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Identify your eating traps
In addition to hunger, there are lots of reasons we eat. Sometimes we eat for pleasure, for comfort, out of habit, and to alleviate boredom. It’s easy to eat without thinking about it.
This week, get yourself into the habit of paying attention to what you eat and why. Record every meal and snack – and how you feel before and after. At the end of the week, review your food journal and see if you can identify any patterns in your eating habits.
A few added bonuses to keeping a food journal: 1) it keeps you honest about what you’re eating, 2) you’re less likely to overeat, and 3) it can help you pinpoint nutritional gaps in your meals.
(We’ve given you 7 days for this Challenge. When you log your progress, you only need to log as many – or as few – days as are applicable.)
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Being in college, my eating can be so sporadic and often times leaves me overeating, under-eating, and eating unhealthy. So hopefully this challenge can help me figure out what days i really need to plan ahead with my eating and where i end up eating unhealthy. Plus, when i eat unhealthy things i have the mentality that ‘oh this one cookie won’t hurt’ but i don’t realize how much it adds up in a week. Hopefully this can help me eat healthier to better fuel my running! Good luck everyone, let me know how it goes for you!!
Ok, I just love food. Luckily I am almost always training for something, so I get plenty of exercise. However, I’ve noticed that there are definite ups and downs in how I feel, and it’s usually due to nutrition. So, I’ve decided to keep track of exactly what’s going into the ‘ole tank for a week, and figure out what exactly gives me the most “bang for the buck” when it comes to meals. Hopefully this will help me identify what to avoid, and how to become a stronger athlete and person.
Sometimes i binge eat after dinner, probably because that’s the time i crave chocolate the most. I need to get away from that habit because i need to get in good shape for my upcoming sport seasons..
ok well today went well except two cookies this morning… they were delicious but i felt soo guilty after eating them. anyways… im going to keep on this for a week. hope all goes well for everyone else… =] GOODLUCK ALL!
mine is Bordum. big time. when I;m bord I pig out. when we are out and about doing erronds or playing outside with the kids i totally forget about food, ‘till im bored again!
today was good =]
so i started out really good i was thinking wow this could actually work. then this evening i found myself eating a quart of ice cream. it was liek 800 calories. i feel bad. oh well i just hope tomorrow will be better. i also lost the notebook for part of the day then had to try to remember where it was so i need to keep it always with me.
I have tried this before but only for a couple of days or something so now I am going to try for seven days. Before i would always cheat myself too, like oh i just ate a piece of candy i do not need to record that.
I was recently in a major performance. Before the performance i was a very healthy eater. I told myself “I have to eat well so that i’ll be in my best physical condition for the performance”. But the performance ended right before the holidays, and now i have impulses to eat everything that before i told myself that i couldn’t. I have conflicting feelings because i’m “free” now, but I also want to get back into the condition i was in before. Usually the former wins out. i wonder if others have similar experiences with sports and other activities, where it’s hard to recover after releasing so much stress.
I am going to take this challenge – even though/because the next 7 days ecompasses a lot of holidays!
Regarding the candy dish: Put it just outside your office door so that you have to actually get up to get a piece. Do put chocolate in there that you don’t like – or that you get saturated from quickly, like mints. You could also alternate the chocolate with something fun and non-eating … like pencils? or cute magnets?
I’ve always read books or magazines while I ate because it was relaxing, even thought it might not be so good for me. Now that I work in an office where I’m sitting all the time and reading information on the computer or out of a product brochure, I am tempted to eat all of the time and out of habit! Most of the time I eat some form of fruit or vegetable at my desk, but lately I’ve been enjoying people’s holiday baking entirely too much!
I can relate to being away from home for a semester…but I always love coming home because there are vegetables! But it is the holidays, so hopefully the food journal will help me balance the vegetables and the cookie parties.
i was away for a semester and coming home to all of home’s comfort foods- esp. around the holidays is crazyyy; ) i want to enjoy them, but still make decisions that won’t make me regret how much i enjoyed those things.
I know I eat more now because I cook for my new hubby as well. He is doing great losing because I have been cooking right for him too. But I know I eat more socially, that is my big down fall.
This sounds like a very good idea, I think I’ll try it.
The cany dish on my desk is a trap for me. My students come by just for the chocolate I perovide. Help! I will start to by choco lates I do not like.
When I keep a food journal, I am usually very successful in eating for both nutrition and weight loss. When I slack off on it, as I have been doing lately, I tend to eat things that are not whole grain or even remotely within the realm of healthy. Sigh. SO, I’m going to make sure that I record everything for 7 days! :)
I am gonna try the food journal…I always see it recommended but never do it because of time and forgetfulness. I think I am going to make the effort and see what kind of difference it makes. I’ll keep everyone posted.
Like 07jsande, I’ve dealt with eating disorders in the past. Many times when keeping track of my food intake, I’ve stopped eating altogether because I thought I was eating too much. I’m going to add the goal not to freak out with what I’ve learned and to make myself take SMALL steps in changing from the opposite swing I’ve been in since getting pregnant and having my son.