Week 1 lessons: I call it invisible-eating - Importance of a food diary

Hi All,

Well this week I decided to weigh myself for analysis purposes and it did not go well results wise although it did tell me a lot about myself in terms of eating and behaviour. Hence I am happy to have weighted myself everyday. Well I present to you the results below:

Date  Wgt     G/L  %      BF       M

5/05  113.2   0.8   0.7   46.2     57.8     20k bikeride, 3 litres water - a good day

6/05  113.7   1.3   1.1   44.9     59.5     rained, 15 min walk, 3 litres water

7/05  112.7   .30   .30   50.9     52.6     timtams, 30 min walk, no 3 litres

8/05  112.7   .30   .30   50.9     52.6     remaining timtams, 6 cupcakes, did not weigh

9/05  114.1   1.7   1.5   51.6     52.5     yum cha, 2 desserts at tend of meal, 2 glasses of wine, serve of chocolate ice-cream

D   =  Date

G/L= Gain/Loss

%   = Gain/Loss Percentage

BF =  Body Fat

M  =  Muscle

I should not really be surprised as i used to be in the past. One of the things that I have now OFFICIALLY learned about my eating patterns is that I tend to eat without feeling hungry and even realising a lot of the time that I am eating crap. I am so manic in the consumption of these 'empty' foods that it is only post the feeding frenzy when I analyse my behaviour I acknowledge that the food did not nourish me in anyway and apart from the first 1 second when I derive the pleasure of the river of chocolate course down my gullet!!

In terms of the water challenge, I sort of dropped the ball this week by not meeting it 2 days in a row. I have no excuses bar that we had guests over this weekend and so it is hard to continue the commitment to drink up whilst playing ho0st and running to the loos everywhere we visit. But all in all this is still not a good excuse and I know it. So the challenge must carry on although the results are that I lost this one. In this whole journey the one thing that keeps bringing it home to me is the importance of keeping a food diary. Although this approach does not suit everyone, I do know that this does work for me. When ever I have tried it it has worked for me and my successes have happened however big or small.

Anyhoo, this will carry me into week 2 and maybe writing a food diary can be my challenge for week 2. That way I will have to carry this challenge for the remaining 11 weeks of the challenge. After all the purpose of the 12 week challenge is to get into good habits and make little challenges count. Calorieking has a lovely site that is free, I am familiar with it and it works for me. So yes, I will make this my challenge. Keeping mind of course that in week 2 I don't just have to write the food diary but also keep to the 3 litres of water. So it is barely week 2 but is already getting difficult.

This challenge business is getting me all excited and enthused. So I have decided to throw some more things in here just so I can refer to it later. My aims for the end of the 12 weeks are:

• Losing 7 kilos
• Meeting 80 percent of my challenges at the minimum
• Being more active

I have been wondering what the reward should be for a while now and I think I know. I have seen these bedside tables in ISHKA and I know I can get them cheaper in India but who is going to carry them for me from INDIA??? They cost $265 each and would work perfectly in the guest bedroom. If they are sold out by the end of the challenge, I guess the reward must be anything that appeals to me at the value of $500. I think that is fair. Of course it cannot be related to food in any shape or form. 

For me the goal is also related to kilos and at the end of the 12 weeks I would like to see my weight down by 7 kilos. Considering the starting weight was 113.20, the goal weight is 106.20. Seeing I am now 114.10, I have quite clearly made things more difficult for myself as i now need to lose 7.9 kilos. Again a situation I am responsible for putting myself into. However, all is not lost yet as there are 11 weeks to go and I know I can do it. Until next time.....