And I gotta say, it was nice to be back. Personally I have learned so much this last month just on my own. I watched almost all the documentaries Netflix has to offer on streaming about food and food health. It was so inspiring and educational. I've learned so much, and they have given me a whole new outlook on what it means to change a lifestyle, not just a habit.
Granted I still have a long way to go, but I now have more motivation to live in a way our bodies were meant to. To eat whole organic foods, and to stay away from chemically processed food as much as possible. Those are the things our bodies were built for. Not frozen corn dogs and coke.
This idea goes into the gym too. I have been focusing on doing more body weight and free weight exercises rather than using the machines. Machines are meant to target only one specific muscle group. With body/free weights you are more likely to hit more than one muscle group at a time because of the balance it takes to hold yourself up rather than relying on a machine.
Something my trainer said to me: I was walking on the treadmill telling him that it was so much easier than the hike I had gone on a couple days before. He told me it was because when you're on the treadmill, the machine is moving you, and when you're out in the real world, your body is the machine.
It changed my perspective.
So this month being away from the healthy weight team, I made my own goals and tried my hardest to not loose track. I believe I did pretty well! And I am proud of the steps I have made.
There was one thing, though, that was on my mind. Tacking food.
I am very bad at tracking things in general. Food, money, keys. I have to write it down. I was watching my portions, but only tracking the amounts I needed in my head. I thought, there had to be a more effective way of doing this if I wanted to reach my goals.
I made a template in Word -- that worked for about half a day.
I tried writing it in my journal -- same
Used a calorie tracker app -- same
Looked up how to make my own app -- too much money and knowledge I do not have
Then after some brainstorming with my nutritionist -- she showed me this tracker in the form of a check book. Each day had little check boxes for the amounts of each food you need, along with description, water, and activity.
I thought this was a great and simple idea, but I wanted it in electronic form.
I did some searching in the Apple App Store and found "list" It's a checklist app for groceries and to-do's. I thought, why not use it as a food tracker? It would be like checking off my amounts just like in the checkbook.
Come to find out.... It works great!! I made a list called "daily food diary," and listed all my food like "grain1, grain2, veggies1, fruit3..... And so on.
Now, it is up to me. I have my check boxes, and in electronic form. I just need to stick with opening up the app every meal and using it!! That is the challenge. But I have faith that I can do it. Especially now that school has started again, it is hopefully one less thing I need to keep in my mind.
Stay happy and healthy.
Until next time <3
