Time to up the ante on food tracking
Awareness + Accountability + Focus on Long-Term Goals vs. Short-Term Wants
It’s a pretty undisputed fact: Research has shown that people who keep track of what they eat and weigh are more likely to succeed at losing weight and keeping it off than those who don’t.
A New York Times article I re-read recently quoted a research expert who summarized it this way: “Self-tracking teaches people how their environment and behaviors affect their health, said Carly Pacanowski, a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellow who studies eating behavior. “It’s a preventive daily strategy that always stays with you,” she said. “Over time, it provides a lot of interesting information. It lets people be more in the driver’s seat with regard to their health.”
I agree. Though keeping a daily food log and tracking your activity takes focus and consistency, and it doesn’t work for everyone.
If you’re a regular follower of this blog, you know that I believe the process of losing weight and keeping it off is PERSONAL — meaning what works for one person is not necessarily the answer for everyone. My overall approach to weight loss, as with most things that fall into the personal development category, is to “know thyself.” Read more
Finding the delicate balance between healthy living for life (weight maintenance) after massive weight loss and not going too extreme in the other direction is NOT easy. For many of us who have been obese for most of our adult lives, it requires intense self-awareness, focus, diligence, and learning to live and cope in new ways — without using food as a “go to” source of comfort.
