote: »
    I’m going through the same thing (kinda). In 22 days I gained 10 pounds…I’m shocked and honestly really upset about it. I didn’t log in that time because I used food to cope with the stress of my cat being sick and hospitalized. Is there any way to get rid of the water weight and bloating that you’ve found works for you?

    Don't try to game water weight, that would be my advice. Unless there's a disease condition in the picture, water retention is part of how healthy bodies stay healthy. They know what they're doing. We shouldn't try to meddle with it.

    It's fat loss we're going for anyway, isn't it?

    Anything that's truly water weight will drop off fairly quickly, probably a week or two, if a person goes back to their regular healthy routine.

    For sure, one thing not to do is cut back on fluid intake, water and other types. The body needs water to do things like metabolize carbs and balance electrolytes. Under-consuming fluids is more likely to make water retention worse rather than make it better.

    For women who have monthly hormonal cycles, there are cases when it make take a little longer than a week or two to see the expected drop on the scale. That happens if the unusual-eating water weight starts to drop just as hormonal water retention increases, so the two causes conspire to make it last a little longer.

    It's still true that if one hasn't eaten enough calories to add those pounds in fat (or moved that much less, or a combination), the stall or increase on the scale isn't fat. The right answer IMO is to wait it out.

    Of course, if a person thinks they're retaining water because of a health condition, they should see a doctor. Otherwise, just eat in your normal healthy way, drink adequate amounts of fluids (to the point where urine color is pale yellow, not clear or dark), get your normal amount of exercise. It'll be fine.
  • girlwithcurls2
    girlwithcurls2 Posts: 2,281 Member
    This is 100% me. I say the words "I probably need to log food my entire life" and then I stop logging. I'm a case study for the psychology of eating things that have little to no nutritional value when I can ignore the reality of what their nutritional profiles are. When I'm logging daily (not that much work), I rarely justify those foods. Or I weigh them out and eat way less. Get back up there and do what you need to do. The math works. I'm not sure why I keep thinking that my body can defy it :blush:

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