So a week or so ago one of the bonus challenges for my fitness challenge was to keep a food journal through the week. I’ve read scores of times about how you should do that to track what you eat, when and how much. I’ve never done it because… well… I’m lazy. Plus I just kind of had this “eye roll” reaction to the whole concept of having to write it all down and track times and amounts. I admit I wasn’t THAT detailed about it. I wrote down what I ate, but I didn’t track calories and times so much.
Still, it surprised me how helpful it was. In fact it actually prevented me from just mindlessly snacking throughout the day. Deep down I think it was because I’m simply lazy and I didn’t want to have to jot it all down, but still it was a perk. 😉 It’s easy to not realize just how much “stuff” I’m eating when I simply don’t pay attention.
So I’m going to keep another food journal here in a couple of weeks. This summer has been bonkers as far as trying to keep a regular schedule of anything for any time. Sadly things like workouts and getting the boys into a routine that will keep them dry at night, have not been going so well.
It’s going to be mellowing out a bit after next weekend when I go to the homeschool convention though, so I think that I will be able to get things a little more “normalized” after that. And of course the following week school starts back for Stuart. THAT is a depressing thought indeed. *sigh* Summers seemed so long when I was a kid! Of course, school didn’t start till the first week in Sept “back then.” What gives??
Speaking of eating, I have a slight confession to make. Last night I was CRAVING, big time, something sweet. I have been doing SO well at cutting down/out sugar sweets, and I hadn’t been missing them much honestly. But I’ve been slipping recently and not eating as much fruit/veg as I should and drinking all my water. Believe it or not that makes a HUGE difference. So… I was prowling the house, poking my nose into cupboards, freezers, fridge and pantry trying to locate something that would fix the crave. Nope, didn’t see a thing! Which is good really. I don’t want to keep that junk on hand, even if it does seem like a good idea to eat a giant bowl of ice cream from time to time. 😉 BUT what I did find were some semi-sweet chocolate chips. 😉 Ha ha! You think you know where this is going, but I assure you you don’t! This is something I have not done in YEARS, but used to do now and then when I was growing up. I have no idea how the concoction came into my head, but oh well. I put chocolate chips into a mug and then fill it with cold milk and eat it with a spoon. Yeah… Ha ha ha! Now, I don’t FILL the mug with chocolate chips. I just put a few in the bottom. Last night it was a last ditch effort to save my sanity so I did it. 😉 Popped the mug with chocolate and milk in the freezer to get good and cold! Guess what? It totally hit the spot! I guess I just needed some chocolate. Ha!
But I will attempt to behave now and have a fruit smoothie the next time I feel the need for something sweet. 😉 Seriously though, you should try food journaling for a week just to see what it does for you. You might be surprised at the patterns you see, and the amount of food that you actually eat. 🙂 Give it a whirl, it’s not hard, and it doesn’t hurt.