So how did you all do with the breakfast challenge from last week? I love breakfast and look forward to it every morning. Hopefully if you haven't eaten breakfast regularly in the past, you can start to incorporate this vital meal into your routine. Breakfast...the meal of champions!!
This week's challenge is food-related as well. I had a conversation last week with a woman who was struggling to lose some weight. She had picked up running again about a month ago and became frustrated that she hadn't lost any weight with it. She then said that once she started to write down what she was eating during the day, she suddenly lost 3 pounds in one week. I think she was finally starting to understand that all the running in the world couldn't overcome a poor diet.
As you all know, I am not a huge proponent of counting calories (I know that works for some of you though, so I'm all for doing what you feel most comfortable with.) However I am a big proponent of food journals. I know when I keep a food journal, it keeps me far more accountable for what I am putting in my mouth and body. It also really helps as a mom to prevent the mindless snacking during the day and discourages my fetish for finishing the food off of my children's' plates!
So that's the challenge for this week...keep a food journal of everything you eat. You could go out and buy a fancy "Food Journal" from your local bookstore, but really any notebook would work for your purposes this week. You will need to record three things...
1. What you eat
2. How much you eat (cup, handful, tablespoon, etc.)
3. When you eat (record the time of each meal and snack)
You may be surprised at some of the patterns you discover just from writing it all down (Like when I discovered that too much of my carb intake was from starchy sources rather than from fibrous carbs like vegetables or simple carbs like fruit.)
Talking Point: Have you ever kept a food journal before? Do you feel like it keeps you more accountable in keeping your diet healthy?
So far so good on the breakfast challenge. I've gone five days. They aren't huge meals--sometimes just a protein shake--but I figure that's better than nothing at all. Also, I've been focusing on foods with high protein and fiber content. I really like greek yogurt. I just had one at lunch and it really fills me up until my next meal. Also, I really love the Kashi Go Lean cereals as a meal or a snack.
ReplyDeleteI've found that I do less snacking overall during the day, less reaching for a bag of chips or box of crackers from the cupboard, if I'm eating regular meals with protein and fiber. I really like the Muscle Milk shakes and I noticed they had more protein than drinks like Slimfast. Also, I bought some Special K protein flavored-water packets (I like the strawberry-kiwi flavor). They have 30 calories per packet, plus five grams of protein and five grams of fiber. I mix it with 20 oz water. I have about one a day. It helps me get my daily water quota since I'm not a big fan of plain water (and I drink way too much Diet Coke).
I'm not sure I'll ever be a big breakfast eater, but this has taught me that I can't run around on empty and expect to be at my best. I'm going to try hard to keep it up. Now on to the next challenge! Writing down everything I eat will be even harder than eating a daily breakfast.
I am DEFINITELY more accountable when I write my intake down. I used to be terrible at eating breakfast, eating in general actually. Before I got married I would just drink a glass of milk and it would fill me up so away I went. I have learned a lot since then. I have been eating breakfast everyday and am loving it. I have been eating granola and look forward to it now. Sometimes I even eat a bowl for my snack. I just bought some Kashi Go Lean. I can't believe how much fiber and protein is in each serving. I hope it tastes yummy.
ReplyDeleteLara, thanks for the Special K protein drink idea. Sounds like I am going to have to give that a try.