Tracking

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I am so good at tracking during the week. I do really well on a schedule with my normal routine. I am used to tracking, so that is just what I do. However, when the weekend comes I have such a hard time tracking what I eat!

It is almost like I feel as though I have done a great job all week a deserve a break. What is that all about! My healthy eating should not get put on hold for a weekend. I guess the next time I see the doctor I can tell him that I take care of myself 5 out of 7 days a week.

I anticipated that this past weekend would be bad, because it was a holiday and I got Friday off!

Well, I am very proud to say that I was so encouraged by last week's Weight Watchers meeting, that I tracked Friday, Saturday, and most of Sunday!! I ate a bunch of my weekly PointsPlus, but I still tracked them on my phone!

If you are like me and have trouble tracking, I hope that you can be encouraged by the meeting summary below.

Here is the Meeting Summary from April 19, 2011.

In the meeting room this week we talked about the importance of tracking. We could all agree that when we track and follow the program…we lose weight. We also agreed that when you don’t track we usually do not lose weight and we end up eating more than usual.

Sometimes it helps to identify which type of tracker we tend to be. Read through the following list and decide which category best suits you:

1. Socialite -- Write everything down, except for social events--too hard to count
2. Weeker -- Tracks EVERYTHING during the week but forget about the weekend. Too disorganized.
3. The Amnesiac -- Writes it down at the end of the day. Often wakes up in the middle of the night remembering something they forgot to track.
4. The Traveler -- Doesn't track on vacations, while visiting family, while visiting friends, on road trips, while out of town, any time they are away from home.
5. The Unforgettable -- Keeps all the information in their head-until they forget it.
6. The Clicker -- Doesn't like to write it down but will use the clicker or the calculator to keep track of PointsPlus.
7. Healthy Pen -- Only writes down the healthy choices. Doesn't record treats, BLT's or things of higher PointsPlus values. If you don't write it, it doesn't really happen.
8. Automatic -- Writes it down as soon as they eat it.
9. Planner -- Writes it down before they even eat it. Knows what they will have for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.
10. Day-Timer -- Writes during the day but slips as the day progresses.

Have you ever found yourself being guilty of falling into many of those categories? We have to decide if losing weight is important to us and if it is we know that in order to finally lose that weight we have got to follow the program, count pointsplus values, and TRACK.

So what is it going to take in order for you to become more committed to tracking and to your weight loss? Would it be reasonable to want to become the automatic tracker or the planner tracker? Of the above 10 choices, these types of trackers are going to be the most successful.

Remember to hold yourself accountable for every little thing that goes in your mouth. All of the Bites Licks and Tastes add up! 40 calories here, 60 calories there all add up to pointsplus that are not being documented on your tracker.

Two main sayings I want you to remember are:

1. If it goes in your smacker it goes on your tracker!

2.What you eat in private shows up in public.

If you are one of those closet eaters (who eat great when everyone is watching and then binge when no one is around) you are not fooling anyone and you definitely are not fooling the scales!

This next week really take the time to recommit to your weight loss goals and focus harder on tracking. If you mess up and you eat more than you anticipated… Don’t dwell on what you cannot change, instead just pick up the next day and start over fresh. Learn to forgive yourself and really learn from the experience. You might also do a little activity to earn some activity pointsplus to help make up what you have already spent.