Accountability

There are a few things that I have been meaning to talk to you all about. Today, let's start with the basics: food and activity journaling.

I won't bore you with all the junk that you already know: having someone to be accountable to not only increases your diet and exercise adherence, but increases the likelihood of success. I have quite a few clients who are more than capable of getting the work done when it comes to run or gym time, but they need a little push in the food and beverage department. Shoot, even I need a slap on the wrist (especially when it comes to salt and pepper kettle chips) from time to time.


I have always been a fan of CalorieKing.com for looking up nutritional information. They also have a great desktop journaling program, but there is a one-time fee.



A client of mine turned me onto a great website that allows for interaction between friends (similar to Facebook) regarding their diet and exercise. myfitnesspal.com  is a free website with a built-in food and exercise database for online journaling. Here's how it works:
     Go to www.myfitnesspal.com
     Sign up for a free account
     Fill out the necessary blanks so that MFP can give you an appropriate calorie range.
     Play around with the features and become familiar with the food database.
     The EF page can be found at www.myfitnesspal.com/ElevatedFitness   go here, then add me as a friend. You can also search for friends under the community tab.
     Search foods in the database or scan a barcode with your smartphone (mobile app must be installed).
     Most importantly, go to Settings--> Diary Settings--> Diary Sharing --> Choose an option that you are most comfortable with. I have set mine to "friends only".

Aside from maintaining focus on your goals, investigating nutritional information can be pretty interesting (and disgusting at times). I recently realized that a salad I really enjoy at Applebee's has 1500 calories in a full-sized portion! Whoops! Take a peek at some of your favorite chain restaurants and see what you can do to change portion size (half for now, half in a take out box) or preparation (grilled v. "crispy") to stay within a safe nutritional range.

Before you turn into a calorie-counting nutcase, I encourage you to journal well, but be realistic. Get into a good place with your intake and and then take a break from journaling. If you feel like you might be falling of the wagon, hop back on the website and journal for a few days. Journaling is not only about accountability but educating yourself on what foods are out there that are or aren't for you.

Get cracking!