How Many Calories Can I Eat?
- POSTED ON: Mar 25, 2011

                                 

I am able to determine my personal current calorie burn
because of my personal data that is now stored
in my computer software food journal, DietPower.

Every day, for the past  six and half  years
I've entered all my food-intake into that food journal.
I've also entered my morning weight each day.

The DietPower program has functions which allows me to see my diet history.
I can see this as a list; or I can see a day-to-day detailed accounting
of my food and nutrition; or I can easily access a summarized accounting,
for... the past week, the past month, the past quarter, or the past year.

Today, the program tells me that
my past year's average calorie intake was 1115 calories.
I can see the amount of my stabilized weight for one year ago,
....which is my Starting weight. for that one year time period....,
by looking at the list of my average weights during the week of one year ago;

I can see the amount of my current stabilized weight (stabilized meaning average)
...which is my Ending weight, for that one year time period....,
by looking at the list of my weights during this past week or so.
By subtracting my ending weight from my starting weight,
I can see exactly how much weight I lost or gained during that one year period.

So...since now I am the same weight that I was one year ago,
I know that the amount of calories that I ate this past year
is the number of calories it takes to keep my weight the same...
Therefore, I can see that my current calorie burn is approximately 1100 daily...
(as of this EXACT date, 1105 calories...but the next week or month...
this total could be a bit higher or a bit lower, so I rounded it to 1100.)

 Along the same line, another function that I find interesting about DietPower,
is that I can also access the program's calendar, and go back in time to a specific date...
and see exactly what I weighed and what I ate on that particular day.  

From that date, I can also access a summarized accounting for the week,
the month, the year prior to that exact date.
For example.....should I wish to do so.....I could revisit Christmas Day, 12/25/2008
and see exactly What and How Much food I ate on that day;
exactly what I weighed on that date; and access a summary of my calories
and nutritional data for the month or year prior to that specific date.

This personal data is valuable and motivating to me,
both my ongoing present data, as well as my past data,
and as I continue in my weight-loss/maintenance journey,
I continually find new things to do with it.
This helps me implement various behavior changes,
and has become an enjoyable hobby for me.

Since I've been doing this so long, and this Habit is so well-established for me,
my daily food and weight input into DietPower takes only a few minutes of my day.
The only lengthy peri...

Tracking Weight
- POSTED ON: Mar 05, 2011

 

                                  

Weight tracking is a helpful tool to use when involved 
 in the task of losing weight or maintaining a weight-loss.
The scale is a measurement tool.
It weighs everything within one’s body.

Ultimately, however, scale weight will…over time…accurately reflect the RESULTS
of one’s eating BEHAVIOR. I add the caution…over time…because there are many
variables that affect a person’s daily scale weight. You can read more about that in 
"What About the Scales?" and "The Scale and the Big Picture".

I have found that Graphing or charting weight over time can help bring
perspective and patience to my weight-loss or maintenance process.
As an example of how this works,
I’ll share with you some current graphs showing my own weight progress.

1. Here is a WeightChart graphing my DAILY weight for the last 20 months.
 

 2. Here is a WeightChart graphing my WEEKLY weight for the last 20 months

 

3. Here is a WeightChart graphing my MONTHLY weight for the last 20 months

 These graphs are all from a charting program called WeightChart,
and all of them use exactly same weights over the same 20 month time period.
The Results are actually all the same. However my Efforts are reflected far more
accurately in the daily graph than in the monthly graph, or even in the weekly graph.

Here is similar information using the graphing function of DietPower.
Except that here the time period is for the past 12 months, a one year period.

1. Here is a DietPower graph of my DAILY Weight for the past 12 months.

2. Here is a DietPower graph of my WEEKLY Weight for the past 12 months.

Recording Food Intake – Counting Calories and/or Carbs
- POSTED ON: Feb 21, 2011

                      

 

                         

I found the DietPower food journaling program in September 2004,
while surfing the net.  I started using it.  I had good success,
and still really like it.  

 

   I have logged all of my food into DietPower

every day since 9/20/04, today, 2/21/11 makes 2346 consecutive days.

 

DietPower is my most essential tool for weight-loss and maintenance.
……….However, like any tool, it won't be helpful unless………you make,

and follow through with, a commitment to consistently use it.

Before using DietPower I tried many times to keep track of my food and calories.
That was very hard to do using only paper, a pen, and a calorie dictionary, ...