Back on Track: Accountability with Food Journaling

This week was a success!

I am back on track and seeing the results. The key to this week was simple: Food Journaling.

In my previous post I talked about how on this journey we are accountable to only one person: ourselves.
Because of this, when we succeed, it gives us a great sense of pride and accomplishment ... but it is also the very reason why most of us fail.

When we are accountable to others, they will know when we fail. Think about it, if you want and extension on a deadline or extra credit in school you have to go to another person and ask permission ... and they may say no. But when we are on this journey, when we want to cheat, binge, or completely go off track, the only person we have to ask permission from is us. Because of that, we will find ways to justify our stumble or rationalize our behavior ... and it is easy to give ourselves permission to do things we shouldn't.

When I think about this journey, I often see myself as two people. One Ashley is trying her hardest to succeed and be a diva in this journey, but then there is another Ashley that wants to cheat and thinks ...."mmmm ..... Cheetoes". lol.

This week, I tried something new: Food Journaling.

We are often blind to our own stumbles and pitfalls, but by writing it down, we have no choice but look at our diets truthfully and be honest with ourselves at the end of the week.
When the scale shows a loss, a gain, or stays the same, we can look back at the week and see where we went wrong or went right. .... It makes the inanimate journal the "person" we are accountable to.

I took a small notepad and started writing down everything I ate ... and I realized, that because it was more trouble to find that silly thing and write it down, I was less likely to snack late at night. I would have just enough energy to grab a snack, but not quite enough to grab a snack and write it down and calculate the carb intake.

This week, I lost 1.2lbs ... pretty good for a girl who has a condition making it near impossible to loose weight. :)

I hope to get to a point in my life where I will no longer need the journal, but for now, I am just starting out and the journal will help me fight those old habits of mine.