Weight Loss and Credit Card Statements

• By vishwa on Health, Inspiration, Training

• September 4, 2014

I am now engrossed in reading a book titled Living Life Aggressively—what self-help Gurus should be telling you which is written by Mike Mahler. Mike is a fitness trainer and a hormone optimization researcher. The book is an eye opener and genuinely says about what actually self-help gurus should be teaching you. I might have read one or two self-help books but I honestly feel that Mike is cut above and the frankest among the bunch.

Mike makes an interesting suggestion when he says that you have to write down what you eat. He says to people who want to lose weight that they have to maintain a journal. He says, “What is so magical about writing things down? Assuming you’re honest and keeping a detailed journal, your journal keeps those truths in front of you. This means you record your food intake immediately to ensure accuracy; i.e., after eating breakfast you write down every single thing you ate. Do you take cream and sugar in your coffee? If yes, you’ll record it promptly and later do the calorie total and a macro-nutrient breakdown for each meal.”

“If you “cheat” (maybe you have a Snickers while driving to work), you write it down. After a week of keeping a detailed diet journal, the truth is in front of you. You’ll understand why you’re not losing weight, and can make the necessary modifications to get on track.”

He presents an analogy to explain why writing down immediately is important. In other words, he says how flawed our memories can be if we delay the writing. He states about credit card statements, “We receive our monthly credit card statement and are shocked by the balance. We think there might be a mistake, and we scrutinize each of our expenditures, knowing that certainly we couldn’t have spent so much money. After adding everything up, we discover the statement is correct; worse yet, just because we don’t remember spending the money doesn’t mean we didn’t. Overspending with a credit card is tantamount, equivalent, to overeating.”

Ha! I, personally, don’t mind about credit cards, as I have none. However, many of my gym clients have voiced their opinion exasperatedly that credit cards are a bane. They state, “You never know how much you have spent.” Similarly, don’t you think the suggestion laid by Mahler about writing down what you eat makes sense? I believe it does. Write down what you ate, and see that it makes a world of difference.

Take home message: If you are interested in losing fat then write down what you ate. It can be an eye opener. You will know where you falter.