The Healthy Writer Blog

We’re Writers, Right?

Posted by Tawny Weber Jan 19 2012, 1:38 am

I don’t know about all writers, just myself. But I write, like, all the time. I write lists, I write notes, I write in a journal. And hopefully *g* I write books. So writing is pretty much a constant in my day to day life.

Added to that, I know the power of the written word. Goals have an exponentially higher chance of being achieved if they are written (and read) regularly. Journaling, if done with intention, can have as powerful an effect as regular meditation. And for me, writing scenes on a plotting board coalesces a story from concept to workable, writeable plot.

And I know what a difference it makes when I’m focused on weight loss if I write down everything I eat. Even if I don’t calculate calories or protein/carb/fat breakdowns, just the act of being honest and accountable makes a huge difference in what–and the amounts of what–I eat. It’s hard to be angry at the scale and rail against the unfairness of life and how impossible it is to lose weight if I can look back at my week’s food log and see an overload of carbs, daily chocolate and a sad lack of vegetables on the page.

Still, I was fascinated when I read this article on SparkPeople. In this yearlong weightloss study, the average loss was 13 lbs. Okay, that’s cool, right? But then you look at the breakdown. The people who wrote down what they ate lost approximately 18 lbs each. The people who didn’t journal their food intake averaged a 9 lb loss. Holy cow! Writing it down resulted in twice as much weight lost?!

Now that’s inspiring, right?!

There are so many options for tracking food. A pad of paper and pen. A calendar or datebook. A weight loss journal. Weight Watchers has it’s own point-calculating tools in their website. There are a plethora of online options for tracking. I used to use FitDay (not the online version, but had installed the program on my computer). But when my new computer came with Windows 7, my almost a decade old program wouldn’t run. A friend suggested I check out SparkPeople. I love it! Not just because it gives me the nutrient breakdown I need as a vegetarian to make sure I’m on track with my protein intake. But also because it lets me calculate recipes, create food ‘groups’ of things I eat regularly, like fat free Greek yogurt with almonds and craisins. An online program, they have an iPhone and iPad app that lets me log in whatever I eat wherever I eat, and it nicely tracks it all together. So I have no excuse not to write down (or type in) everything I eat.

Now to see if that regular, dedicated tracking translates into twice as much weight loss as if i hadn’t tracked at all, right?

Do you record your food intake? Have you ever? If so, what tools did you find the most helpful? And if you don’t, would you keep track if you knew you could have twice as much success?

7 Comments

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7 Responses to “We’re Writers, Right?”

Christy says:

January 19, 2012 at 10:56 am

Yes, food (and mood) journaling helps. I found keeping track with paper and pencil very tedious, especially when I had to keep looking counts up in a book. Then I found Diet & Exercise Assistant app for my Palm TX. I logged everything and in about two years I lost 60 lbs. D&EA has a huge data base and you can make your own food lists and recipes, too. But then that too got tedious, and some family stresses caused me to gain some weight back. But now I’m ready to try again. Thanks for the SparkPeople link, I’m going to look into that. The iPhone app would probably work on my new iPod Touch.

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- Christy says:
  
  January 19, 2012 at 11:32 am
  
  P.S., the most important component for my success with D&EA was that I could keep it with me always, and I didn’t have to be connected to the internet. With the iPod touch I’m on Wifi, so I’ll probably choose an app that doesn’t depend on a continual connection.
  
  Reply
Anna Sugden says:

January 19, 2012 at 12:42 pm

*hangs head* Nope – never tried journalling, mainly because I know what I eat. However, if I did, I think my focus would be on combining with weights and measures, so that I could accurately gauge the calorific content of what I eat.

An app sounds perfect – I really must make time to check out Sparkpeople.

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Donna Alward says:

January 19, 2012 at 5:54 pm

I am right now, but most of the time I find it too time consuming trying to find calorie counts. Especially when I cook a lot of my own food from scratch.

What I do though is try to balance a carb and a protein at each meal/snack, with emphasis on fruits and veggies ahead of starchy carbs like rice and bread. It’s a lot easier for me to think of “a carb and a protein” than it is calorie counting.

That being said, writing down what you eat is really helpful in finding out how many little “cheats” you think you’re getting away with!

Reply
- Christy says:
  
  January 21, 2012 at 2:15 pm
  
  Hi Donna, apps are the way to go. You don’t have to spend time looking things up, it’s all in the data base. There are a ton of apps for PC, Mac, iPhone, iPod/iPad, and smart phones.
  
  Reply
Diane Gaston says:

January 19, 2012 at 11:20 pm

I love Spark People! It is so much more than mere calorie counting, although I liked their food journals. Made it so easy to record what I ate.

Weight Watchers has a good tracker, too. In Points, of course. Writing down what I eat is essential for me to lose weight.

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The Healthy Writer Blog says:

January 22, 2012 at 10:00 pm

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