I was looking up something on diabetes on WebMD and a link to this article was at the top of the page. The headline was "The Single Best Way to Lose Weight" so of course I had to look .

http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/single-best-way-lose-weight

In addition to starting a food journal I FINALLY sat down last night and wrote out my Beck ARC's. You know the list you check off before you write the card(s)? I was able to check off every single one, not all very important, not all important, a few somewhat important, and then added 3 of my own. So, on my cards I started with the very important reasons and worked down from there.

Jill

PS: I have not done this for soooo long but I know those of you who are successful in losing weight and keeping it off plan ahead. I sat down this morning and wrote down my meal plan for today. My sister and I are ordering from Zoup! for lunch so I went to their website, checked out all the nutritional info and decided on a small vegetarian split pea soup and a tuna salad. Let's hope I stick to it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jillybean,

My journal has a beagle on the front. It's very cute.

I write my plan for the day (and for the week, in some cases, like breakfast and/or lunch, which is usually the same on weekdays), and track fat grams and calories (per FitDay estimates). In a throwback to WW points, I also have a place at the bottom for ticking off the fruits & vegetables I eat. The goal is to hit 1200-1300 calories, and 6 fruit/vegetable servings.

When I've got a special focus, I put that at the bottom (like when I was trying to get in more water, or a certain amount of exercise each week).

I don't separate out meals...mine looks like this:

Smart Start xx (cal) x (fat)
2% milk xx x
dried berries xx x
tangelo xx x
yogurt xx x
lettuce xx x
tomato xx x
turkey burger xx x
oil/vinegar xx x
ww pasta xx x
spinach xx x
turkey bacon xx x
parm cheese xx x
pear xx x
ice cream xx x

F/V: ||||||
Ex: dog walk, 15 min

(that was yesterday)

It helps because I could see that I was only at 5 fruits/vegetables by dinner, so I added a pear. It might mean I pack a bigger salad for lunch, or take a piece of fruit to eat mid-morning.

*I* know that I put a serving size of dried berries on my cereal in the morning I know that I had lettuce, tomato, and oil/vinegar dressing with a cut-up turkey burger on it for lunch, along with yogurt and a tangelo. Dinner was ww pasta with turkey bacon, wilted spinach, and parmesan cheese, with a pear.

I prefer to have everything close together and in the order I ate it. Why? It doesn't matter. It's my journal!

I write down what I eat and total calories & fat grams. I usually set out or pack my breakfast & lunch the night before, so I always know where I stand before dinner.

Dinner is usually the same, protein, starch, veg, fruit & my allotted 50 or so calories of sweet (ie cookie, reeses pieces or whatever else).

I have spots for snacks between breakfast & lunch, lunch & dinner, and after dinner, but rarely use the first two. I more often than not have an evening snack. There is a spot for exercise, a box for notes for comments, notes, etc.

I do turn these in to my registered dietician so that we can keep track of trends, etc. And I can't hide weight gain from her, which is exactly why I have her around.

At the top of the sheet, I also have my Beck notes written in (hopefully) to remind myself of what I need to be doing.

quote:

For those who journal food, do you just make a big list each day? Or, do you break it up into meals/snacks/etc?

Mine looks a lot like Sandy's. I have B/L/S/D and what I have planned plus a line for Exercise.

Below that I have my Beck goals of sitting and eating mindfully and reading my action cards.

I go back at the end of the day and put a + sign after each line. If I strayed from plan, I'll write in what I ate.

I don't do calorie counts anymore as after 5 + years, as long as my portions are right, I will fall within my calorie range.

quote:

Originally posted by Sandy:
I write a plan either the night before or first thing in the morning.

For what it is worth, writing down my food had been the single biggest support to weight loss.

Ditto to what Sandy said. I've found writting down my food to be VERY helpful. I find it helpful to write down my PLAN first.

Not every day goes according to plan. For example, I might plan to have leftovers for lunch and find that my kid ate the leftovers the night before. Or I plan to have an apple and I cut open the last apple... and it is bad.

But eating a banana instead of an apple has never really derailed my weight.

I almost NEVER write down calories or WW points... since I literally have to guess at the calories in a lot of food I eat.

I do find it helpful to measure and write down the AMOUNTS of food... and the times that I'm eating.

Also, it helps if for some reason... things are not going that well and you want help.

3 oz chick breast
2 slices of bread (not diet)
1 TBS low fat mayo
1/2 a tomato
etc

Is much more helpful than:

chicken sandwich

Also... If I'm PHYSICALLY hungry... and I didn't PLAN to eat a snack at 8pm. And I've been on track all day. I go ahead and have an apple, and don't stress about it. And just write it down.

I didn't get fat eating apples when I was physically hungry. And when I'm truly hungry apples look good. If all I'm hungry for is 5 slices of toast... with butter... and cinnamon sugar. Well, that isn't physical hunger.

PS
Yay!!!! for you Jill!!! You go!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by jillybean:
For those who journal food, do you just make a big list each day? Or, do you break it up into meals/snacks/etc?

Jill

I write a plan either the night before or first thing in the morning.
Today my written plan looked like this:

B: 2 slices ww toast, 1 tea butter, milk tea
S: 2 handfuls ww crackers (usually I have fruit for AM snack(
L: 1 c ww pasta with arugula pesto, large green salad- no dressing and 1 oz parm cheese
D: 2 c lf broc cheese soup

Most days I have a lighter AM snack (calorie wise) and add a skim milk serving as an afternoon snack. Becuase of my logisitcs today, I "frontloaded" some calories.

For what it is worth, writing down my food had been the single biggest support to weight loss. I was going to post in D's thread, but this seems like a good place to say it. If and when I go off plan, I write down the extras too. This helps way more than ignoring the extras. For example, when I think I have blown it, I generally would throw in the towel and eat through the panrty. But logging the extra 500 calories of pizza or cake or whatever helps me see that it is not the end of the world. In fact it is not even 1/2 pound. I'd have to eat over 1600-1700 calories to gain 1/2 pound.

Writing helps me see and KNOW that I am in control of my weight and my food intake.

I found an unused notebook this morning in my office and have decided to write down everything I eat/drink. I am not writing in calories or nutritional info, for now. I will eventually but I want to get in the habit of writing it all down first. For those who journal food, do you just make a big list each day? Or, do you break it up into meals/snacks/etc?

Jill

From the WebMD article:

quote:

“It's scientifically proven: The key isn't just what you eat, it's what you write.

When researchers from Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research followed more than 2,000 dieters who were encouraged to record meals and snacks, they found that the single best predictor of whether a participant would drop weight was whether the person kept a food diary.”

Studies show that people that keep a food log lose more weight.

Studies also show that MOST people don’t do it.

In the study below…

Study participants were asked to keep a food journal for 112 days. However, most people didn’t comply… the participants kept a food log some place between 0 and 39 days.

The average study participant didn’t lose very much weight, either.

The participants in this study were doing eDiets. I’ve done eDiets and it is pretty much like WW eTools. And I’m willing to bet the MOST WW’ers don’t keep food logs MOST of the time either.

http://www.obesityresearch.org/cgi/reprint/12/6/1011.pdf

Weight control researchers are also VERY, VERY frustrated by our inability to accurately report what we eat. In one study, even offering to PAY people $50, didn’t improve the accuracy.

http://www.unionmemorial.org/npt.cfm?id=556358

I bought some fabulous cobalt blue dessert cups to use to portion stuff out of the original container. They're 4 oz. size, but 1 oz. of any chip, etc. fits perfectly in there.

I had a Beck moment when I realized exactly how many calories I wasn't accounting for when I eat anything (even fruit) out of its container.

But I've been tracking calories and fat for years. It really does help.