
Which can make you a little crazy.
Or a lot crazy. Depends who you ask. (And who has to read it).
And then I stopped tracking at all. It just got obsessive. I felt like I had to write down every thing that went into my mouth. Certainly, it made me aware of amounts, and what I was eating, which was good. That's what most people have the hardest time with. And staying at or close to goals was easier, for both me and Mat. But it was too much. It was around January-February when I hit a wall that I stopped writing things down, and even when I got myself out of that slump, I didn't get back into the tracking habit.
My hope was to be able to guesstimate calories and amounts, to learn to eat cleanly and make more good choices than bad ones, on a regular basis. To me, that's the definition of "balance" which is what I strive for. The problem is that it's so easy to overestimate how much exercise you do, and way underestimate what you eat. Have one cookie, or a chocolate bar, and your mind magically erases it. You can get to the end of the day, having actually eaten a fair bit through snacking, and somehow convince yourself you're starving because you haven't eaten three square meals. Tracking is essential. So is learning calorie amounts.
overlook the fact that it makes it easier for Mat to check what I'm eating than my giant binder with photos that I'd bring him each month. Prizes! Free stuff! I'm in.
And, hopefully, I will also soon be back on track.