Week #6: It's All About Tracking

Ooh, a pint of Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby ice cream! 35 PointsPlus!

Let's split a pepperoni Stuffed Crust Pizza! 40 PointsPlus!

One sleeve of Thin Mints is a serving, right? 16 PointsPlus!

Having to track that kind of stuff strikes fear in the heart of many a Weight Watcher, myself included. It's easy to remember to track when I'm eating kale, quinoa and Greek yogurt. But if I've eaten any of the above**? Tracking? What's that?

You would think by now, after 15 years, I'd have gotten over myself and learned that if I would just plop that horrible dinner into my tracker, I'd see the damage and be resolved to not do THAT again. And you would be wrong. It turns out that my perfectionism runs deep.

I am working on that, and at least for a few weeks it has been going fairly well. But as with any habit change, I am sure that I will falter. The good thing is, in order to be successful at tracking, you don't actually have to be perfect! Because I guarantee I never was, and yet I successfully reached my goal weight.

If you're having trouble committing to tracking, here are a few tips:

1. Pick the easiest method for you. One that will be easy to access and not too time consuming.

2. Track as you go - finding a few seconds here and there isn't as hard as sitting down and devoting 5-10 minutes to it.

3. Focus on how it benefits you - it might reveal eating patterns, it might show you that your choices aren't satisfying, it might show you that you're not meeting your Good Health Guidelines (remember those?); what it WILL do is increase your chances of success.

4. Develop some accountability - commit to tracking in your WW meeting (we'll remember to ask you about it next week!), offer to swap journals with a friend, post your daily menus on Facebook, the WW message boards, or your own blog. Anything to get you to actually DO it.

Other suggestions? How do you get yourself on board with tracking?

Great article from the WW Science Center on tracking!


** Here's a hint: before I joined Weight Watchers in 1996 it was not uncommon for my then boyfriend and I to order that particular pizza from Pizza Hut and then split it. The 40 PPV is for half the pie.