“Record What You Eat. Weep. Repeat.”

Don’t Eat That. You’re Being Watched.

Hi, this is Alex again. Isn’t it funny how aware of your own habits you become when you know
someone else is watching?

Case in Point: this past weekend I had to perform the daunting task of recording every single
calorie I ate and drank, every day for three days, as part of the Summer Shape Up Challenge.

According to Explore Fitness nutrition consultant Sarah Worah, who will be vetting my dairy
entries in the coming days, “Those who record their food intake do better at losing weight and
keeping it off. They tend to eat healthier, too.”

In other words, the idea behind this diary exercise was to help me begin the process of enacting
long-term, permanent, changes in my life.

But truth be told, I didn’t do as well as I had planned with this process. What I though would
be a piece of cake ended up being more complicated, and I still ended up making some poor
diet choices: I drank more beer when I knew it was proportionate to a few more minutes on the
treadmill; I ate a second brownie at the risk of gaining more body fat; I had second helpings of
food when the first serving was plenty.

By the time I was done with the three-day activity, it was obvious that the whole “keeping track
of my diet” thing was going to take some getting used to. However, I should mention here that it
wasn’t a complete disaster.

Apart from my obvious mistakes, I did watch my consumption more carefully than usual. I
knew Sarah was going to be combing through my nutritional intake with scrutiny, so I made an
attempt to plan out my meals more effectively. That’s a big step. And if I make that a permanent
frame of mind, I could make some serious progress over the next year. (Fingers crossed.)

This was the first of three diet-tracking opportunities I must complete during the challenge, so I’ll
let you know how the next one goes. At that time I should be able to lend a few simple nutrition
tips that I learn in the process.

How to Start Tracking Your Diet
If you’re curious about ways you can track your diet, visit MyFitnessPal.com and/or download
the mobile app. The obvious next step would be to speak with a nutritionist, like Sarah Worah
http://explorefitness.com/bio_nutrition.html, who can help you get started with a personalized diet plan.