Electronic Diary

Because of the hassle factor, it is a sad fact that people who journal thier food are more likely to stay on track with their dietary goals. The problem is I cheat and I'm good at it doing it "within the rules." I did lose on Weight Watchers, but I learned to work the system so my loss wasn't especially healthy and depended too heavily on "diet foods."

I first learned about Calorie King by using their free on-line food database. Since then I've used Calorie King's software. I find it keeps me honest because I can't cheat the realities of the way my food is disributed. Without paying attention to the variety and make-up of the food, the way it's cooked, or the time of I day I eat, I can't hit percentage benchmarks each day of fats, carbs and proteins. Even more significantly it gives me weekly percentages. Most people don't gain weight in a day. They do it little by little over weeks. Weekly percentages let me see how the little overages of dressing or dessert add up over the course of a week.

How's this for diet math...I watched a documentary on the National Geographic television channel last night and it said,"The Second Law of Fat: The line between being in and out of energy balance is slight. Suppose you consume a mere 5 percent over a 2,000-calorie-a-day average. 'That's just one hundred calories; it's a glass of apple juice,' says Rudolph Leibel, head of molecular genetics at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. 'But those few extra calories can mean a huge weight gain.' Since one pound (.45 kilograms) of body weight is roughly equivalent to 3,500 calories, that glass of juice adds up to an extra 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) over a year. Alternatively, you'd gain 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) if, due to a more sedentary lifestyle—driving instead of walking, taking the escalator instead of the stairs—you started burning 100 fewer calories a day." There's an excellent article from their website. Apple juice doesn't appeal to me much, but I could see myself killing a hundred calories on those prepackaged 100 calorie snack packs or a piece of toast before bed. Even a glass of skim milk.

I hate food journaling. Yes, the computer software makes it a thousand times easier. It should feel rewarding to have the evidence of making good choices when my body doesn't yet show it. I still don't have to like it.