Saturday, February 18 marked one month of keeping a food and exercise log here at Crack the Plates. Perhaps one of the reasons you haven’t seen me much on this, the main page, is because 1) I’ve been adjusting to a new way of life and 2) I include so many details in the daily write-ups. But I thought it would be fun to take a look back at what I’ve accomplished in the past month.
Introductory notes: I started logging my daily eats on January 3, which happens to be the exact day we found out that our former residence was in the process of foreclosure. (Not that I need to remind, but – along with two other families – we were living in an apartment in a house owned by some guy in New Jersey.) The fact that we had to arrange an emergency move made careful record-keeping difficult to say the least. We also did a lot of eating out in that hectic time.
We spent out first night in the new place on Sunday January 8, but it took 10 days more for me to on a regular updating schedule.
Between January 18 and February 18, I logged everything I ate every day – except Valentine’s Day, when I refused to log (even though I sorta kinda did anyway).
That’s 32 days of logging!
Of those 32 days, I exercised 25. Almost all of it has been on the elliptical machine at my gym, where I’ve progressed from a resistance of 7 to 13. I exercised for a total of 24.71 hours, or the equivalent of an entire day!
I didn’t share mileage and calories statistics for every workout, but if I total what I did record, I burned 14,766 calories going 99.94 miles.
I know that the calibration systems aren’t perfect, but I’m pretty pleased with this!
I’m glad that food logging and working out have finally become habitual. I can’t tell you how many times I just refused to start because I was afraid of how long it would take to see progress. I also didn’t have much faith in myself that I would be able to do this. Posting online publicly, embarrassing though some things were to admit, was a major motivating factor. There were lots of times when I didn’t want to post, or was embarrassed by what I had to report, but the knowledge that a small group of friends and possibly strangers were keeping an eye on it motivated me to keep up with things.
Sharing these numbers helps show me that 1) it’s not useless to start and that 2) I do have the willpower to keep up. It’s so easy to tell myself that I don’t, but it’s not true. I did it. And hopefully I’ll have another update to share come March 19. (Feb 18 – Mar 18).
As for my goals, I started this project with two: 1) reducing the amount of food I ate while still maintaining a varied, satisfying diet and 2) working out regularly. It wasn’t about weight or body image. In fact, I haven’t weighed myself in months. I still have no idea what I weigh, and I probably won’t know til I go in for a check-up soon. Once I know, I might get on a schedule of weighing myself about once a month. Obsessing over numbers (weight) is a big trigger for me, and one I want to keep to a minimum.
Weight isn’t the issue – being healthy is. I realised I ate way too much (way too quickly) for the activity level of my lifestyle. I love to eat, and I knew that if I wanted to maintain my rich, delicious, varied diet I’d need to reduce my caloric intake or start working out regularly. Since I already wanted to become more active, I made that my second goal.
My goals for February:
- Continue logging food daily without judgment or negative words (“should have” “embarrassed” “bad/naughty/guilty”). What I eat is what I eat – it makes up who I am. There’s no place for judgment.
- Continue logging exercise when I do it, color-coded in green. Soft goal of continuing to exercise five times a week.
- Be gentle with myself as I see my caloric needs and energy level change. As I’ve gotten into a regular schedule of working out and eating highly nutritive (high net-gain) whole foods, I am weirdly finding that I crave less and get satisfied on smaller amounts of food. Further, I have way more energy and may even need less sleep than I used to. Adjusting to these seemingly positive changes might be frustrating at first, especially for someone who is used to eating lots and lots of food.
- Continue to resist obsessing over numbers or gains, especially with regard to exercise. Be aware of my history of “overdoing it”.
What do you think? Have you been following along? Do you find this inspiring or discouraging? Do you keep a food or exercise log?
Hopefully now that this has become less novel and more routine I’ll be able to get on a more regular schedule of updating Crack the Plates again – not just the food log page. :-) Til then!
I still say eat more cake!
so proud! and all of this has been *my* primary inspiration to accomplish similar goals (which I’m steadily realizing: i’ve gone from being able to squat 75 pounds to 145 pounds). i know i wouldn’t be so active and determined but for your incredible commitment to health you’ve made since the start of the year.
WOW! What a hard working and determined girl you have been! I am so proud of you and so happy for you! Keep it up :-)
Thank you so much Elisabeth! That really means a lot. :)
Seems like you’ve made a lot of progress already, congrats! I need to get on a healthy track too, thanks for the inspiration!