CharterDriver's Journal, 10 February 2014

At the end of the day, I sit down at the computer and review my day meal-by-meal and record everything I had to eat. I find it makes me do two things: #1-it makes me pay attention to what I'm choosing to eat when I eat it and #2-it makes me think about what I ate when I enter it. I will admit that sometimes it seems like a lot to remember if I had a big salad with lots of stuff on it.  

If you plan out your meals a head of time, you already know your food for the day. You can keep a small booklet and a pen and write down what and how much you eat and add it later. Not sure about the snow blower. How many calories we burn is based on age, sex, exertion, current weight, etc. So the only way to know for sure is to wear a heart monitor. You might be able to google it and approximate how many calories you burned. 

I do my food journal kindof backwards but it works very well for me. I have pretty much established what I need to eat every day to make my calories and macros for the day, So every night I put all of my meals together for the next day in tuppaware. The next morning I record everything for my day at once and look at the numbers. If I am short/high on calories I look at the macros and see where I have room to make adjustments. More healthy fats needed? add an ounce of dry roasted almonds, more complex carbs needed? Add some sweet potato or a bowl of oatmeal. Or I take things away if needed. This way I follow my journal rather than my journal following me. It is MUCH more strict and MUCH easier to control this way. May not work for everyone though, of course. 

It's probably a lot like a push mower, methinks 

My breakfast is easy I make ahead a breakfast sandwich that consists of English muffin, egg white, 10g cheese, and 1 slice Canadian bacon for 171 cal. Then I add an apple usually around 96 cal. From their it is a matter of remembering what I do. I think carrying a little notebook may be the way to go. My problem in preparing meals ahead is I am not home to do this because of my occupation. I have really had to study nutrition to keep up and know how to measure portions. On the snow blower I never thought of wearing the heart rate monitor. That would work. 

I usually will try to make food for 3 days at a time starting on Sunday and then fill in the gaps as time allows throughout the week. My engine is running from 5:30 AM when I wake up until about 11:30 at night when I finally get to bed. My gym partner and I go to the gym from 7:30-9:30 4-6 days per week and I usually jump rope for 35 minutes in the evening on all of my off-days. I trade sleep for food preparation a lot of the time, but it’s worth it! I am also lucky that everyone in my office, including my supervisors are very receptive of my eating habits (IE eating every 3 hours on the dot). It’s tough to do for sure, especially since everyone’s schedules vary.