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Fitness Log That WorksRecently, while on the internet, I came across a unique fitness log and began keeping track of what I eat, my daily activities, and a few other things. This is a computer program so once I started entering information, it automatically created several charts/graphs that told me quite a bit about myself…some of which I was NOT happy about. The principal surprises for me were the "average daily calories eaten" (a pie chart of proteins-carbs-fats) and the nutrition chart (looks like a food label). Except when eating out, I really do try to eat nutritiously so imagine my surprise to see that my fat/protein/carbohydrate intake was out of balance. The carbohydrates were ok, but my protein intake was way low. Even on the weekly average. The second surprise was in basic nutrition. I expected to be well above those percentages since they are on the low side anyway. Not so! To be sure, I was high on most nutrients but on several minerals and a vitamin or two the fitness log helped me see I was actually below the RDA! The nifty thing is now that I can look at my log and gauge my nutritional fitness – say after a meal – I can make adjustments throughout the day as needed. For instance, on a day when I ate breakfast at restaurant with some friends, when I got home I entered that meal in the program checked how things were balancing and made adjustments with lunch and dinner. The above example is on a meal to meal basis but balance could be achieved just as easily on a day to day, or week to week basis. This gives me a far better understanding of my overall fitness picture than I've ever had before. Another feature I especially like is, while it does have a huge database of foods and physical activities to choose from, I can also make my own entries. I have added things like my smoothie recipes, nutrition information from the few canned/boxed items we use, and I have entered supplements like Magnesium Complex and Nutri-Calm. The information from these items becomes part of the system. Everything I’ve mentioned so far has to do with the calories you take in, but whoever developed this program didn’t stop there. Expending of calories is also taken into account. Physical exercise from driving a vehicle to yoga; standing while talking on the phone to training for a marathon are all listed. You enter what activity you participated in and for how long and it tells you how many calories you burned. Not only that, it correlates this with the food intake so you get an accurate total of calories for the day I have tried other fitness logs and have made several of my own, but none have been as simple to use. Each part stands alone so I can choose to use those which make most sense for my life. You can take a look at it here: https://www.natural-health-coach-for-women.com/BeFit If, like me, you have some eye openers when using the log, write and tell me what they are. I would love to hear from you. |
