Hi guys, Kris from Custom Fitness here, your Amarillo personal trainer. Today we’re going to be wrapping up the two part series on why you should keep a food journal during the holidays. Now be sure to read part one if you haven’t already at the link here: And as always, if you have any questions about today’s blog then please give us a call at (806)-322-3188
So last time we were talking about some of the benefits of keeping a food journal. So it keeps you from skipping, holds you more accountable … What are we looking for when we food log? What do we need to do there? Well, first of all, we need to be specific. Writing down, “I had a green smoothie,” versus writing down, “I had a green smoothie that had XYZ in it,” is two different things, right? And so, if you’re keeping track of calories, or if you’re not, it doesn’t matter. We just want to make sure we’re being as specific as possible with all the foods that we’re using and eating during the day.
We also want to pay attention with it to make sure that we’re getting it logged the day of or, at the time of would be the very best, but at least the day of. Because as I said, by the time you get to tomorrow, sometimes it’s hard to recall exactly what happened. You might recall some of it, but the brain does not work as well that way, as it does in the immediate moment. And the busier we get, the harder it is to remember things.
So, if you can make sure that you’re logging the day of/the time of, then you’ve got more truthful accountability in that log that you’re doing, so it makes it more purposeful.
All right, so number three is to make it convenient. If you are using an app, that’s great. There’s a ton of great apps out there. Just be careful knowing that they’re not all perfect, okay? The art of counting calories is not actually a perfect art. They can be off by quite a lot. And if you’ve noticed in some of those apps, you may put in an avocado three different ways, and it comes out with three different caloric values to them.
So we want to make sure that we understand that convenience is not always perfect, but if you want an app, use an app. If an app doesn’t work, grab a piece of paper. And it doesn’t have to be fancy paper. It doesn’t have to have a food log already printed on it, or anything like that. Get you a cheap spiral from Walmart and go crazy with it. You can easily write in breakfast, lunch, and dinner, or snacks, or whatever it may be.
So just making sure that it’s convenient for you. If you’re more likely to write it on paper, write it on paper. If you’re more likely to put it in an app, put it in app. Even if you need to voice record it, do it that way. Whatever works for you; just make sure that it’s getting done.
Number four with food logging is kind of a little bit of a benefit of and something to be watching for with it, and that’s looking for patterns within your food log. So, as you start to log, obviously, the first few days you’re not gonna see too much going on, but as you do it for a few weeks, you’ll start to notice some patterns. Those patterns can have to do with hormone changes … especially for us females … first week, end-of-the-week changes; from Monday-through-Saturday type of things. First-of-the-month, end-of-the-month changes. Morning versus afternoon. There’s a ton of different patterns that you can find from that, and you may start to notice even that your sleep changes according to these patterns that you’re seeing in there, and that your energy changes according to these patterns.
So that’s gonna throw a big kink in what you’re doing if you’re not understanding what those are happening for. Otherwise, you just kind of wake up and think, “Wow. I’m having an off-day.” If you start to see it on the 15th of every month, that you have an off-day, then we’ve got something going on there that could be looked at, and that food log could be very valuable to you in being able to do that.
Now, for the holidays in general, keeping a food journal is going to really drastically help, again, making sure that you’re eating well, making sure that you’re eating, making sure that you’re not overdoing it, and just kind of keep you on track so that you can survive the holidays, maintain through the holidays, maybe even progress during the holidays, and then when January comes, really hit it hard.
That is going to wrap up our series on why you should keep a food journal during the holidays! I hope that this will be of help to you all during this crazy time of the year. I really believe that it can really help people as far as accountability, awareness of how food affects you, and consistency in when you eat and when you log.
So, if you are wanting the accountability and help with creating an action plan to see results, or are wanting to someone to help create a workout plan to push you to your greatest potential, then that’s what we’re here for. We work with our clients not just on fitness, but also nutrition. What we do is we will ensure that you are supported throughout every aspect of your health and wellness journey, and that includes making those eating changes. We have an entire team of dedicated professionals to help you with your health and fitness goals. To get your consultation set up, give us a call at 806-322-3188 or email us at info@customfitness.biz At Custom Fitness, we are YOUR personal trainers in Amarillo, Texas. Have a great day.