Losing Weight Step #4: Track and Control The Foods/Calories That I Eat
I wasn’t going to try to track my calories when I first started my “diet.” I thought tracking calories might prove to be too difficult and time consuming to do and that could deter my progress. Boy, was I wrong!
It should have dawned on me that the internet would have an easy solution to keep track of the calories that I eat. A few of your suggested FitDay.com so I have been using that for a little while now. It’s pretty easy to use, and a lot of foods are in there. As an added bonus, there is a public profile that I can activate and post a link too on here. I’m still getting used to the program and the information that I can tell me. But I’m hooked! I love it!
Now that I am tracking my caloric intake, I can see why I gained so much weight. Years of always going for seconds and years of overeating tasty foods. On May 1, you’ll see I had 3 tacos. Usually I have double that and thanks to the FitDay program, I can see how many calories are there and stop myself.
Here’s a link to the main page of my profile:
Link to Blogging Away Fat’s Profile
I’ve also added a link to it underneath my weight information on the right.
I am feeling good about this. The calorie counting software is giving me a great idea as to how much I should be eating a day and it will keep me honest with what is going in my mouth. It will also help me keep track of Losing Weight Step #5.
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Comments
Tricia,
We are dieting as well. Here are a few things that have helped us.
Look for the double fiber bread when you shop. Fiber makes you feel more full and not as hungry.
We like oatmeal a lot, as well. Also, pickles are good if you like them. They take away your hunger cravings (not much follows pickles).
One area I had to work on was drinking enough water which I disliked doing. I’m finally coming around through at my husbands urging and find it does help tremendously.
I’ve had good luck with tracking the food as well as a way not to overeat. Also, I’ve learned that it helps to write down your food plan for the day early in the morning. It’s easier to stay with the plan than if you just write down what you have eaten after you have eaten it (which, of course, you must do sometimes).
Dining out hint: When you go out to eat, check the menu on the restaurant’s website before you leave and make your food selection at home. That way you will be less likely to “menu browse” and order too much. Then when the food comes, immediately ask for a “to-go box” and divide the food in half before you begin eating. You can eat half, and with the other half you can: take it home, share it untouched, eat it for lunch the next day, or (if you find you really want it after you finish the first half) eat it yourself.
Good luck to you!
Two thoughts that I hope are helpful after looking at your fitday profile…
An easy dietary change that will benefit your whole family is to get rid of the white stuff (white bread, white rice, white pasta) and replace it with whole grains (whole grain bread, brown rice, wheat pasta, etc). White bread is sort of like the glue that parents make for children by mixing white flower and water. It has no nutrition for your or your son, and it spikes glucose levels.
Also, I know that breakfast is a challenge for you and that it’s probably a victory to eat anything. But starting the day with Reeses Peanut Butter Cups Cereal is terrible for your body. It’s kicking off the day with pure sugar. It won’t “stick” with you for very long, and it’s terrible for you insulin levels. Food like this is a major cause of diabetes in adults and children. If you need something sugary, try real oatmeal with a little added brown sugar or raisins or fruit or peanut butter.
good luck! your 5 goals look great.
Thank you everyone for the suggestions. We do eat a lot of white stuff, and gradually we will start to incorporate more whole grains. The whole grains tend to cost more, so we have to take things a little gradually. My first thing was to bring more fresh fruit in the house.
And for the Reeses in the morning, it’s actually Cap’n Crunch Peanut Butter Cereal (FitDay didn’t have that so I picked the closest thing I could find) and I no longer have any of it left. We had to finish it up 
Now, we have a few boxes of Kix to go through and then decide what to do for breakfast. With living frugally it’s hard to not use the food we do have. But as we start to run out of the things that are not so good for us, we’ll start replacing it with better things.
Ahhh, that makes sense to use up what you have. My favorite extremely healthy cereal is called Kashi Go Lean. It’s super cheap at Trader Joes, but I imagine you might not have a Trader Joes nearby. It tastes good, has 13g of protein, 10g of fiber, and only 1g of fat. There are also other healthy cereals…just look at protein, sugar and fiber.
And oatmeal is about as cheap as it gets and healthy on top of that (real oatmeal, not the sugary stuff in packets, which is more expensive and unhealthy).
Great job! I’ve been using an online program as well and it is so easy to keep enter the foods in. I’ve been on track to lose one to two pounds a week, which is awesome.