I recently started a food journal to record what I eat each day. After all, I’ve tried just about everything I can think of to lose weight; all the major diets and food plans. Inevitably, after a few days, I cave. It’s hard to think about losing weight when you have to cook for your family, when you spend your day with a two and a five-year-old who prefer McDonalds to your homemade fare.
But these are excuses. The truth is, choosing to eat consciously is the best choice, for me at least. For the past week I’ve kept a food diary. I’ve listed every single morsel of food I’ve put in my mouth. It’s interesting, after a week of doing this, I easily identified both my trigger foods and my trigger eating times. I love carbohydrates. I could eat nothing but toast, macaroni and cheese, pasta and cake the rest of my life and be blissfully happy. My scale disagrees.
I also realized I have a problem with snacking around 4 p.m. Even if I’ve done well until that point, I usually blow it around that time.
So this week, I’m eating consciously. Creating the food journal actually reduced the amount I ate. It’s a lot harder to say, “I binged on a full package of Oreos” when I have to stare it in the face every day.
If you’re struggling with your weight, why not try journaling, just for a week. Then you can evaluate what’s going on and try and make a change. For me, that means reducing my carbs. No, I’m not going to eliminate them, but I will reduce them. Why? Because I feel better when I do. I look better, and I have more energy.
Find what works for you and go for it. Food is delicious. It’s not your enemy unless you make it your enemy. The food blog lists so many creative dishes waiting to be savored. So savor them, adapt them to fit your tastes and your diet. Don’t give up the things you love, just modify your day and your portions to fit them in.
Let’s do this together.