Thursday, March 7, 2013

Food journalling and other rambles!

Its been only 4 days since I ran the 10k and my feet are itching to run, literally. I have only managed 2 body pump classes this week, after taking off both Monday and Wednesday. Having a class with good instructors really cuts the deal in terms of motivating me to actually get my butt in the class. The other options I have with the 7-8am group class is Sh'Bam ( a form of western dance, I feel is highly intimidating) and body combat (which I never really warmed up to). All yoga classes are in the 8-9 batch and I cannot do that because then I will run late to office!
 
Hence I take pump twice a week, try to squish in 2 runs, a yoga class and on highly productive weeks also a different cardio session. Mostly I end up exercising only 5 days and convince myself that doing about 2.5 surya namaskars is enough exercise for the day. One day is rest day. Yayy!
 
The scale has shot up by atleast 1kg post womens day run. I was guessing that was water retention. But even though the bloat from my carbo loading in terms of dinner and dessert outside + rice based meals at home post run is almost gone, I still think there is a weight gain. Sigh!!! When will I ever learn not to reward myself with food? I was thinking I'd be able to get closer to the 75 mark by the end of this month. But losing and gaining the same kilo or so is quite annoying, honestly.
 
Seriously why does is take forever to lose one kg, but only 2 days of bad eating to gain it back? Did I mention life is unfair???
 
Did I tell you, journalling is going good. I am able to stay under 1500 calories most days.



I find journalling very useful. because I know what exactly I am eating. There is no mindless eating or eating when not hungry. And I know what I eat and thats its good for me. Back in my college days, I remember I joined a gym. I took a weight loss package of losing 5 kg in a month. I was given a little notebook in which I was to write down what I ate. Usually I filled in the book what I ideally should have eaten. I literally starved myself. Yes I did lose some weight. But towards the end I think I actually ate food and saw the scale show a nearly 2 kg gain. Must have been water retention after starving myself for so many days. But I got so annoyed, I threw my hands in the air and quit! I am glad I am not so irrational nowadays. But still there are many days the scale does not budge even though I have been working out and eating perfectly. I want to cry. I do too. I curse and complain to the husband. And he tells me I'm looking so good -even better than when I married him. I know it can't be too true, but it works like ointment and I get my act back together!
 
Right now I plan to continue running and also try to conquer that 75 kg mark. I feel like I've stayed in the later 70s for ever now.
 
That's all from me guys. Do you journal? What method works best for you?


 

6 comments:

  1. It really bothers me too when reading that the scale is not moving as you wish, inspite of what you are doing...I really dont understand about the water retention you have mentioned quite a few times in the blog. Need to read about it. I have a food journal and the excel sheet for the workout. You will soon find out a way to reach your 75Kg mark. All the best.

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    Replies
    1. Gowri, i read somewhere that to digest 1gram of carbohydrate the body needs 4 grams of water. So you will see that when you eat a carb rich diet, the body uses more water to digest it. Hence you retain more water in the body. I can explicitly see it as I get swollen ankles when I eat a carb rich diet - and no it has nothing to do with the kidney cos I have got myself tested for all sorts of complications. My calf muscles and whole legs get stiff. This is even though I exercise pretty regularly!
      So also with salty foods like pizza, chips etc - the body will retain more water to digest that kind of food. That is what I mean by water retention. Ofcourse, I am not a quqlified person. You can check with one and update me too :)

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  2. I used to journal everyday using spark people, but nowadays I do it only once in a while. I plan all of my 5 meals a day before and try not to divert from there. I have a sense of how many calories most of the foods are by now and hence do not really need to write it down. I stay within the 1500 calorie limit on most days.

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  3. I've been journaling on and off on MyFitness Pal-I used to use paper and pen, but since these apps/ websites give you the calorie content-My guess is taken out ! Also it gives me a whole record of my progress and calorie intake which I love. I am so jealous you get to go for all these classes-only if I had someone to help me with the home chores and watch my kids a bit more-I would do much more than this!!! Oh Well :)

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  4. I joined weight watchers and they had an online tool which I religiously updated. It helped me a lot. There is also a free site calorie counter, use that.

    Deepa

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  5. I have been journaling on and off but now stopped because I know that most veggie foods in our Indian diet are actually not heavily calorie ridden (the daily curries and rasams...not considering the heavy curries)....but I used to maintain a spreadsheet when I started showing the list of calories for any specific curry.
    I know rice is the only main culprit I was loading up on during weekdays.
    Yes..it does help with maintaining a journal.

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