Keeping track

Keeping track, originally uploaded by Kodamakitty.

I meant to update sooner, but things have been super busy between work, classes (one more week, yay!) and just general laziness. I have though, still been keeping up with my morning weigh-ins and food logging. I slipped a bit at Easter, and today, which included a consult with my Ob/Gyn and a preview of the hard work to come, lunch at a groovy diner with my friend, Patti, as well as a banquet with the most amazing food, sigh.

I bought this notebook from Michael's when I was out with my friend, Sonia. It turns out to be the perfect amount of room to contain a day's menu, I know I've gone too far if I have to start writing sideways in the margin or consider not skipping a line between each mealtime. I am also using the log to track the amount of sleep I'm getting each night and how much medication I am taking.

So far, I have found that days where I can list simple meals are usually also the days where I lose the most weight the next day and I feel better. Common sense, right? Sure, but it really hits home when I can see it on paper and see it on the scale, and feel it within my body. A day where I go up by two or three pounds usually means that I can look and see that, yup, I didn't drink enough water and/or ate stuff I know I shouldn't (or at least not as much of).

I am also finding that I do start to feel full three or four bites before I'm done, but i push on anyway to finish my meal. I think there are a few reasons for this:

1) I've bought into the hype, as I suspect we all have, to blame our parents for making us clean our plates (though I honestly don't remember ever really having to be told to do this)

2) I tend to save the best bite for the last bite. I know, it's odd - but I'll save that last crispy crust for the end, or I'll eat things on my plate while trying to decide which flavor I want to have in my mouth last (will it be a meaty taste, or a starchy taste? It's very rarely ever a salad taste). If I stop early, then I'll miss out. Which really means, I need to start eating the best parts first!

3) I'm sometimes afraid that if I don't enough at dinner, I'll be hungry for a snack later. But that doesn't make a lot of sense, really. I mean, if I'm hungry, then I'll just snack on something healthy. It doesn't mean I need to feel full to the gills every time I eat. And, if I keep my meals small enough, sooner or later it won't take nearly as much for me to feel as full.

I could feel myself beginning to get a little lazy, so I thought blog post was in order. This weekend I'll work on taking pics of the books I want to review here, and I have a couple of 100 calorie snacks to review as well. I also have to start adding more exercise to my routine (an hour a day, yikes!) so I am sure that will come up here as well.

Be well!