LOG IT

This week's exclamation to me was, "I don't know why I'm not losing weight - I watched what I ate, and I exercised, too!"

Actually, I hear this song at least once a week from a client. The remark can be tinged with a whine, frustration, or downright anger. No matter what, though, the catch word for me is watched. When I hear that, then I have identified the source of my client's angst.

Have you tried to watch your checkbook ledger to see if your deposits and withdrawals balance out? Would you watch your kitchen pantry shelves empty and then hope you remember which items to replace the next time you are pushing the shopping cart?

Of course not - I hope. The truth is, most of us function best with lists or written accounts of these and other activities. The mind is a wonderful and complex storage unit. But it can play tricks on us when facts mix with perception, emotional smokescreens, and conditional memory loss.

So you watched what you ate. What does that mean? When I probe my clients further, they explain that they didn't eat a lot of sugar or fat, or that they didn't engage in the usual evening TV snacking. All of these efforts are commendable health-wise, but they fail miserably as a form of accounting or measurement. If you want specific explanations for changes on the scale (also a measurement tool), then a specific accounting of your food intake is required. Period. How else are you going to assess what is taking place and why?

I refuse to be obsessive-compulsive about this, and I discourage my clients from overly focusing on the scale reading or every food morsel that enters their mouths. However, I do know that the body either burns the energy (food) we feed it, or it stores it. If you take in more than you use, your body puts it away for later in the form of fat. Even an excess of 100 calories consumed while nibbling during dinner prep each night can derail your progress without you realizing it.

So, after hearing the rest of the song - the part that goes, "I KNOW what I ate - there must be some other explanation" - I make this suggestion to them. For at least one week, write down what you eat, when you eat it, and exactly how much you are eating. That means pulling out the measuring cups and spoons and a nutrition counter. Re-acquaint yourself with what 1/2 cup really looks like. You'll be surprised. Then, at the end of the week, see how your watching what you eat compares with what you actually do eat. I recommend continuing to record if this helps retrain your perception of portion sizes.

Some of my clients do well with keeping a food log as a habit. Others would rather not detail every meal. The bottom line, though, is that in order to understand the specifics of your weight change (or not), you need to look at specifics. Watching equates to guessing which can lead to that frustrating song I hear sung weekly. If you want to reach your goal weight and know how and why you're getting there, then log it. This works well with your checkbook, too.