Food Journaling

"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

Finances and food both make me very nervous. They both seem very
mysterious to me.

You make a good comparison. Keeping a budget means recording every
single cent you spend, and on what. Admittedly, that's much easier
than figuring calories, nutrients, etc. in food, especially if you
didn't prepare the food or don't have the manufacturer's info.

It depends on how deeply you want to get into it, and how inconvenient
or annoying or intrusive you find this effort. My nutritionist says
some people balk at recording food because, they say, it sucks the joy
out of eating.

If I had to name the single biggest factor in my success in the WOL,
it would be obsessively keeping track of what I eat on fitday.com. My
WOL is based on an average of 1,500 calories daily.

But I'm not a fanatic. My nutritionist wants me to question the chefs
at the deli where I get most of my prepared dishes about the
ingredients — whether butter or margarine, cream or whole or skim
milk, lean or regular ground beef, etc. are used. I don't much care
about that kind of detail, just like I don't much care whether an hour
of water aerobics burns 200 calories or 300 calories. What matters is
that I'm watching my portions and exercising regularly.

As always, YMMV.

Kasey
365/245/???

On 30 Aug 2004 16:21:39 -0700, (Kasey) wrote:

If I had to name the single biggest factor in my success in the WOL,
it would be obsessively keeping track of what I eat on fitday.com. My
WOL is based on an average of 1,500 calories daily.

That's kind of how I feel about what's accounted for my success too.
It's hard to be certain if I would have succeeded otherwise, but I do
know that this is what's different than past unsuccessful attempts.

Chris
262/140/ (145-150)

ThatTWoman wrote:

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, tell me if the HFS you're talking about sells baking yeast in bulk?
(not the Fleishman's jars) If it did, would you let me know the name and
what street it's on please?

--
Walking (but mostly biking!) on . . .
Laurie in Maine
207/110 60 inches of attitude!
Start: 2/02 Maintained since 2/03

Alex wrote:

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?

a fellow traveler s Only thing is, I eat fries so seldom anymore
(maybe 4 times a year?) I don't want the mayo anymore. Malt vinegar on
fries is super - I'm having that Friday at the county fair!

Hmmmm - small or medium?

--
Walking (but mostly biking!) on . . .
Laurie in Maine
207/110 60 inches of attitude!
Start: 2/02 Maintained since 2/03

"JMA" wrote in message
...

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.

That's a shame. It's really important to get as many recipe directions from
our older relatives as we can before they pass on. My mom was a great baker
and a pretty good cook. She left me her cookbooks. Some of her favorite
recipes are tucked into the pages of those books and since she passed away
in 1988, I can look through those books and know she's not far away.

Martha

On 31 Aug 2004 01:29:22 GMT, SnugBear wrote:

Alex wrote:

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?

a fellow traveler s Only thing is, I eat fries so seldom anymore
(maybe 4 times a year?) I don't want the mayo anymore. Malt vinegar on
fries is super - I'm having that Friday at the county fair!

Hmmmm - small or medium?

LOL! Nowadays I go for the small. My mom was from Holland so I grew up
eating FF & mayo. And I know what you mean about rarely having fries.
They are all but gone from my WOL, but when I want them, I do have
them. The thing is I just don't want them like I used to!

Of course I found out yesterday I'll be visiting my dad in CT next
month and there is no way I'm letting the chance pass me by for a hot
lobster roll and fries at my favorite shoreline shack. It's been about
4 years now...mmmm! :-)

The fair -- not Fryeburg? I think that one comes a little later in
Sept, right? I was there a few years back during a drive from CO to
Portland. I really love Maine! Don't think I could hang with the
winter though. At the time I thought about buying and moving there,
but everyone we met thought we were nuts to leave CO, even the postman
who came into the breakfast place. We were enjoying our breakfast and
chatting with the owner, when the postman looks at us and says "You're
form CO?" We said yes & he said he couldn't wait to get back, and had
put in for a transfer. He said the winters were killing him. That
about did in my thoughts of moving. But the people and energy there is
really incredible!! You are very lucky!

Ally
212/157/140

I like fitday.com a lot too. I'm thinking about buying their PC
version, but apparently the custom foods and data that I've entered on
their website doesn't exprot to the PC version. So I'm weighing
whether it is more important to have the extra options and tracking
allowed by the PC version, or whether the portability of being able to
access my data from any computer and not having to hassle with
re-entering all my foods and such is more important.


Alex wrote in message . ..
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

alice wrote:

I like fitday.com a lot too. I'm thinking about buying their PC
version, but apparently the custom foods and data that I've entered on
their website doesn't exprot to the PC version. So I'm weighing
whether it is more important to have the extra options and tracking
allowed by the PC version, or whether the portability of being able to
access my data from any computer and not having to hassle with
re-entering all my foods and such is more important.

I like the part where I can come back to it months later and it's all
set to go. I drop in and journal for a few days maybe three or four
times a year and I change computers every year or so, so the convenience
of their server is worth it to me.

Dally, currently journalling