Wednesday, January 12, 2011

How Do You Track Progress?

Yesterday on Kathy's blog One Bad Apple Dish she said something that has been on my mind. 

"I've been on Laura's no sugar - no soda diet. One of the benefits may be that I have more energy and don't need to sleep as much. I'll keep going to see if this continues. As far as the weight goes, I am going to have to count calories. Even though I'm not eating sugar and drinking soda, I am eating too much. I've been replacing the sugar with other carbohydrates instead of vegetables and fruits. I guess I have to keep track of everything I eat in order to lose weight."

By the way Kathy has done great with the No Sugar, No Soda, even with a hubby we all love who tempts her!!!  Way to go Kathy!!  And if you have never read her blog, you should take a peak at it!!  She does a great job and has been my inspiration and encouraged me to share my story.  Which I have benn able to do more and more thanks to her.

Anyway, when I moved from Utah to Texas I sold everything including my bathroom scale that I loved!!!  Sometimes it was so discouraging to get on the stupid thing and see the same 40 lbs lost over and over again.  So last year when the weight started to come off I could tell it in my clothes.  I could see it in the pictures.  Some of my pants actually fall off me now.  I knew by the way my clothes fit I easily lost in the neighborhood of 70 lbs and I was okay with that.  I wanted to make sure I was not just tooting my horn so I wanted a way to measure this progress.  So today I decided to take the plunge and use up a Christmas Gift card and buy another  scale. I got the scale home and got on it and wanted to CRY!!!  Wahhhh!!!  The scale did not go high enough to weigh me.  Sad but true.  I look in the mirror and saw my little cheeks begin to flush red. It was the same story again and again. I felt like a failure and yet I knew I wasn't.  So yeah my bubble busted today!

I have contemplated all day as to what I was going to do with the scales.  Take them back?  Or keep them and use as a goal to get to.  I know there are other things I could do to measure my progress but I really wanted some numbers in pounds. Kathy mentioned how she had been substituting her no sugar and no soda with other things and they were not fruits and veggies.  When she said that, I took a good look at what I Had been eating as well.  I see all the things I need to do, write down what I am eating, and exercise.  For writing things down, I don't have a phone app where I can just put it on my phone (I know a louse excuse).  My friend Lisa told me about My Fitness Pal, I glanced at it maybe I need to look a bit harder at it.  As for exercise it is hard when you can't walk very far. Yet I know there are chair exercises I can do and need to start doing them. 

So I am curious what do you all do to track your progress? Do you go by the scales?  Count calories? I would be interested to know.

9 comments:

  1. I write my food down, along with the calories in my "The Biggest Loser" journal/food diary. I also use My daily plate on Livestrong.com... I'm old school and don't do much on the computer, but my daily plate is awesome... you can track calories taken in, and calories expended. I bet you would like it Laura. And don't give up the fight... the devil is using that scale to discourage you... don't let him do it!! You're doing a great job!

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  2. Peggy where did you get the Biggest Loser journal/food diary at? Is it online or did you have to order it? What is a daily plate? Is it an actual plate? Sorry for so many questions but this old mind got confused. Thanks for the encouragement!!!

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  3. go to Livestrong.com and click on "my daily plate" you'll be able to go from there. also... I think I got the BL food diary from Sam's club... but I can't remember for sure. yikes!

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  4. I'm using a scale bacause I like having that feedback, but the real results will be needing smaller clothes. If I have to buy a belt that would be great. As long as I don't have to buy bigger clothes that would be ok too. I'm trying to not drink empty calories for now and may make more changes in the future. One thing at a time for now. I had a good day today, I had pizza for dinner and didnn't really want pop with it. Maybe it helped that the only pop in the fridge were kinds I don't really care for. You gals are doing great! I'm glad we can cheer each other on.

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  5. I have used food journals, I have used loseit.com and recently I looked at my fitness pal. I will say that I found my fitness pal easier in that I have never had to create a food entry, which discouraged me with lose it. You can log all your food , excercise, and water. But it sounds like my daily plate does similar things as the two i mentioned. But the best way to track food is to journal even though I hate it holds me accountable.

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  6. And by the way I had a scale that would not weigh me either. First I used it as a goal to get down to a weight where it could weigh me. T

    That was many moons ago though and since I gave it away. I now have a health o meter like my grandma had at her house when I was a kid.

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  7. My plan was to use my scale/Wii to track my progress. I am only going to weigh once a week, on Sunday mornings. When I weighed this Sunday I had GAINED 2 LBS! I couldn't believe it so I got on my Wii to verify it and sure enough, I had! It was a little discouraging, but I, like Kathy, am going to have to start making more conscience decisions on what I eat. I thought if I gave up the sugar and sodas I could eat whatever else I wanted. WRONG!
    I do feel soooo much better and haven't even craved a soda or sugar like I thought I would. I think it's going to be harder to be more aware of EVERYTHING I put into my mouth.
    I know I won't track....I have so much paperwork with the three businesses I have, it stresses me out!! I have been really, really busy right now and don't want to make excuses, but I can't even squeeze in 30 minutes a day to get on my Wii.....and it's something I enjoy doing.
    OK, sorry for complaining....I will stop being Debbie Downer now :)
    Everyone keep up the great work and a thousand thank you's to Laura for keeping the blog going.

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  8. I enjoy reading what everyone is using to keep track of what they are eating. I still haven't seriously started a lifetime change other than giving up sugar and soda pop. I'm still working hard on getting rid of junk, organizing, sorting and cleaning out the bedrooms and bathroom before Adam, Sarah and Noah arrive next week. I also have a lot of housework to catch up on since we've been gone since the end of August. Today I spent 6 to 7 hours going through all the junk mail that has been collecting since I left for Branson in August. I need to clean out my files and get taxes ready while I'm home. Until I get caught up on everything and get organized It won't be easy to concentrate on other exercise besides cleaning and will be hard to write everything I eat down. I'm hoping to get organized and settled by the time we leave on the cruise and then I'll probably take our taxes with us to work on. Gotta go to bed. Tomorrow's another day! I like to take one day at a time so I don't get overwhelmed.

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  9. I never get on a scale, because I have decided they lie! :) No, I will get on one if I have to, but I keep track of what I eat but just writing it down. I usually keep a food diary with me and I write what I eat, how many calories it had, fat grams, carbs (including fiber because that is important, and protein. A good rule of thumb is if it has a lot of fat, it most likely has a lot of cholesterol too. I also find eating in and making healthier substitutions at home help to. As far as exercising go, you can do a lot of seated exercises. Thanks for taking us on this journey, Laura!

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