Too much food talk?

I’ve noticed lots of people talk about food constantly on their blogs.  I also notice that many of these same people are constant dieters, but not really making many inroads into their weight loss or food control goals.  I know journalling is supposed to be good for you, but I’ve started to wonder, are some people  focusing too much on the food aspect and is this actually harming some people more than helping? 

It’s interesting, but I never journalled my food intake for my first year of competition.  I knew what I  had to eat, and I ate it, simple as that.  There was no point to journal because I followed my plan and ate what I was supposed to.  Journalling food, feelings and whatnot, can be very time (and energy) consuming.  We are supposed to use it as a way to keep ourselves on track when dieting or following a nutrition plan but I constantly see people start a blog food journal and journal until something goes wrong.  Then you don’t hear from them again for a month.   So, in this instance, what point is this journal?  I think if you do it as ‘matter of fact’ and don’t get too caught up in the nitty gritty, and don’t berate yourself if you ate an apple instead of an orange, then journals have their place.  I journalled my food for awhile back in 2001 and my goodness what a shock I got when I read through it awhile back.  To see the tiny amounts of food I was trying to survive on back then really shocked me!  So that served a purpose for me – it clearly shows that you need to eat to become or to stay lean.  I’m heavier, and quite a bit leaner now than I was back then – and I eat a lot more food!

So, if you are going to do it, make sure you have a purpose for it, make sure you follow through with it - that you journal the good with the bad so you can learn from it.  Most of all leave room in your brain for something else besides food and what you are going to eat, or what you have eaten – for if we don’t, this is how we become (and stay) food obsessed (which is just what many food journalers are trying to avoid)!  Just be careful and make sure that you are actually benefiting from it.

I should actually write a lot more about food than I do because it is my ‘job’.  It’s just that I deal with it every day so I like to give my brain a break from thinking about it, for the reasons I mention above.

On that note, here’s my food journal for the last couple of days:

Way too much

And here is what I know I have to do:

Tighten up my diet (ie eat less food, eat clean food), and exercise consistently. 

Yep it really is that simple!  I don’t like crowding my head with too much minutia   But, my point I suppose is that people tend to overthink things and make things too hard when they are not.  Get in and do what has to be done, no excuses!

I felt like a big fat pudding at the gym today (reason being above).  I sit there in between sets and wonder if people can tell I look like a big puffer fish.  Although my shoulders actually looked huge due to the extra glycogen my muscles were carrying   I actually got up at some ungodly hour today (4.30am I think), and decided to go for a cardio sesh outside at 6.30am.  It was unplanned, and was really nice out.  Then, I trained at 10am.  I rack pulled today – wasn’t happy with my form for the first 2 sets, so I reset myself and did 80kg for 2 sets of 8 (in good form) to finish off with.  I am trying to build up again to deadlift some good weight.

Well I might just go have a shower and then maybe a little nap, or, first I might clean up some of this laundry that has piled up over the last week.

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas and is ready to get back into the swing of things with some new goals for 2009.  I have lots I want to accomplish next year.  More on that in a later post.