Last week’s blog was a little out there even for me. I enjoyed tying the ideas and lives of Winston Churchill and David Bowie about purposeful change together. If you have not already, you should listen, even to hear me imitate the musical chameleon, Bowie. But for today’s podcast, I decided to reel it back into a topic a little less out there, a little more meat and potatoes! That is the importance of tracking your wellness journey, whether it be the meat and potatoes you consume, the steps you walk, or those moments of serendipity that bring you happiness each day!
Some in the wellness industry give tracking a bad name. Some firms even want you to buy prepackaged foods, mixes, and pills so you can avoid what they consider the mundane practice of tracking. Buy our food, lose weight, and leave the monitoring to us! Do our specific exercise routine and watch your muscles grow and your stomach shrink. Better yet, take this pill or shot, and you don’t have to exercise or watch what you eat.
Let me debunk these claims of the wellness industry. First and foremost, people like to choose their food and want variety. You should feel liberated in your food choices, not restricted. Also, what you gain in convenience from prepacked food, you lose in knowing how to eat nutritionally for your body type. Lastly, when you run out of money for the next shot or order of prepacked food, you have no habits to fall back on and gain weight. Trust me. I am the guy who tried every prepackaged diet and exercise routine until I went old-school and decided to take matters into my own hands.
Today, I track the food I eat, my daily exercise routines, and even the beneficial habits I want to adopt and the bad habits I want to limit. It may seem like a lot of work, but trust me, it’s worth it. Like a science experiment, you must track all variables in your wellness journey. And just like in business, you can only improve what you track. This is not just a personal journey but a proven method that I urge you to consider for your wellness journey.
The human body is one of the most complicated organisms on the planet. New things are discovered daily despite being the most studied topic since the existence of science. Also, no two people are exactly alike. What works for one person may not work for you. Therefore, owning your wellness and tracking your habits and the outcomes they produce is essential.
For ten years, I have tracked my activity, food intake, habits, mindfulness, and sense of well-being. The result? I lost half my body weight, eliminated sleep apnea, improved my disposition, and became more fit. Here are some recommendations for those of you initiating a tracking habit.
1. Track everything you eat or drink.
The best way to lose weight is to track what you eat. You will better understand portion control and the trigger foods you need to avoid by consciously tracking your food intake. You use this and weekly weight tracking to determine what works and what foods to avoid. That way, you can focus on what works rather than trying everything that doesn’t!
2. Track before you attack.
The first rule is always to figure out what you will have before departing. Most restaurants now post nutritional values on menus on their website. Read the menu, pick your menu items, and record the calories before departing. Like a good soldier, never eat without a good plan of attack. This preparation gives you a sense of control and confidence in your choices.
3. Indulge but count.
You can indulge a bit on vacation or a celebration. While on Vacation, I shared a few desserts with my wife for the first time in a long time. But I also carefully tracked everything I ate to know I was in striking distance for the week. By monitoring and not attacking the buffet line, I could enjoy some of the colonial recipes and comfort foods in Virginia on a recent vacation in a controlled manner. I was able to indulge and avoid the bulge!
4. Gamification.
Tracking your food, habits, and activities can become mundane, so make a game of it. I use the Fitbit application and the WW application to track food activity. In the WW application, I try to get a blue dot award (staying in a recommended point zone) five days a week. By striving for the Blue Dot, I had fun and learned different approaches to balance activity and food intake. Likewise, I have step contests with my friends on the Fitbit application and engage in friendly banter and competition.
5. Listen to Your Body and Record Your Well-Being.
Your body knows what it wants. That is the reason too many hamburgers and fries cause you to indigestion. Feed your body with the good stuff. Choose vegetables and fruit over candy and sugar. Remember, just like listening to someone, you must listen to your body closely to understand what it says. Then, record your well-being and compare it to your activity, habits, and food intake. You may think your body is saying I need sleep when, in reality, your body is saying I need to exercise and get energy, or I am dehydrated and need water.
6. Three Applications that Help You Track.
Here are three applications that have helped me track.
WW application. I am amazed at this application and consider it one of the best mobile applications I have ever used. This is coming from a guy who built applications for a living. The best feature is its tracking application, which allows you to scan food bar codes and track the WW points that you use. It also has a Connect feature that will enable you to connect to other people on the Weight Watchers journey. In addition, it has a feature that allows you to reach a Weight Watcher employee any time of the day through instant messaging to answer questions and provide inspiration. This feature once prevented me from eating a seemingly healthy wrap, which was half my allotted food intake! This application has a monthly subscription, but it is worth it if you want to lose weight. My Fitness Pal is an alternative free application, but I like WW’s features.
Fitbit is a fantastic application and tool. I use it daily to track my exercise, measure my heart rate and sleep, and participate in competitions with my friends. I no longer have a watch; instead, I wear my Fitbit as a watch. It also has a feature to track the number of glasses of water I drink daily, another critical element of weight loss. One of my most prized possessions from Fitbit is the 100,000-step Olympian Sandal for walking 50 miles daily.
Happyfeed is a simple but powerful application! Each day, it reminds you to log three things you are happy about. This helps you think of the good stuff and not get depressed. The app also has a feature that allows you to add pictures and look at history.
Streaks allows you to set repeating habits and track them daily. Establishing habits and tracking them is vital in achieving goals related to weight loss and other areas. Some of my habits that help with weight loss are journaling for 15 minutes daily, writing a blog weekly, and praying daily.
In closing, you need to track to keep on track and change well. You can only change what you measure, and by tracking, you better know what habits you need to change.
