Pretracking

I pre-tracked all my meals today! Yes I did! Breakfast, lunch and dinner are all written down in my handy dandy Lose it! App! I have 300 calories to spare too, for a snack. Now I just need to get my butt in gear and do an hour of exercise.

I got the idea from Sheryl, over at Bitchcakes. She said she got it from one of her friends, and its really helped her. I think she may be on to something, because it really helps ease the anxiety of "what will I eat? how many calories/points is that? what do I have left?" all the questions I deal with when I journal. That's why I HATE journalling. I hate figuring that stuff out while I am making my sandwich or making my dinner. It takes all the fun out of the preparation.

I love cooking and that will never change. I hate doing anything that distracts me from cooking. So why would I like journaling? I don't.

But pre-tracking is great! I sit there and say to myself "Self, for lunch I want a turkey sandwich. Let's go look and see what it would be calorie wise." Then I add it all up and say "self, put that in your app." and then I do. A few hours later, when lunch time rolls around, I make it. Exactly as I said I would.

There's no temptation of adding chips or a Hostess Swiss Roll to my lunch because A) we don't have any chips :) and 2) the swiss rolls are hubby's.

I did it for dinner too. "Self, tonight we are having left over spaghetti, go and track it!"

I think it helps because when I look at my app, it tells me how many calories I've had for the day, and I see that I am mostly done. It makes me feel like I've already accomplished something, and the calories are gone. Spent. Like money. No getting it back until tomorrow. Sorry.

The same holds true for the exercise, but in the opposite way. If I put that I ride my bike for 500 calories, I feel like I've already done it, even though I haven't. And that's not good. So I will actually have to do that one afterward.

I feel so in control today. Despite sleeping all day yesterday and having no energy, feeling a little down in the dumps (weather related, was rainy all day) it's a new day for me, and I've done twice as much as I did yesterday! I've done two loads of dishes and two loads of laundry! I picked up around the house a little bit (I'm so messy, which is probably why I'm not any good at keeping organized in my weight loss)

I read a blog today that made me feel great. It was one of those "every day matters, every step, every choice, its yours" and it's so true.

Today is my day. Tomorrow, I'll try for that too. What are you doing with your today?