Food Journal and Calorie Tracking

For the past few weeks I have been trying something new. I had been noticing a lot of inconsistency in my weekly weigh ins. Knowing that my training schedule was very consistent I knew that it had to be related to nutrition. After pondering the issue for a few days, I decided that the logical place to start was to keep a food journal. Having both a food and training log to look at would help me to narrow down exactly what was happening when my weight either spiked or dropped.

My wife, Erin, has been using a phone app developed by Under Armor, called My Fitness Pal (she actually got the suggestion from my father-in-law, Kurt). I decided to give the app a try with the intention of just using it as a food journal. The app turned out to be extremely easy to use for a few reasons:

1. Their food/menu database is HUGE and it is really easy to search for what you are eating
2. You can easily add your own recipes and foods
3. You can even use the camera on your smart phone to scan labels of the foods you are eating to pull up details in the app

Although it wasn't my intent, the app did have a suggested number of calories for me to aim for each day, and after a few days I had learned a lot about my eating habits and even found myself making choices based on the suggested calorie intake. A few things I noticed right away were:

• Although I mostly eat good/healthy foods I don't pay attention enough to portion sizes
• On a typical day the suggested calorie intake doesn't seem that far off of what I was already doing
• To go along with the last one, not every day is a typical day, and I would say some weeks there are more that aren't
• I tend to go on unintentional binges, I have listed a few of the reasons for these binges below:
• Co-worker asks me to go out to lunch
• I skip a meal or eat one later then usual so I'm extra hungry
• I don't fuel based on my training regimen for the day, also causing me to become extra hungry (usually the day after a high calorie burn day) and not perform as well
• At times, I don't pay attention to what I'm eating at all, and when I do, I make MUCH better choices
• What I eat the night before a weigh in can have a bigger impact then I expected, especially when eating foods that are high in sodium

Of course, keeping the journal is a bit of a double edge sword for me. The fact that I am more focused on staying under a certain calorie threshold means that I sometimes cut out foods or drinks that my body really needs to perform well. It also has discouraged me from eating when my body is telling me that I need to take in more calories. My goal is to use the journal in the short term, until I have refined my eating habits to help make my weight loss more consistent again.