Food Journal

I know that I lost most of you with the title here.  The dreaded food journal.  I even fight this one- and then I regret it because I end up overeating and gaining weight. I forget what I ate earlier in the day.

Sometimes I'll think, I can eat that because I haven't eaten that much today.  Then when I sit down and figure it out, I realize that I really did eat a great deal more than I thought that I had.

Have you ever had a dish of candy on your desk or counter?  Did you walk by every time and just grab a
few.  Then before you know it you had eaten 500 calories or more. Did that handful of M&M's turn into 6 handfuls?

How about a bowl of cashews?  They are healthy, right?  Yes, they are a great source of protein and healthy fats, but there are about 180 calories in one handful!!!  That is A TON OF CALORIES if you are grabbing a handful every time that you walk by the bowl.

WEIGH, MEASURE, AND LOG your food for the very best results.

What I have found that works the best is to write out my plan for the day, either the night before or the morning of. I don't always specify exactly what I will eat for each food group, for example protein- I may put chicken, ground turkey or eggs on my salad or with rice or quinoa and a side salad or peppers, etc. I may feel like an apple instead of a bananas.

Since I have lots of food already cooked and chopped in my fridge/freezer I can just choose what I feel like when it's time to put together my meal.

This is where the containers from the 21 Day Fix have been so useful.  Today, for example, I felt like eating a banana and an orange AND some pineapple.  I just followed the guidelines and filled my purple container with a little of each fruit.  The containers take all of the stress out of counting calories or worrying that I missed a food group.