Rock Your Jeans Challenge!

"Rock Your Jeans” Week  2 Nutrition & Exercise

Nutrition Focus Record Keeping: The Why and How

Use that Journal!

You did it! Great job everyone! You finished the New Years Detox. How was it? Did you find it hard? Was it easy? Now that detox week is over, let's focus on the journals. This week is all about writing down everything you eat and drink. Yes, it will be challenging, but read the articles below to see why keeping a food and exercise journal is so important. Please be sure to include measurements. Was it 1 cup of vegetables? 2 tablespoons salad dressing? Etc. whatever it is, write it down!! Do not worry about calculating the protein, fat or carbs we will get into that later. We would really like you to use the journals as much as possible throughout the challenge. Week 3 we would love to provide feedback on your nutrition journals, so please fax (or scan and email) me a copy of your nutrition journals for week 2. So, next Sunday or Monday (January 15^th or January 16^th) get those journals to me for feedback! If faxing me a copy, please send me an email to alert me a fax is heading my way (thanks!).

Exercise Focus Week 2:

1. Make it to every workout no matter what!

2. Add an additional 120 minutes of cardio Beginning tomorrow Mon-Mon.

For example 60 minute Zumba class, 60 minute walk on Sat. & Sun., four 30 minute session, eight 15 minute sessions. It does not matter how you get it in, just get it in. You can walk, jog, bike, swim, elliptical whatever the method you choose keep track, write it down in your journal and add it up at the end of the week. Missy and I will be looking for that magic number.

For those of you who already do more than 120 of cardio each week I want to increase the intensity. If you currently walk, add in bouts of 1-2 minute jog. If you jog (8 minute mile or more) do 1/2-1 mile at 8 minutes or less. Adding on or changing your current routine is a huge key to your overall success. You are all doing so amazing, I am really impressed with your effort and commitment to the program. Keep up the good work everyone!

This is a great article describing the benefits of keeping a food journal! -Monica

The Importance of Keeping Records

Weight Control Digest

September/October 1997

Pg. 655-656

Research has consistently found two predictors of long-term weight maintenance- exercise and record keeping. Even with the overwhelming evidence as to the benefits of keeping records, many do not. It's not clear exactly why individuals in weight-management programs have such difficulty keeping records. Common reasons for not keeping good diet and activity records include:

· It doesn't work for me

· It takes too much time

· I don't want to know

Yet, here is a partial list of some of the important information your energy record will provide:

· Awareness of the calorie content of foods that you eat

· Awareness of the energy expenditure of your physical activities

Awareness of your eating patterns- when you eat, what you eat, and why you eat (e.g., emotional eating, trigger eating, cravings, hunger, etc.)

· Awareness of your relationship with food

· More control over your eating by helping you make better dietary choices

· More control over your physical activity by letting you know how much activity you have done each day.

It cannot be emphasized enough how important record keeping is to successful weigh management. Understanding the importance of record keeping, being motivated to keep records, and finding a system that works for you are key factors in tracking your energy balance.

Though I do not like to use the word "diet" and "dieters" I find the article below (USA TODAY) to be useful as evidence that food journals really do help with weight loss.

-Monica

USA TODAY

By Nanci Hellmich

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/weightloss/2008-07-08-food-diaries_N.htm

Dieters who write down everything they eat each day lose twice as much weight as those who don't, according to one of the largest weight-loss studies ever conducted. This confirms the importance of keeping a food diary - advice that nutritionists and weight-loss programs have pushed for years.

Scientists at four clinical research centers recruited 1,685 overweight or obese adults who weighed an average 212 pounds. Forty-four percent were African Americans.

The participants were offered 20 weekly group sessions led by nutritionists and behavior counselors and encouraged to try to lose at least 9 pounds in six months. They were told to consume about 500 fewer calories a day, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, do about 180 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a week, and keep daily food and exercise records.

The findings reported in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine:

· Dieters who kept their food diary six or more days a week lost an average of about 18 pounds in six months, compared with about 9 pounds for those who didn't keep food diaries.

· The biggest losers also attended most of the group meetings and did more exercise. Some did 300 minutes or more of physical activity a week, but the average participant in the study did about 117 minutes a week.

· 69% of the participants lost 9 pounds or more, which is enough to improve some health measures such as blood pressure, joint pain and pre-diabetes.

· 69% of black men and 59% of black women lost at least 9 pounds.

"There is a misconception that nobody can lose weight, but in this study, two-thirds of them lost enough weight to make a difference to their health," says Victor Stevens, senior investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute sponsored the study.

These weight-loss techniques work well with everybody, including African Americans, who are often underrepresented in studies and yet suffer from a high rate of obesity and weight-related illnesses, he says.

Food diaries are a "powerful self-management technique. They help you figure out where the extra calories are coming from," he says. It works best if someone else looks over your food record. "When you put yourself in a position where you are accountable for your behavior, it changes behavior."

Many people are getting lots of extra calories by eating large portions at restaurants, Stevens says. He is currently working with a client who was consuming 1,500 calories of fast food at lunch. The dieter is now bringing a 500-calorie lunch to work, saving 1,000 calories a day.

Dawn Jackson Blatner, a registered dietitian in Chicago, tells people that a food diary "is the best way to monitor every crumb, morsel, nibble, sip, swallow and bite you take."