Hey, hey! Here’s my first check in for the Get Healthy, Stay Healthy Challenge! Yay!
If you missed the first week, the challenge was to keep a food journal all week long. I started mine last Sunday and have been faithfully tracking my eats on MyFitnessPal since then.
So, I have to admit, I am thoroughly impressed with MyFitnessPal. Actually, more than impressed””totally blown away. Granted, I haven’t tracked my food intake since my FitDay.com days back in 2003-2004, so I know a lot has changed since then, but MyFitnessPal is just so much better than I expected.
I’m using the (free) iPhone app, and the database has EVERY FOOD EVER in it. I was so impressed every time I went to search for something, even specific brands and flavors (i.e. Whole Foods Raspberry Greek Yogurt), because they were always there and, of course, this made recording my meals and snacks a million times easier. [Side note: This post is not sponsored by MyFitnessPal in any way. I actually signed up for this tool because so many of you recommended it in the comment section of my previous post. Good call, guys!]
As you might remember, the main reason for me wanting to keep a food journal is because I wanted a little motivation to eat healthier and make sure Baby Haupert is getting all of the essential nutrients to grow big and strong. And MyFitnessPal definitely helped me identify nutritional areas where I am falling short, specifically with my intake of calcium and iron. (FYI: The web version of MyFitnessPal has all sorts of cool reporting options as seen below.)
As you can see (above), my overall calcium intake wasn’t terrible (thank goodness I love yogurt so much!), but my iron intake (below) wasn’t great at all. I actually made a conscious effort to eat a big bowl of spinach with dinner on Wednesday because I noticed how low my consumption was! Moving forward (mental note), I need to incorporate a lot more meat, BEANS, broccoli, spinach, etc. into my diet.
Overall, I really enjoyed keeping a food journal this week. I found it really helpful for meeting my nutritional goals, and I plan to continue to do it for the rest of the challenge and maybe even beyond.
Week 2 challenge coming this afternoon!
Health News & Views
It’s almost the first of January, so you might be thinking about what you want to accomplish in the new year, including some fitness goals.
In the past, you might have thought some of your potential fitness goals were too overwhelming or out of reach, but it’s a new year and your motivation is at its peak, so there’s no better time than now to commit to one or two (or more!) fitness goals in 2014.
That said, here are three that you might want to accomplish this year!
3 Fitness Goals to Aim for in 2014
Questions of the Day
How’d things go with your food journal this week?
Do you use an online tool to keep track?
What did you learn about your eating habits this week?
Do you find food journaling helpful to your weight loss/health goals?
P.S. McGill University is holding a really cool food science course called “Food for Thought.” The course begins January 22, 2014 and you can audit it for FREE online.