| My young son, like most toddlers, has a piggy bank. Everyevening he and his Daddy have fun putting spare change fromDad's pockets into the pig. In fact, we've had to empty the pigcontents several times in the past months. It sure does fill upquickly. Before the pig, the spare change was just left lying onthe dresser, leaving us with a big mess, and no idea how muchhad accumulated. What do piggy banks and food choices have in common? I honestlywould have had no idea before this past week when I decided tostart keeping a food journal. Calories are a lot like the sparechange from my husband's pockets, they add up fast.Unfortunately, before I started writing them all down, they wereexactly like the mess on our dresser, only harder to clean up,or loose. Since having my son two-and-a-half years ago, I have attemptednumerous times to loose the extra 'baby weight'. Althoughbecoming harder to do so everyday, I have to laugh at the 'babyweight' excuse. Honey, the so called 'baby weight' was lost whenthe bundle made his first shrill squeal at the hospital. WhatI'm packing around is twenty pounds of pocket change with no pigto put it in... At the end of the first day of 'food journaling', I expected todiscover a miraculous remedy for what's ailing me...and guesswhat? I did. I discovered that... I eat too much. Huh? That's it?I eat too much? Actually, it's not the quantity, most of thetime anyway, but the choices that are the problem. But come on,I had no idea that one stinking piece of American cheese hadseventy calories, and forty-five of them came from fat. Boy,nibbling on a few of those through out the day can shoot yourentire plan to heck. The first day I just ate and wrote it all down. Other thantrying to remember to jot down the food and calories for eachbit I ate, I didn't change a thing. After needing to use acalculator to add it all up that night, the reality was heavierthan all of the piggy bank change in the world. I really neededto make some healthier choices in what I was consuming each day. Food journaling has opened my eyes not only to how my choiceswere preventing weight loss, but how easy it is to just popquick snacks into my mouth rather than planning my meals for theday. I've also taken up another foreign concept...the art ofexercise. Just like emptying the pig when it gets too full, I'mdepositing extra calories everyday with some very much neededwalking. At the end of your day, are you just dumping your spare changeon the dresser, or do you keep count of how much you'veaccumulated? Come on. You can do it. You'll be surprised at howfast those nickels...ahem, calories, can add up! Bank thosecalories in your own food journal today. |
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