Week of the Journal

If last week could be defined as the "Week of the Dehydrator", this one is the "Week of the Journal". My purse-sized, black book has kept me very busy along with other events this week.

Thankfully, my "Victory over Attitudes, Habits & Addictions" class is over and my Wednesday PM's are free now until August at least. I could use the room in my schedule with gardening season coming up and an itch to plant my own veggies this year. It's a good thing too that my journal should soon need less tending to after an initial period of calculations and food logging gives way to some duplication...with the exeption of my adventurous recipe-making that is.

As frustrating as it has been to see the numbers associated with my current eating/exercise plan and to face some flaws in my approach, it has been beneficial on many levels.

1) I was eating far more calories than I needed to. One example is my delicious, healthy lasanga made with fresh veggies, lean ground turkey and mozzerella cheese. A small slice was 300 calories and it was easily a 1/3 of what I would normally consumed. Wow, no wonder I was feeling overfed!

2) With my metabolism balanced now, I'm not experiencing that sluggish feeling after meals or sense of having a full stomach before bed.

3) I'm becoming mindful of the need to balance my menu so that I'm getting the food groups and calories right. If I want to feel satisfied throughout the day, maybe I should eat those apples and carrots instead of juicing them. Leave the juicing for a more occasional treat unless I'm ready to "man-up" to those more healthy, vegetable-only concoctions.

4) My water drinking has taken on new life. It was easy for me to consume as little as two cups of water a day even in the absence of any other alternative. I knew this habit was slipping but the check boxes on my journal have been a great reminder. Now I'm back where I need to be.

5) Supplementation has improved. I am still in the midst of the heavy metal cleanse and that is going well, but a friend asked me about another supplement I was taking that needs to be rubbed on the skin. I had to admit that I had stopped administering it and needed to restart. My journal has a place to list supplements and it was easy to pick up my Wild Yam cream and put it to work with a place to log my progress. 21 days on, 7 days off.

6) Mindful exercise. Of course I know exercise is important but it's even more vital if you want to eat healthy, nutrient-dense foods instead of low-cal, diet foods. I have a sedentary job now and and the reality is, if I want to eat--I have to workout.

7) I lost weight! This was a bit of a shocker. I haven't finished a week yet and my daily totals haven't been all that great because of calorie overages and missed exercise but I was DEFINITELY eating less than I was before and it showed. I'm suspecting that my BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate-the amount of calories burned every day without exercise) is higher than the calculation but I'll leave that alone for now. If I keep losing weight, I'll have no problem adding some food to my daily intake!

I was a little concerned at first as to whether journalling would be a step backwards for me into my past of obsessive weight issues. The past months of purposing not to track anything was a great reprieve as I worked out some other behaviours. After a very focused week however, I see that so long as I can keep health and not weight-loss as the goal--my journal can be a very helpful tool.