In Your Mouth and On the Paper

Albert Einstein said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

When you feel ready to change your body, or just the way you feel on a daily basis, then you have to change what you do and what you eat. The best way to be able to do that consistently is to understand what you currently do and what you currently eat.

The Food Log
The first thing I recommend to people who come to me for advice is KEEP A LOG. Write down everything you eat and the exercises that you do. Sure, it sounds tedious, but how else are you going to see how what you eat impacts your day? When you write down everything you eat, you immediately hold yourself accountable.

"You mean, if I eat this bite-sized candy bar, I have to write it down?" Yep. And not only do you have to write it down, you have to find out how many calories & how many grams of fat, carbohydrates & protein that little bite holds. Pretty soon, you'll realize how quickly all those little bite-sized snacks and cans of soda add up to LOTS of calories!

To get a good understanding of what you should be eating, you can consult www.mypyramid.gov for lots of nutritional advice. All in all, it's not so hard: lean meats (or other form of protein), vegetables, fruits, & whole grains. Put a little of each in every meal and you're golden! For even more specific nutritional guidance you should consult with a Licensed or Registered Dietician. Find one near you at www.eatright.org.

Not only do I like to write down WHAT I ate, and WHEN I ate it, I also like to make a note of HOW I felt at the end of the day. Did I have lots of energy that day, or did I feel sluggish? How was my mood? Did my stomach or intestines disagree with me that day? It's amazing what you can learn about the foods you eat when you start seeing patterns. Because of my food log, I have switched to soy milk instead of cow's milk. I noticed after having cow's milk my throat got phlegmy and I felt bloated later. I switched to soy and noticed those feelings went away. Occasionally, I will have a dairy product, but now I make an informed decision about it.

The Activity Log
When you keep track of what you eat, you'll also want to keep track of what you expend -- you know, those calories you burn by exercising! Whether you are an athlete or you get your exercise only when you have to get up and look for the remote control, your body burns calories. The more calories you burn, the more you'll need to eat! That's why it important to know what you are burning.

Write down the weights you lifted & how many sets and reps you did. If you have a trainer, then s/he'll keep track of that for you when you train together. Write down the cardio training you did: running on a treadmill or outside, elliptical, stairmaster. It's Autumn: did you rake the leaves today? Write that down. There are a number of online tools that will estimate your caloric burn for nearly any activity. Plus a lot of the cardio machines will do it for you. I recommend that you enter your personal statistics into the machine to get a more accurate estimate. Better yet, buy a heart rate monitor that will track your calorie expenditure based on your heart rate. Coach Adam recommended this for me and now I don't work out without it. I can easily see if I'm not working as hard as I thought I was! Not to mention it let's Coach Adam see when I really am close to my limits! Only then does he give my whining credibility!

Again, be sure to make a note of how you felt after you finish exercising. Heck, write down how you felt before AND after. You'll begin to see how exercise really does release stress and improve your mood. You'll begin to notice how you dreaded going at first, but then felt great once you were done...probably tired, but great!

Making New Habits
The main purpose of logging everything is not to keep you busy, not to embarrass you, but to help you understand your true habits and to create accountability for your NEW habits. If you want to look differently, then you have to behave differently. Starting a log is an easy first step.

In fact, if you keep a log and then decide that you want a personal trainer, take your log to him/her on your initial appointment. S/He will be able to take a quick look and from there create a successful plan for you. I guarantee that your trainer will be impressed that you've been keeping track, plus s/he'll know that you are serious about making a lifestyle change!

Food & Activity Log Resources:
There are nutrition logs and exercise logs to fit any person's needs. Here are a few that I have used.

www.mypyramidtracker.gov - They will analyze your diet against a recommended diet. They'll even show you pretty charts when you have a little history created! Who doesn't love graphs?

www.getfitbook.com - A great little notebook that you can easily carry to the gym and it comes with its own adorable pen. It also gives you space for goal setting and weekly re-assessments. (This is the notebook that I prefer).

iPhone apps like Lose It! and Daily Burn are free apps that have nutritional databases for lots of restaurant and supermarket foods, making the calorie counting go a little faster.

www.primusweb.com/fitnesspartner will show you caloric estimates for many activities (including standing in line) based on your weight and the duration of the activity.

www.polarusa.com is where you can read about a popular brand of heart rate monitors and find a retailer near you. Generally, your personal trainer can make sure you get a quality monitor at a reasonable price. Coach Adam did!