You know, I was doing so well. From 209 pounds down to 192. Not too shabby!
Then along comes these holidays of food. Thanksgiving until now I put back on about 7 pounds.
Ah, well. I am not sweating it. And neither should YOU if you put some weight back on too. It’s hard enough sometimes just getting through these trying days. Every now and then we all have setbacks. And the best way to fight them is to simply get back on the “horse”. Don’t dwell on it and let it get you down. Studies have shown that when you have a setback, you are more likely to quit trying, thinking it’s no use.
I say forge ahead. But I do have some advice for you…
I have found the best way to stay on track is to track everything – food and activities. How can you know how well you’re doing if you have no idea what you’re eating, how much you’re exercising, and so on? Plus, there is the accountability factor.
For example, this blog. I post things and make “announcements” knowing that some people will read it. So I plan on entering a run, I write it here. Then I post the results. It motivates me, and it just may motivate a reader 🙂
So this is my accountability blog. But this is not the only place I post…
Food and Fitness Tracking
There are two that I have used that I like. One has a free and paid membership level (but paid is cheap). The other has a monthly fee.
LIVESTRONG 
– You can sign up as a free member and get some pretty good tools. I chose to go “pro” so I can get ALL the tools. And it only costs $49 for the entire year! On this site I track the foods I eat. It gives you a ton of nutritional information on your foods, there is a huge database of foods to help you enter what you have eaten (or you can enter food manually along with nutritional information), you can create meals, set calorie goals, fat goals,weight goals… I could go on.
I also track all my fitness here too.You can create loops that show where you ran/waled/biked. There is a database of exercises that already have such information as how many calories you have burned up and MUCH more.
Wrap all that with a huge database of useful articles, nutrition and fitness information, training programs, forums, groups, blogs…and you have a one-stop tracking solution.
Weight Watchers – Their on line meal tracker costs $19.95 per month. I was a paying member for 2 years. They too have much of the same features as I listed above. But overall, I like Livestrong a bit better.
Mobile Tracking – My favorite Android “app” for this is Cardio Trainer. There is a free version that has all the features I need – which is tracking my walking, jogging and biking. It tracks distance, time, calories burned, it maps your route (needs GPS) and best of all, you can post your stats on Facebook once you have completed your workout. For me, that is another form of accountability – which has also motivated others to start getting fit.
I also track all my runs on a site called The Daily Mile. The only reason I started using this site is because they have a widget which I use on this blog. It can also hook in to Facebook, but since I already post with my app, there is no need to post again 🙂
No, I know this seems like a lot of tracking, requiring a lot of time. But really, you only need to pick one. This is my method and it helps me but everyone is different. Truth be told, if you can’t take the time to track – which really, if I ONLY used Livestrong to track my food and fitness, it takes roughly 15 minutes per day – then you need it more than you think. And you DO have the time – take that 15 minutes off your television viewing, or your Facebooking, or your gaming. We’re talking about your health here.
At the end of the day, I do this to promote good health. MY good health. Since I have started my doctor has told me of the improvement in my blood work – specifically my blood sugar. Yes, it’s lower now. No drugs or treatments required 🙂
If your health isn’t worth the time and energy to do the right things for yourself,well, don’t blame the government (or me LOL) 😉
