Doing the Numbers
Amanda and I have very different ways of watching what we eat.
Last night, on a four-mile walk during which we only got a little lost, we talked about how we want to decide what to eat -- and track what we eat - during these ten weeks.
Me -- I'm a counter. And not just calories. I like seeing how much everything I'm taking in, what I'm burning off and just how bad my habits are. That's why I've been using this great online site called SparkPeople to track everything I eat and how much I exercise. It's free, easy to use, has a wide database of nutritional information for all sorts of foods - from the grocery store to fast food joints and national chain restaurants. If it's not in the database, you can add it.
The site has a lot of other features -- community message boards, meal plans, etc. -- but the food and exercise trackers are really the only things I use. There's also a button to help you keep track of all the water you should be drinking (I know I'm drinking enough if I'm running to the bathroom every five minutes).
So as of 5 p.m. today here's what I had:
My big problem with food is that I don't -- and never have -- seen it as a source of nutrition. I know intellectually that you are what you eat -- but I see food mostly as a source of pleasure. I eat whatever I want and way too much of it because I don't bother thinking about how it affects my body beyond my taste buds.
With charts showing me the concrete science behind my choices, SparkPeople helps me think about what I eat, what it means for my body, and take responsibility for my choices rather than ignoring them and reaching for the next chicken wing.
Comments (3)
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why are you skipping dinner? I'm not sure that's a wise choice.
Posted on February 8, 2008 7:59 PM
why are you skipping dinner? I'm not sure that's a wise choice.
Posted on February 8, 2008 7:59 PM
Oh, I didn't skip dinner. I just hadn't had it by 5 p.m.
We went out to dinner at a Japanese steakhouse, had way too much and then I had two drinks while shooting pool afterward.
Not starving myself by any stretch of the imagination.
Posted on February 9, 2008 9:43 AM