Journaling

Whenever I actually follow through with my food journal, I am always surprised at how much some days are. Like today, I'm at about 2500 calories (rounding up). That seems like so much! And it is more than usual, but it reminds me that bad habits like drinking coke or overeating a little bit can have big consequences.

I don't keep my food journal to track bad foods versus good foods, but it does help me see what foods really should be moderated and which habits aren't really good for me. Like grabbing a handful of jelly beans or drinking coke with meals. I enjoyed that, but now I have a reminder that I need to be careful about treating myself everyday.

I also have decided that I'm only going to allow myself one "habit" meal a week. I call them habit meals because there are things that I love to have that I could eat every day for a week and not be tired of. And sometimes I do something like that. For example, I will eat a habit meal for lunch every day. It's not bad food really, but it's food that should be eaten in moderation. Patty melts. Mushroom-swiss burgers. Chicken tacos with a side of cheese dip. Olive Garden salad and breadsticks. There are probably a few more, but these are my current favorites. I've already had my habit meal of the week, so the rest of the week I need to eat my veggies!