Food Journaling

On 29 Aug 2004 03:45:06 GMT, Ignoramus3773
wrote:

It's possible, but it takes quite a bit of time every day. Especially
if you weigh your food.

It really takes only a little time once you get things established. I
routinely weigh things I fix at home, but that only takes a few
moments. (I mean, how much longer does it take, when pouring cereal
into a bowl, to put the bowl on the scale first and read the number on
the scale when the cereal is poured?) I don't weigh food that is
measured in integral units like "1 apple"; I don't worry about the
fact that they differ in size -- figure it evens out over time. When
I make prepared dishes (like, say, meatloaf or pot roast), I figured
out the calorie and nutrient composition the first time I made it, and
then assume that future instances of the dish are close enough to the
first. When I eat at restaurants I eyeball things -- also figure it
averages out. The point is really being mindful of how much one is
eating and of its nutrient composition, not being 100% accurate.

Works for me :-).

Chris
262/141/ (145-150)

On 29 Aug 2004 03:45:06 GMT, Ignoramus3773
wrote:

It's possible, but it takes quite a bit of time every day. Especially
if you weigh your food.

It really takes only a little time once you get things established. I
routinely weigh things I fix at home, but that only takes a few
moments. (I mean, how much longer does it take, when pouring cereal
into a bowl, to put the bowl on the scale first and read the number on
the scale when the cereal is poured?) I don't weigh food that is
measured in integral units like "1 apple"; I don't worry about the
fact that they differ in size -- figure it evens out over time. When
I make prepared dishes (like, say, meatloaf or pot roast), I figured
out the calorie and nutrient composition the first time I made it, and
then assume that future instances of the dish are close enough to the
first. When I eat at restaurants I eyeball things -- also figure it
averages out. The point is really being mindful of how much one is
eating and of its nutrient composition, not being 100% accurate.

Works for me :-).

Chris
262/141/ (145-150)

On 30 Aug 2004 01:54:23 GMT, Ignoramus17461
wrote:

So, how much time per day does your weighing and journaling take you?
10 minutes? Everything, from weighing things, to writing down numbers,
entering them into computer, viewing reports etc?

If I count the time I take to type the "Food & Exercise" postings, it
might be as much as 10 minutes. A small price to pay, seems to me, if
it helps me know myself better.

My wife would find it extremely odd if I started weighing food, so, I
try not to offend her sensibilities.

I can't imagine why your wife would be offended by this if it was
something that mattered to you. That sounds very odd and
unsympathetic to me. (Anyway, it sounds like you do a lot stranger
stuff than weighing food!)

To me, it is a practical matter,
the return in terms of awareness, not being worth the time, for me.

Well, apparently it wasn't something you needed to do. I just know
that I lost weight doing this, and any other time I tried to lose
weight I would stall after a while and give up, probably because my
eating habits were deteriorating. So for me it was very much worth
5-10 minutes a day. After all, most of invest far more than that in
other aspects of our eating and exercise .

I agree that with a routine, it would not be as time consuming as it
was during one day when I weighed my food.

Of course not. I found it complex right at first. Now it is trivial.
And in fact I find it quite interesting to look for correlations
between my nutrient intake and how my body feels and performs.

Chris
262/141/ (145-150)

Ignoramus3773 wrote:

It's possible, but it takes quite a bit of time every day. Especially
if you weigh your food.

Actually, it takes me less than 5 minutes a day. I definitely find it
worthwhile.

Regarding weight food, measuring needs to be done when following a
recipe anyway.

--
jmk in NC

janice wrote:


It can be counter-productive though. I treat journalling with a great
deal of caution, because it has many times caused me to abandon my WOE
(and the journal) altogether and binge, just because I have to enter
one slip up to "spoil" the "clean" record. All psychological, of
course, but very real nevertheless.

I hear you there Janice. For me, I just made a rule that being "bad"
was not writing it down. It has nothing to do with what I eat and
everythign to do with being honest with myself.

--
jmk in NC

"jmk" wrote in message
...
Actually, it takes me less than 5 minutes a day. I definitely find it
worthwhile.

Regarding weight food, measuring needs to be done when following a
recipe anyway.

It depends on how you cook, there are lots of things I just pour until it
feels right.
The problem comes when you eat out. You just can't weight things when you
eat at friends or restaurants, and it's often hard to know exactly what got
into the meal. When you always have lunch at a restaurants for instance,
this can become quite difficult to keep track of calories.

"Lictor" wrote in message
...
"jmk" wrote in message
...
Actually, it takes me less than 5 minutes a day. I definitely find it
worthwhile.

Regarding weight food, measuring needs to be done when following a
recipe anyway.

It depends on how you cook, there are lots of things I just pour until it
feels right.
The problem comes when you eat out. You just can't weight things when you
eat at friends or restaurants, and it's often hard to know exactly what
got
into the meal. When you always have lunch at a restaurants for instance,
this can become quite difficult to keep track of calories.


If you've weighed and measured with measuring cups enough things then it
becomes easier to eye-ball your portions. I've learned what a 1/2 cup of
mashed potatoes, rice or noodles looks like. The same with salad
dressings, I can judge how much to pour out of the bottle to have 2 tbl
because I've done it so often into measuring spoons. I think that keeping
track of calories is one good reason to pack a lunch and not eat at
restaurants every day at lunch. Other good reasons are saving money and
getting healthier food (unless you always eat at a "health food" store which
was possible for me in Lubbock but not here.)

Tonia
221/178/130

On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 08:50:39 -0400, jmk wrote:

janice wrote:


It can be counter-productive though. I treat journalling with a great
deal of caution, because it has many times caused me to abandon my WOE
(and the journal) altogether and binge, just because I have to enter
one slip up to "spoil" the "clean" record. All psychological, of
course, but very real nevertheless.

I hear you there Janice. For me, I just made a rule that being "bad"
was not writing it down. It has nothing to do with what I eat and
everythign to do with being honest with myself.

I journal everything that goes in my mouth on fitday, and it's great
because it makes me second guess choices. However, I don't have any
concept of "good" and "bad". I released that as soon as I had my
epiphany and decided to embark on a new WOL. I mean, I have favorite,
fatty, calorie laden foods. I can't eat them all the time, of course,
and when I *do* eat them it must be in moderation.

I couldn't face the rest of my life without french fries and
mayonnaise. LOL. I know for many that is disgusting, but how can you
go from a favorite to never having it again?

That was part of releasing "good" food and "bad" food. Of course I eat
mostly very healthfully, but when I want those fries once a month, I
have them. The difference; instead of half a bag of Ore Ida Steak
fries I eat 8 fries and a tiny bit of mayo rather than 2 tablespoons.
Ugh. Freaks me out just to read that over, and I wondered why I was
fat? Riiiiight....

Ally
212/158/140

"Lictor" wrote in message
...
"jmk" wrote in message
...
Actually, it takes me less than 5 minutes a day. I definitely find it
worthwhile.

Regarding weight food, measuring needs to be done when following a
recipe anyway.

It depends on how you cook, there are lots of things I just pour until it
feels right.

This is exactly why some of my grandmother's best recipes died along with
her. She could never explain to any of us how much of anything to use or
how long to do it. I sort of inherited that habit too, but I do tend to
measure when possible.

The problem comes when you eat out. You just can't weight things when you
eat at friends or restaurants, and it's often hard to know exactly what
got
into the meal. When you always have lunch at a restaurants for instance,
this can become quite difficult to keep track of calories.

Correct. This is why calorie counting is not an exact science, but it's
still a darn fine tool.

Jenn

On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 14:39:30 -0600, Alex
wrote:

On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 08:50:39 -0400, jmk wrote:

janice wrote:


It can be counter-productive though. I treat journalling with a great
deal of caution, because it has many times caused me to abandon my WOE
(and the journal) altogether and binge, just because I have to enter
one slip up to "spoil" the "clean" record. All psychological, of
course, but very real nevertheless.

I hear you there Janice. For me, I just made a rule that being "bad"
was not writing it down. It has nothing to do with what I eat and
everythign to do with being honest with myself.

I journal everything that goes in my mouth on fitday, and it's great
because it makes me second guess choices. However, I don't have any
concept of "good" and "bad". I released that as soon as I had my
epiphany and decided to embark on a new WOL. I mean, I have favorite,
fatty, calorie laden foods. I can't eat them all the time, of course,
and when I *do* eat them it must be in moderation.

I think you're quite right about this, Ally. I never talk of "good"
or "bad" foods, or being good or bad in terms of my WOE which, for
similar reasons, contains no "forbidden" foods.

But for me, one of the things that triggers binge episodes is slipping
up when I try too hard to be perfect. It can be easier for me to put
a slip behind me and carry on when it's not part of an ongoing
journal.


janice
233/179/133