Whether you are trying to lose weight, bulk up, or just keep lean and fit, it will pay off for you to keep track of what you do to get and stay that way.
As a speaker and writer on the topic of Physical Energy for Seniors, I want real statistics and data that I can associate with actual results. I want to know that if I gain or lose weight, what am I doing or not doing that resulted in that weight change.
Many people keep a record of their weight, food and exercise by keeping a daily log. Some keep track weekly. I have kept a daily log of weight, food and exercise for the last ten years. The weight and food logs take about 30 seconds total out of my entire day. Gee, I don’t know if I have time for that.
I keep track of my weight on a 5X7 index card. I can get a full year on two cards (both sides). I can write down over three months on each side. I put the date on the page on the 1st and the 15th of each month so I don’t get lost. If I miss a day, I put in a short dash. How difficult is that? I keep the index card by the sink in the bathroom. Ten years worth of keeping track comes to 20 index cards. I stack them on a bookshelf alongside my exercise and food logs.
Is this being Obsessive Compulsive (OCD) about it all? My wife thinks so. But if I write about it, I’d better be able to prove it — and I can.
The food log? My wife and I write out a menu over the weekend for the next week on one page of a legal pad. We know what we’re going to eat for dinner. I cross it out after we eat it. I also record breakfasts and lunches. It takes about 30 seconds. My wife thinks that’s OCD too. She’s probably right. Folded over, the pages take less than 3 inches of bookshelf space for the 10 years I’ve been keeping records.
The exercise log is a given. You should keep track of what you do. I use small 5” X 8” wirebound notebooks from the office supply store and list the exercises I do. I have nearly 10 years worth. OCD? Not so. In ten years I’ve probably looked at those records fifteen or so times to correlate weight loss with the foods I was eating during that period. The same with weight gain – I wanted to know what I ate at over a particular period, that resulted in a significant weight change.
Should you do all that? The weight log, probably. The food log, probably , but not for ten years. The exercise log? Definitely — if you exercise. It’s nice to know how well you’re progressing. Hey, Bruce Lee did it. Arnold Schwarzenegger did it. Why not you?
Dr. David Agus, author of several books on health and longevity, suggests that one of the best ways to measure progress is to look at yourself critically in the mirror once a week and notice the results you’re getting. How can you not be motivated to keep it up when you can actually SEE the positive results in your body as they are happening in real time.
If you keep a record, you can see the progress you are making – as you make it. You can also see the progress you are not making, and in many cases, the “reason why” will be staring right back at you from those index cards, food and exercise logs.
Most online exercise programs and some offline home based programs provide record books or journals for you to keep as part of the “package”. But if your program is “home made”, then you can write it all down on your own paper and index cards.
You should know your body. You should be aware of what you look like and what you feel like. You should track what you do daily. If you don’t like it, you can always make adjustments.
Thank you for reading.