Do I REALLY need to log my food intake?

Food Journal = Success

* Researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle studied the eating behaviors of 123 overweight, previously inactive women for a year. Women who kept food journals and consistently wrote down the foods they ate lost about six pounds more than women who didn’t.

*Women who reported skipping meals lost almost eight fewer pounds than women who did not, and those who ate out for lunch at least weekly lost on average five fewer pounds than those who brought in their lunch.

The study appears in an issue of the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

More insights available here!

Food journalling is extremely important. Consider this: can you accurately recall every single thing that you ate and drank exactly one month ago? We didn’t think so.

• The more frequently you track how much you move and how much you eat, the better decisions can be made regarding your solution. Ask yourself this: Is my goal short term or long term? If you answered long-term then guesswork has no place in your solution.
• Journalling is necessary if you do not have a complete understanding of food amounts and need counseling on making better choices.
• There are multiple levels of compliance with food journalling. Some clients track everything from foods eaten, calories, protein, carbohydrates, fats, and meal timing, while others just jot down the foods eaten.
• Innovation Fitness Solutions recommends journalling of some sort for the first phase to gain insight into your habits (good and bad).

Being aware of your habits and choices and having actual data can help you immensely in attaining your goals.

Tips for creating your food journal:

• Write down what you’re eating throughout the day, rather than saving it up to log at the end of the day. Also, jot down how you are feeling when you eat, and how what you eat makes you feel.

• Record your level of hunger along with the foods you eat.

• Be honest. Measure portions, read food labels, and write down both your slip-ups as well as your better meals.

"If you ink it you'll think it. If you don't, you won't."

How to do it -

Phase I - An effective method that I have employed with numerous clients is to have the client journal everything that is eaten and drank for 14 days straight. This gives the client and the coach valuable insights into their habits and choices. From there, the client can choose 2-4 days per week to journal for the next 4 weeks (this helps to maintain the consistency and aids in taking ownership over the new habits being created).
Phase II - The next phase would be to journal on Fridays and Mondays (book-ending the weekend) every week and an additional day of the week to insure that old habits are not creeping back into our day.
Phase III - Finally, the last phase would see the client journaling at least 1 weekday and 1 weekend day for at least 2 weeks of each month. This maintenance journaling plan insures that food portions are not increasing over time.

Get more info here! 90 Days to a New You

To your health,
Robert J DeVito

IDENTIFYING YOUR OBSTACLES

Identify your Obstacles

This is a follow-up to our goal setting article from a few weeks back -

Setting Your Goals

This article will focus on aiding you in creating your Realistic, Progressive and Maintainable (c) Action Plan.
Identify your obstacles then modify your actions.

Identify your Problem Areas – 

What are your biggest Challenges?  Some eat too much at meals or at their desks, while others pack in extra calories while driving, snacking, or socializing.  Some want to help family members eat better – without them knowing it!  Others leave choosing foods and meals to the very last second when hunger has already taken control of your thoughts. Different problems require different solutions.  If you try to change everything at once, nothing will change.

Select Solutions – 

Select up to three – five small changes you think will most easily and effectively enable you to address only your most troubling challenge.  Be certain that these changes are R.P.M. (c)  changes.  Always choose something you know you can repeat.

Develop a Simple Plan – 

You need to be more focused than just thinking “I’m going to try to do better” and having a few vague changes in mind.  You need to select up to three specific daily changes you intend to make, and you need to commit to making these changes a part of your daily routine for the next 30 days.  It is only a month, and you chose the changes in part because you thought they would be easy for you.  Promise yourself you will try hard to adopt those changes for a least a month.

Execute Your Plan – 

It is important to make these changes each day.  There is power in consistency.  One way to do this is to keep a calendar or keep a record to mark your daily progress.  Tell your friends and family about the commitment you have made.  Do other things you believe will help keep you on track, like wearing a wristband or other reminder, posting signs for yourself, writing a food diary, or joining a group that is committed to making the same kind of changes you are.

Do this and you will be on your way to freedom from all of the frustration and confusion and on the path to being healthy and fit.

For those of you in need of more information, guidance and tips then here is a link to a free e-book download from My Dynamic Life.  Enjoy it and send us some feedback!

 

To your health,

Robert

Measure and Reward your Success

Measure Your Success!  
Not by the scale! Weight loss is a slow and steady process. To truly achieve and maintain your ideal or goal weight it realistically could take months to a year. You must find alternate methods to measure your successes that are not scale related.  Pick some non-gym goals and keep track of how your exercise plan helps you increase your ability to succeed in multiple ways. Examples can be cutting strokes off of your golf game, running and chasing your children without becoming winded or carrying object(s) (laundry) upstairs or feeling better about yourself and having improved energy.

Reward Your Success
Give yourself nonfood rewards.  For example, buy yourself new clothes in smaller sizes or sign up for a massage.  You will soon realize that rewarding yourself with food is not necessary and oftentimes not as enjoyable as a lasting reward.

Yours in health,
-Robert

Thriving through the Holidays!

Bring a friend and they will receive a 14-day pass for our Group Training program to navigate the holidays and stay on track!
You will receive a 30-Min. Coaching session!

Create a new Attitude for Success

An Attitude for Success! Part I

Do you alternate between being “good” at sticking to a sensible eating plan and being “bad” when you slip? It’s a frustrating but common cycle for most of us, especially when we consider the self-defeating attitudes that labeling and acknowledging our “badness” create when it comes to food.  Many psychologists know that behavior modification strategies--rather than diets--can help us break this self-defeating cycle and make lasting lifestyle changes.

What is behavior modification? It begins with a change in self-talk and thought, which helps us change our attitudes about our eating, our bodies, and our weight, which helps us change our behavior. In terms of weight loss, our behavior will be reflected by how we feel inside, which will be reflected in how we appear on the outside. When we feel good about ourselves, we can’t help but be attractive to others. THIS is the ultimate goal—to feel better about ourselves inside, so that our bodies and personae will reflect confidence and light to others.

Be Supportive, Not Critical.
People lose weight at different rates. Weight may drop off quickly at first and then plateau, or vice versa. Your body composition may change, although your weight may stay the same.  The important thing is that long-term healthy behavior gets results.
Reassure yourself that you are working hard and remember that hard work pays off. Don’t judge your progress by your weight; instead, acknowledge that during the day or week you engaged in behaviors that will be rewarded down the road.

Set a Game Plan
You may know exactly what you want to achieve but not have a set plan to achieve it.
This is where I see many people fail.  They have great intentions but lack the action steps and action for success.

1. Set your Goals
2. Make you Plan
3. Take Action

This is an emotionally healthy start.  Have a great day.

Are you a Scale Watcher?

Scale Watching

Many people are guilty of watching the scale every day, or even a couple of times a day, when they are following a diet and exercise regimen because they want to see immediate results. However, the effects of changing your eating habits and being more active are not instantaneous. It usually takes a couple of days or weeks before you can see a significant drop in your weight if you follow a healthy diet plan. If you weigh in everyday, there is a big chance that you will be disheartened because of the slow progress when it comes to shedding pounds.

Additionally, most people do not have a steady weight but rather, a body weight range.  It is normal to fluctuate +/- 2-5 lbs every few days.  This is extremely important information  for a dieter to understand as you are in control of some of the factors that cause the fluctuation and not in control of many others.

Keep in mind that there is 3500 calories in 1- pound of body fat. So, if you gained or lost 2 pounds from day to day it is HIGHLY unlikely that you created a 7000 calorie surplus or deficit to achieve the weight fluctuation.

Scale usage should be utilized for watching your weight trend.  The best method is to begin by finding your body weight range.  To do this - weigh daily for 5 days and mark the lowest and highest weights.  This is your natural body weight range.

As an example if Monday you weigh 167 lbs, Tuesday 164 lbs, Wednesday 166 lbs, Thursday 167 lbs and Friday 165 Lbs. Your body weight Range is 164 - 167 lbs.  Every time you step on the scale you should expect to see a number in that range.

While creating better food and fitness habits you will lose weight slowly.  If your are losing 1 lb of fat per week your body weight range would shift at the end of 1 month.  That means it would go from 164 - 167 lbs down to  162 - 165 lbs.

If scale watching has you in a good mood because the scale moved down or worse... a bad mood because it rose, you need to recheck how you are defining success.  The scale will move regardless of how well you are eating or working out.  Put the #'s in perspective by understanding the components of body weight.
Be aware of your weight range and watch your BW trend for true. long-term results.

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Avoid repeating your mistakes

Avoid repeating your mistakes

As you can see from the chart below, a typical dieting cycle seems to begin with the frustration and frantic decision to lose weight.  However, a closer and more complete observation will reveal that between “Fall off the wagon” and “decision to lose weight” there are numerous “OLD YOU” habits that resurface.

We are creatures of habit and how we think forms our habits – hence – who we are.  Generally, when we reach a certain level of disgust, then and only then do we react with the proclamation of “Diet” in an attempt to reverse the habits that have formed.  The stages of change are commonly known among researchers and marketers know them as well.  Just because you want to change does not mean that you will.  If you do not utilize a staged approach you increase your risk of returning to old habits and continuing with the cycle of weight gain – weight loss – weight gain. 

Simply put, we gain weight because we either overeat, under move or both.  There is no denying this and no amount of excuses or justifications can change this.  My experience tells me that most people “graze themselves fat” or are “occasion gainers” meaning they eat “really great” most of the time and their occasional indulgences are too much to overcome through their (lack of) movement.

 

Do not fall into the mindset that you are a gross, overeating slob. This is not the case.  Do not mentally demean yourself and belittle your efforts towards success. Most people gain 1 -3 lbs. per year.  That is a calorie miscalculation of 10 – 30 calories average per day.  The drastic, restrictive and short-term methods that many of us choose to follow when we become disgusted with our “OLD YOU” habits are a recipe for continuation of the weight gain/loss cycle.  Realizing the changes that you can make and live with is essential to lifelong weight loss success.  You must be able to live by the resolutions necessary to reach AND maintain your goal.   Choose your changes wisely.  Be proactive and base your choices upon a Vision and Reasons.  The Reactive method you have repeated is a main culprit in your gradual but continual weight gain through the years.

The weight gain cycle is slow.  The weight loss cycle is slower.  Try not to make it more difficult by making and  repeating mistakes.

 From:   90 Days to a New You WORKBOOK

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