Maqaal hore oo aan kaga hadlay faa'iidooyinka iyo dhibaatooyinka ay leedahay in la gooyo cuntadaada, gunaanadkiina waxa ay ahayd in ay jirto sabab ku filan oo qofku u galo qaadashada cuntada. Gaar ahaan marka aan rabno in aan lumino xoogaa miisaan ah ama aan ilaalino miisaankaas lumay. Laakin sidee ayaad dhab ahaan ugu qortaa cuntadaada? Si aan kuu caawiyo, waxaan jeclaan lahaa in aan la wadaago waayo-aragnimadayda mawduucan oo aan ka wada hadlo dhowr xeeladood oo lagu galiyo qaadashada cuntadaada:

FIIRO GAAR AH:^(NOTE:) Markii aan raadinayey gelitaanka cuntadayda, waxa aan dhammeeyey isticmaalka MyFitnessPal mobile app, kaas oo laga heli karo dhammaan aaladaha mobilada ee waaweyn, oo uu ku jiro Windows Phone .

Gelida cuntadaada waa inay noqotaa caado^{(Must Become A Habit)}

Goynta cuntadu waxay leedahay caqabadaheeda gaarka ah. Waa dhaqan cusub oo ay tahay in la abuuro lana ilaaliyo. Waxay u baahan tahay xirfado xasuuseed iyo fiirsi wanaagsan inta lagu jiro waqtiga aan dhammaanteen nugul nahay (marka aan gaajaysan nahay). Laakiin xogta laga helay caadadan waxay noqon kartaa mid aan qiimo lahayn. Waxaan arkay kiisas wacyigelinta fudud ee ay abuurtay jarista cuntada saxda ah lafteedu ay samaysay yaabab, iyada oo la xifaaltamaysa hababka la aasaasay sida tababarayaasha gaarka ah ama nafaqeeyayaasha.

Wax kasta ka hor, waxaad u baahan tahay inaad haysato sabab aad u wanaagsan oo aad ku samayn karto jarid cunto. Ka digtoonow^(Beware) in sababtaadu ay isbedeli karto muddo ka dib. Waxaan ku bilaabay miisaan dhimis, waxaana u haajiray dhanka cunto dheeli tiran iyo tirakoobka muddada dheer ee waxa aan cuno.

Sabab wanaagsan la'aanteed, waxaa laga yaabaa inaad si dhakhso leh u lumiso xiisaha caadadan. Waxaan xusuustaa tababarahayga jirdhiska oo ii sheegay dhowr sano ka hor inaan qoro waxa aan cunayo, anigoon helin wax tafaasiil ah oo ku saabsan sababta loo sameeyo, iyo sida loo sameeyo. Si xun ayaan ugu guul darreystay oo aan xiisaynayay wax ka yar toddobaad. Hadda waxaan dareemaa maaweelo markaan taas ka fekero. Waxaan haystaa in ka badan 9 bilood oo xog dhamaystiran oo aan rabo in aan daabaco mar uun sida il furan (waxaan hore u daabacay xogtayda biometrics laga bilaabo March 2014^{(my biometrics data from March 2014)} ). Oo waxaan sii wadi doonaa samaynta qayb ka mid ah hawl maalmeedkayga.

Goorma La Heli Lahaa Cuntada Aad Cunayso?

Sida ugu fudud waa in aad isla markiiba geliso markaad wax cuntid. Si kastaba ha ahaatee, tani waxay noqon kartaa mid aad looga xumaado xaaladaha bulshada qaarkood. Tixgeli inaad saaxiibo la baxayso casho oo aad joojiso wada hadalka iyaga si aad u qorto qaadashadaada cuntada. Mar aan dhowr jeer isku dayay in aan is-dul-taago, waxaan go’aansaday in aan soo xasuusto cuntadii aan cunay dhowr saacadood oo aan galo markaan fursad u helo. Weli waxaan doorbidaa inaan ku sameeyo goobta markaan awoodo, taasina waa inta badan waqtiga.

Xeeladaha kale ee aan arkay waa:

• Gelida wax walba waqti go'an oo maalinta ah. Tani waxay u baahan tahay in la lahaado xusuus wanaagsan iyo caadooyin cunto oo hufan. Cunto fudud oo soo noqnoqda inta u dhaxaysa wakhtiga cuntada ayaa taasi burburin doonta mustaqbalka fog. Oh, laakiin sug, laga yaabee inaadan u baahnayn cuntooyinkaas fudud si kastaba 🙂
• Goynta ka hor inta aanad cunin cuntooyinka la qorsheeyay. Tani waxay si gaar ah ugu fududahay dadka wax karinaya (iyo sidaas qorshaynta cuntada) qoyskooda. Waxay si sax ah u garanayaan waxay cuni doonaan iyo goorta. Sidoo kale, waxay si fiican u yaqaanaan waxa maaddooyinka ay yihiin iyo saamigooda.
• Isticmaalka qalin-iyo-warqad ahaan sida kaydka maalinta oo dhan, kaas oo markaa lagu wareejinayo wakhti hore loo sii cayimay (dheh, fiidkii) oo la galiyay qaabka elegtarooniga ah. Aniga laftaydu tan ayaan isticmaalay iyada oo talefankaygu jaban yahay.

Mid ka mid ah waxyeelada xiisaha leh ee goynta cuntada ayaa ah inaad garato in qaadashada cuntadu ay aad uga soo noqnoqonayso sidii aad waligaa moodaysay. Kaas oo kuu ogolaanaya inaad si fiican u qorsheysato cuntadaada oo aad ku dhamaato baaldiga "qorsheynta ka hor cuntooyinka la qorsheeyay" si ka badan inta aad u malaynayso.

Ma haysaa xeelad kale oo aad ku geliso cuntadaada? Waxaan jeclaan lahaa inaan maqlo kaaga

Sababaha Soo noqnoqda ee Geli la'aanta Qaadashada Cuntadaada^{(Food Intake)}

 

Dabcan, mar walba ma awoodno inaan si fiican u diiwaan gashanno cunnadayada. Ma u baahanahay? Ilaa iyo inta aan ka haysanno faham aad u wanaagsan waxa aan cunno, malaha maya.

Waa kuwan qaar ka mid ah sababaha aad u joojin karto inaad si joogto ah u diiwaan geliso cuntadaada:

Bilowga hore aad bay u niyad jabin kartaa inaad qorto cuntada aad cunayso. Ma garanayno sida loogu isticmaalo mobaylka app-ka casrigayaga ama sida loo raadiyo cuntada si hufan. Waxaan ka helay app-ka MyFitnessPal inuu si gaar ah waxtar u leeyahay marka la iskaankaro koodhadhka shayga supermarket-ka sababtoo ah waxa uu leeyahay xog-ururin aad u weyn oo cuntooyinka laga kala keenay adduunka oo dhan. Sidoo kale, sifada raadinta ayaa ka dhigaysa mid raaxo leh in la raadiyo alaabta laga soo iibsaday suuqa ama aan la helin barcode-kooda.

• Waxay qaadataa waqti badan. Waad ogtihiin, waxaan waraystay laba qof oo maalinba maalinta ka danbaysa soo gasha cuntadooda. Dhammaantood waxay yiraahdeen runtii way fududahay waxayna qaadanaysaa wax ka yar 5 daqiiqo. Ma hubtaa inaadan haysan 5 daqiiqo maalintaada oo ay ku fiicnaan karto inaad maal gashid mustaqbalkaaga?
• Waa subax, waxaanan ku degdegsanahay inaan shaqada tago/shaqo bilaabo. Haa, laakiin qofna ma odhanayo waa inaad isla markiiba samayso quraacda ka dib. Waad qosli doontaa, laakiin mararka qaarkood waxaan sameeyaa inta aan shaqada u wado haddii aan ku xayirmo taraafikada. Waxaad si fudud u qori kartaa cuntadaada hadhow, kaliya waa inaad u fiirsato waxa aad cunayso intaad wax cunayso iskuna day inaad xasuusato. Tafaasiil arrintan ku saabsan dib ayaan uga bixin doonaa maqaalka.
• Makhribkii aad baan u daalanahay oo waxaan dareemayaa inaan shil galay. Dabcan waad sameyneysaa, dhammaanteen waan sameyneynaa. Taasi waa sababta hurdada ay faa'iido leedahay Naftayda, waxaan ku celcelinayaa soonka kala go'a^{(intermittent fasting)} , markaa waxaan had iyo jeer ka boodaa cashada gabi ahaanba.
• Fasax ayaan ku jiraa, oo gelida cuntadu waxay dareema "shaqo" (ama ma lihi xiriir internet oo sax ah). Hagaag, waxaad si sahal ah u gali kartaa qaadashada cuntadaada markaad fasaxa ku jirto adigoo isticmaalaya qalin iyo warqad. Dhab ahaantii waxaa la igu qasbay in aan taas sameeyo Agoosto 2014^{(August 2014)} markii qiiqa ka soo baxay taleefankeyga casriga ah waxaana la iiga tagay gabi ahaanba xiriirka adduunka khadka dhowr maalmood aniga oo ku sugan tuulo xeebeed qurux badan oo qarsoodi ah oo ku taal Romania^{(beautiful secluded seaside village in Romania)} . Weli waan dhamaynayey miisaan dhimistayda markaas, markaa markii hore waan argagaxay. Laakiin waxaan markaas xaqiiqsaday inaysan jirin sabab aan cuntada qalinka iyo warqadda loo qori karin oo aan hadhow gelin karin. Marka kaliya ee aan awood maskaxeed ka heli waayay waxay ahayd safar 5-maalmood ah oo aan ku tagay USA kaas oo lahaa jadwal aad u badan oo aan si dhib ah u seexday gabi ahaanba.
• Waxaan wax ka cunayaa meel Shiinees ah/bar salad ah/bar tapas ah sidaas darteedna waxaan dhadhaminayaa cuntooyin badan. Haa, tani waxay la macno tahay inaad cunto noocyo badan oo cunto ah hal cunto, laakiin guud ahaan, imisa nooc ayaa jiri kara oo aad si joogto ah u cunto? Ma aha in ka badan 20-30, waxaan u maleynayaa. Si tartiib tartiib^(Gradually) ah u maalgelinta iyaga oo mid mid ugu daraya kaydka xogta cuntooyinka aad isticmaalayso ( MyFitnessPal waxa ay^{(MyFitnessPal)} ogolaataa gelinta isticmaalaha) waxa ay kuu sahlaysaa oo fududaynaysaa gelida waxa aad cunayso. Xusuusnow^(Remember) , Rome laguma dhisin maalin gudaheed! Markaa ma jirto sabab aad ku filan karto inaad ku saxdo duruufaha adag laga bilaabo maalinta koowaad.

Sideen Ugu Guulaystay In Aan Nafteyda Caadada^(Habit) U Abuuro^(Myself) ?

Si daacadnimo ah, waxaan ula dhaqmay midkan sidii hawl kasta oo bilaw ah: gelinta tamarta yar ee suurtogalka ah iyo isku dayga inaan helo natiijooyin wanaagsan. Ku celcelinta ilaa aan si fiican u koontaroolo macluumaadka cunnadayda ama aan ku guuldareysto oo aan joojiyo isticmaalka isla xeeladda.

Labadii toddobaad ee ugu horreeyay, waxaan isticmaalay Google Spreadsheet halkaasoo unug kastaaba uu u dhigmo cuntada. Waxaan si degdeg ah ugu qori lahaa qaar ka mid ah weedhaha unugga oo aan dib u soo noqdo markii aan haysto wakhti aan ku qiyaaso kaloriinta gacanta, anigoo isticmaalaya xog-ururinta kalooriyada webka. Maxaan u sameeyay si aan habboonayn? Waxaan rabay in aan ku bixiyo tamarta maskaxeed ee ugu yar ee suurtogalka ah si aan u barto software cusub, xooggiisa iyo daciifnimada, iyo kaliya ka dib markii aan caddeeyey inaan aad u xiiseynayo inaan sameeyo si aan u maalgeliyo wax badan.

Waxa kale oo aan lahaa bartilmaameed aad u dabacsan oo ah buuxinta 12 cunto asbuucii (halkii wadarta ku dhawaad ​​21). Tani waxay ahayd sababtoo ah waxaan ahay rumaystayaal weyn oo kordhinta yar yar ee waara. Sidaa darteed, waxaan hubiyay inaanan dareemin dambiga ah inaanan helin dhammaan cuntooyinka markii hore, laakiin waxaan maareeyay wixii aan filayo. Ahaanshaha qofka tartanka ku jira, waxa aan si degdeg ah u dhaafiyay yoolkaygii toddobaadlaha ah, bil gudaheedna waxa aan wax walba ku xidhayay.

Waxa aan ogaaday muddadan waxbarasho waxay ahaayeen dhawr arrimood:

• Miisaanka^(Weight) dhimista inta badan waa dhibaatada qorsheynta cuntada iyo ogaanshaha naftaada.
• Dadka qaarkiis waxay ka fogaadaan goynta cuntada sababtoo ah "waqti ayay qaadataa" iyo "waa khalad". Taasi waa sababta tiro ka mid ah alaabooyinka uumiga sida Healbe GoBe ee sheegtay inay xalliyeen dhibaatadan u muuqata mid muhiim ah. Laakiin dhab ahaantii uma baahnid xog sax ah oo sax ah, oo lagu siiyo faa'iido kugu filan, waxaad diyaar u noqon doontaa inaad xogta ku geliso gacanta.
• Waxaad si joogta ah u cuntaa wax la mid ah in ka badan inta aad u malaynayso. MyFitnessPal waxay kaa caawinaysaa dhinacaas adigoo xafidaya liis diyaarsan oo ah cuntooyinka inta badan loo isticmaalo cunto kasta.

Talooyin ku saabsan Qiyaasta qaadashada Cunnadaada^{(Food Intake)}

Marka hore^(First) , baro inaad eegto saxanka ka hor intaadan ku dhicin. Hal ama laba bilood markii aan galiyay cuntada, waxaan is arkay aniga oo sawiraya waxa saxanka ku jira xilliga quraacda. Waxa kale oo aan ogaaday in markii aan dibadda wax ka cunaynayo, aan galay cuntada ka dib markii aan dalbaday iyo ka hor inta aanay keenin sababtoo ah tirada ugu muhiimsan ee cuntada ayaa laga heli karaa liiska. Taasi aad bay u fududayd in la sameeyo maadaama aan si degdeg ah u go'aansado waxa aan helayo oo aan awoodo in aan galo iyada oo dadka kale ay weli go'aansanayaan. Ka dib waxaan go'aansaday inaan sameeyo si miyir leh. Waxay qaadanaysaa xoogaa dardaaran ah (inkastoo dareenka marka aad gaajaysan tahay uu aad u xoog badan yahay).

Tani waxay igu kaliftay inaan barto xirfad aad muhiim u ah: qiyaasida tirada cuntada anigoo eegaya kaliya ("indhaha dhufashada"). Dib ayaan faahfaahin doonaa sida loo tababaro muruqaas. Sawir-qaadista cunnada waxay ii ogolaataa inaan hadhow galo, haddii aanan isla markiiba helin waqti aan ku sameeyo ama aanan rabin. Tani waxay si fiican ula ciyaartaa falsafadayda shakhsi ahaaneed ee ah inaad iska ilaaliso dib u dhigista arrimaha ugu daran markaad maalinta bilaabayso kharash kasta.

Waxa kale oo ay si fiican ii dulmaraysaa waxa aan cunayo guud ahaan. Markii hore, waxaan ku buuxin lahaa saxankayga 1 ama 2 maaddooyin, oo aan dib ugu noqdo qaboojiyaha si aan u buuxiyo qaar kale. Dib-u-soo-noqoshadani waxay dhibsatay sheekadii aan la yeeshay dadka ila cunaya waxayna sidoo kale iga dhigtay inaan gabi ahaanba ka warqabin waxa dhabta ah ee calooshayda galaya.

Markii aan dadka barayay sida loo qoro cuntadooda marka ay wax cunayaan, waxaan ogaaday inay aad u faa'iido badan tahay in muuqaal ahaan lagu baaro cuntada ka hor inta aan la cunin si loo go'aamiyo waxyaabaha ugu muhiimsan ee ay tahay in la qoro, iyo tiradooda.

Mid ka mid ah waxyeellada wanaagsan ee goynta cuntada ee aan helay ayaa ah inaan u janjeero inaan cuno cuntooyin ka fudud hadda. Waxaa laga yaabaa inaan aad u caajisay inaan galo kuwa kakan, laakiin waxaan dib u helay waxyaabo badan oo dhadhan fudud oo aan gabi ahaanba ilaaway.

Hadda, u gal tirada. Goynta cuntada ee saxda ah waxay la macno tahay ogaanshaha maaddooyinka saxda ah iyo gelitaanka tirada saxda ah ee aad cunayso. Markii aan bilaabay in aan qoro cuntadayda, waxaan rabay in aan sameeyo hab waara oo lagu qiyaaso tirada cuntada ee i caawin doonta guriga iyo marka aan maqanahay labadaba. Tani waxay ka dhigan tahay inaanan isku hallayn karin miisaanka elegtarooniga ah, marka laga reebo tababarka xirfadahayga qiimaynta. Qaar ka mid ah indha-indhaynta ayaa i caawisay:

• Ma raadineysid kaamil. Waxaad raadinaysaa tirooyin cunto ah oo ku habboon tirakoobka. Xaaladeyda, xisaab ahaan laxiriirta macnaheedu waxa weeye inaan saadaalin karo miisaankayga dhabta ah iyadoo leh heerka qaladka saxda ah ee ka bilaabmaya xogta diiwaanka cuntada iyo xogta gubashada kalooriga.

• Tixgeli-qiyaasta xad-dhaafka ah (miisaanka-luminta iyo dayactirka), ama qiyaas-yarida (kordhinta miisaanka). Maadaama aan ku jiro baaldigii ugu horreeyay, waxaan si joogto ah u qiyaasaa 10-15% (marka laga reebo kiiska marka aad ku miisaamayso iyaga oo isticmaalaya cabbir elektaroonik ah).
• Dooro nooc ka mid ah cuntada oo aan ahayn mid ka baxsan. Gelintu waa inay lahaataa dhammaan maaddooyinka ugu muhiimsan ee la geliyo (protein, fibers, dufan, iwm.) iyo sidoo kale waa inaysan yeelan tiro kalooriyaal ah oo hooseeya/sare. Naftayda, waxaan meesha ka saarayaa qiyamka ugu hooseeya iyo kan ugu sarreeya waxaanan doortaa meel ka sarreysa bartamaha. Tani waxay xisaabinaysaa qaababka kala duwan ee cunto karinta ee saxan isku mid ah. Tusaale ahaan, shiilan faransiiska waxaa ku jiri kara saliid badan ama ka yar, waxaana lagu kariyaa gabbaldayaha ama saliid timireed.

Sida Cuntooyinka^{(Food Into)} Looga Dhigo Walxaha Ka Kooban

Qiyaasta cuntadu^(Food) waxay u kala baxdaa qiyaasidda hal shay. Waa maxay sababtu? Saynis yahanadu waxa ay hadda bilaabeen in ay la halgamaan sidii ay u fahmi lahaayeen saamaynta cunto karinta iyo u diyaargarowga maaddooyinka cayriin ee jiirarka ku jira oo aan weli ku dhicin bini’aadamka. Halkan^(here) iyo halkan^(here) ka eeg daraasado ku saabsan sida cunto karinta hal ama in ka badan oo maaddooyin badan si wadajir ah u saameeyaan tirada guud ee kalooriyada. Laakiin midna tijaabooyinkan hordhaca ah midkoodna ma muujinayo farqi ka badan 10-15% oo u dhexeeya walaxda cayriin iyo kuwa la kariyey, iyo in heerka khaladka ah ee ujeedada goynta heerka hiwaayadda ku habboon tahay xisaabinta.

Mar kasta oo aan cuno cunto kakan, waxaan isku dayaa in aan qiimeeyo maaddooyinka ugu muhiimsan (kuwa kaloriin badan ku soo kordhiya). Iyo in la badiyo tirooyinkooda (sida aan horay u soo sheegay), waxaan sidoo kale awoodaa inaan xisaabiyo saameynta habka diyaarinta. Haddii aan ku jiro maalin mashquul ah ama aan runtii daalanahay, waxaan kaliya gali doonaa 2-3 maaddooyinka ugu sarreeya si aan u helo qiyaas adag oo ah waxa aan cunayo. Sida aan hore ugu soo sheegnay maqaalkan, jarista cuntadu waxa ay la socotaa wacyiga keenaya in aad cunto cuntooyin fudud, taas oo hoos u dhigaysa tirada xaaladahan oo kale mustaqbalka fog.

Si aad u bixiso hal tusaale oo degdeg ah, cheeseburger-ka waxaad xiisayn doontaa inta badan rootiga rootiga, baastada hilibka, jiiska laftiisa, hilib doofaar iyo suugo kasta (haddii ay tahay qadar aan la dayacin).

Sida loo qiyaaso tirada cuntada ^(Quantity)aad^(Food) cunayso

Tiro ahaan, waxaan ku bilaabay anigoo indha-indhaynaya cufnaanta maaddooyinka cuntada ugu muhiimsan aniga oo ka soo iibsanaya cunto baakadaysan dukaamada waaweyn oo isticmaalaya qaybo-hoosaadyada xirmada weyn (tusaale afar meelood meel, badh). Waxa kale oo aan gacanta ku qabtay saxankii maran, oo waxa aan galiyay saxanka saxanka si aan u barto sida miisaanka dhabta ah ee walaxda u dareemayo gacantaada. Ogsoonow in tani ay si fiican ugu shaqeyso suxuunta caaga ah, kuwaas oo fudud. Waan ogahay, maaha mid deegaanka u saaxiib ah, laakiin waa nidaam waxbarasho!

3 bilood markii aan goostay cuntada, xaaskaygu waxay hadiyad ahaan u heshay miisaan elektaroonik ah. Waqtigaas waxaan horayba u goosan jiray cuntada guriga, shaqada, iyo markii aan fasaxa ku maqnaa ama safarrada ganacsiga, si dabiici ah waxaan bilaabay inaan isticmaalo naftayda. Inta badan waxa aan u isticmaalaa in aan ku tababaro xirfadayda miisaan, gaar ahaan maaddooyinka adag. Mid ka mid ah tusaale wanaagsan halkan waa avokado, oo iniinkeedu miisaankoodu aad u weyn yahay miisaanka guud. Isticmaalka miisaanka, waxaan bartay in aan buunbuuninayo qiyaastayda avokadhada.

Gabagabo & Natiijooyinka Shaqsiyeed

Sideen ku ogaan karaa in farsamooyinkan ay shaqeeyaan? Hagaag, aniga oo luminaya 23 kg (50 rodol) ee miisaanka sanadkan dhexdiisa, waxaan qorsheeyay miisaankayga la filayo (adoo isticmaalaya xogta gubashada kalooriga iyo buugga cuntada) ee ka soo horjeeda miisaankayga dhabta ah.

Sida aad arki karto, qiyaastu si fiican ayay u shaqeysaa! Farqiga soo baxaya ee ku wajahan dhamaadka garaafka waxaa sabab u ah farsamada qiyaasta xad dhaafka ah ee hore loo sheegay.

Goynta cuntadu waa caado maalinle ah oo qaadan karta ilaa 5 daqiiqo maalintii marka aad si fiican ugu tababarto samaynteeda. Waxa jira caqabado badan, oo ka bilaabma abuurista caado, si sax ah loo xusho maaddooyinka kaydka cuntada, iyo qiyaasida tirooyinkooda. Ugu dambayn, laakiin ugu yaraan, safarrada shaqo iyo fasaxyada, sida caadiga ah, waxay carqaladeeyaan hawl-maalmeedkeenna.

Gelida cuntadayda 9 bilood waxay ahayd fuulid duurjoog ah, iyada oo wax badan aan ka bartay nafteyda iyo caadooyinkayga! Waxaan ku tilmaamay dhammaan halgankii yaryaraa, iyo dhammaan guulihii yaryaraa (indhaha oo dhan, qiyaasta xad dhaafka ah, awood u yeelashada miisaankayga). Haddii qof hore oo aniga oo kale ah uu ku samayn karo wax ka yar 5 daqiiqo maalintii, adiguna waad samayn kartaa!

Andrei Ismail waa injineer khibrad leh oo software ah oo khibrad bilow ah ku leh suunkiisa iyo shahaado PhD ee sirdoonka macmal. Waxa uu lumiyay 50 rodol 6 bilood gudahood.^{(Andrei Ismail is an experienced software engineer with startup experience under his belt and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence. He has lost 50 pounds in 6 months.)}

Real-Life Strategies For Logging Your Food Intake

In а рrevious articlе I have discussed about the bеnefits and pitfalls of loggіng your food and the conclusion was thаt there is amрle reason for one to log the food intake. Especially when we want to lоѕe some weight or to maintain that lost weight. Βut how do you actually log your food? To help you, I would like to shаre my experience on this topic аnd discuss several strategies fоr logging yоur fоod intake:

NOTE: In my quest for logging my food intake, I ended up using the MyFitnessPal mobile app, which is available on all major mobile platforms, including Windows Phone.

Logging Your Food Must Become A Habit

Food logging has its specific challenges. It's a new habit that has to be created and maintained. It needs good memory and observation skills during a time in which we're all vulnerable (when we're hungry). But the data obtained from this habit can be priceless. I have seen cases where the simple awareness created by proper food logging itself has worked wonders, rivaling established methods such as personal trainers or nutritionists.

Before anything, you need to have a very good reason to do food logging. Beware that your reason might change over time. I started out with weight loss, and migrated towards a more balanced diet and longer term statistics about what I eat.

Without a good reason, you may lose interest in this habit pretty quickly. I remember my fitness coach telling me a few years ago to write down what I eat, without getting into any details about why do it, and how to do it. I failed miserably and lost interest in it in less than a week. Now I feel amused when I think about that. I have over 9 months of complete data that I want to publish at some point as open-source (I previously published my biometrics data from March 2014). And I will keep doing it as part of my daily routine.

When To Log The Food That You Eat?

The easiest way is to log it immediately after you eat. However, this might turn out to be awkward in certain social contexts. Consider you are going out with friends for dinner and you stop the conversation with them to log your food intake. Having put myself through this a couple of times, I decided to remember the food I ate for a couple of hours instead and enter it when I have the chance. I still prefer to do it on the spot when I can, and that is most of the time.

Other strategies I have seen are:

• Logging everything in a fixed moment of the day. This requires both having a pretty good memory and disciplined eating habits. Frequent between-meal snacks will ruin this in the long term. Oh, but wait, maybe you don't need those snacks anyway 🙂
• Logging before eating the meals that are planned. This is especially easy for people who are doing the cooking (and thus the food planning) for their family. They know with precision what they will be eating and when. Also, they know very well what the ingredients are and their proportions.
• Using pen-and-paper as a buffer throughout the day, that is then transferred at a predefined moment (say, evening) into the electronic form. I myself used this while my smartphone was broken.

One interesting side-effect of food logging is that you realise that your food intake is much more repetitive than you ever thought. Which allows you to plan for your meals better and end up in the "logging before the meals that are planned" bucket more frequently than you think.

Do you have an alternative strategy for logging your food? I would like to hear about yours.

The Most Frequent Reasons For Not Logging Your Food Intake

 

Of course, we are not always able to log our food intake perfectly. Do we need to? As long as we have a very good understanding of what we eat, probably not.

Here are some of the reasons why you may stop logging your food intake on a regular basis:

At the very beginning it can be very frustrating to log the food that you eat. We do not know how to use the mobile app on our smartphone or how to search for food items efficiently. I have found the MyFitnessPal app to be particularly effective when scanning supermarket item barcodes because it has a huge database of foods from around the world. Also, its search feature makes it quite comfortable to search for items bought from the market or whose barcodes are not found.

• It takes a lot of time. You know, I have interviewed a couple of people who do log their food on a day to day basis. All of them say it is really easy and takes under 5 minutes. Are you sure you don't have 5 minutes in your day that could be better spent by investing in your future?
• It's morning and I am in a rush to get to work/to start work. Yes, but nobody says you have to do it immediately after breakfast. You will laugh, but I sometimes do it while driving to work if I get stuck in traffic. You can easily log your food later, you just have to pay attention to what you are eating while you are eating and try to remember it. I will provide details about this later in the article.
• In the evening I am really tired and feel like crashing. Of course you do, we all do. That is why sleep is useful 🙂 But if you are eating too much to remember the next morning, or the foods are too complicated, you might have your problem right there. Myself, I am practicing intermittent fasting so I almost always skip dinner completely.
• I am on vacation, and logging the food feels like "work" (or I don't have a proper internet connection). Well, you can easily log your food intake while in vacation by using pen and paper. I was actually forced to do that in August 2014 when smoke came out of my smartphone and I was left completely disconnected from the online world for several days in a beautiful secluded seaside village in Romania. I was still finishing my weight loss back then, so at first I panicked. But I then realised there is no reason not to log the food using pen and paper and enter it later. The only time when I could just not find mental energy to do it was during a 5-day trip to the USA which had a schedule so packed that I barely got to sleep at all.
• I am eating at a chinese place/salad bar/tapas bar and thus am tasting quite a lot of foods. Yes, this can mean that you eat a lot of types of foods in one meal, but overall, how many types can there be that you eat regularly? Not more than 20-30, I presume. Gradually investing in adding them one by one to the database of foods that you are using (MyFitnessPal allows user-generated entries) will make it easier and easier to enter what you eat. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day! So there is no reason to expect that you will get it right in difficult circumstances from day one.

How I Managed To Create The Habit For Myself?

Honestly, I treated this one as any startup task: investing as little energy as possible and trying to obtain good results. Repeating until I had good control over my food information or failing and stopping to use the same strategy.

In the first 2 weeks, I used a Google Spreadsheet where each cell corresponded to a meal. I would quickly scribble some phrase in the cell and get back later when I had time to estimate the calories by hand, using a web calories database. Why did I do it in such an inconvenient way? I wanted to spend as little mental energy as possible to learn new software, its strengths and weaknesses, and only after I proved to be very interested in doing it to invest more.

I also had a very relaxed target of filling 12 meals per week (instead of the total of approximately 21). This was because I am a big believer in small increments that are sustainable. Therefore, I made sure that I did not feel guilty for not getting all the meals at first, but rather managed my own expectations. Being the competitive person that I am, I exceeded my weekly goal pretty quickly, and within a month I was logging almost everything.

What I realised during this learning period were several things:

• Weight loss is mostly a problem of food planning and knowing yourself.
• Some people avoid food logging because it "takes up time" and "it is inaccurate". That is the reason for a number of vaporware products such as the Healbe GoBe that claimed to solve this seemingly important problem. But in fact you do not need perfectly accurate data, and given a good enough benefit, you will be willing to enter the data by hand.
• You repeatedly eat the same stuff more often than you think. MyFitnessPal helps you in that respect by keeping a readily available list of the most frequently used foods for every meal.

Recommendations For Estimating Your Food Intake

First of all, learn to look at the plate before indulging. One or two months into logging my food, I found myself scanning the contents of the plate during breakfast. I've also discovered that when eating out, I entered the food after ordering and before they brought it just because the main ingredient quantities were available in the menu. That was especially easy to do since I decide very quickly what to get and am able to log it while other people are still deciding. Then I decided to do it consciously. It only takes a bit of will (even though the impulse when you are hungry is quite strong).

This has led me to learn a very important skill: estimating the quantity of food just by looking at it ("eyeballing"). I will detail later how to train that muscle. Visually scanning the food allows me to log it later, if I do not immediately have time to do it or do not want to. This plays nicely with my personal philosophy that you should avoid delaying the most pressing issues when starting the day at any cost.

It also gives me a better overview of what I am eating as a whole. Previously, I would fill my plate with 1 or 2 ingredients, and keep going back to the fridge to fill it some more. This back and forth disturbed my conversation with the people eating with me and also made me completely unaware of what was actually going into my belly.

While teaching people how to log their food when eating out, I've found it quite useful to visually scan the food before eating it to determine which are the main ingredients that should be logged, and their quantities.

One nice side-effect of food logging that I found is that I tend to eat much simpler foods right now. Maybe I'm too lazy to log the more complex ones, but I rediscovered a lot of simple tastes that I had completely forgotten about.

Now, onto the quantities. Correct food logging means identifying the right ingredients and entering the correct quantities that you are eating. As I started to log my food, I wanted to develop a sustainable method to estimate the food quantity that would help me both at home and when away. This means that I cannot rely on the electronic scale, except for training my estimating skills. Some observations that were helpful for me:

• You are not looking for perfection. You are looking for statistically relevant food quantities. In my case, statistically relevant meant that I could predict my actual weight with a decent error rate starting from my food log data and calorie burn data.

• Consider over-estimation (for weight-loss and maintenance), or under-estimation (for weight gaining). Since I am in the first bucket, I constantly over-estimate with 10-15% (except maybe for the case when you are weighing them using an electronic scale).
• Choose a version of the food that is not an outlier. The entry should have all the main ingredients entered (proteins, fibers, fats, etc.) and also should not have a disproportionately low/high number of calories. Myself, I eliminate the lowest and highest values and choose somewhere above the middle. This accounts for the different styles of cooking for the same dish. For example, french fries might contain more oil or less, and be cooked with sunflower or palm oil.

How To Deconstruct Food Into Ingredients

Food estimation breaks down to estimating a single ingredient. Why? Scientists are just beginning to struggle to understand the effects of cooking and preparation on raw ingredients on mice and not yet on humans. See here and here for studies on how cooking one or more multiple ingredients together affects the total number of calories. But none of these preliminary experiments show a difference of more than 10-15% between the raw ingredient and the cooked ones, and that error rate for the purpose of amateur-level food logging statistical relevance is enough.

Whenever I eat a more complex food, I try to evaluate its main ingredients (the ones which contribute more calories to it). And by overestimating their quantities (just like I mentioned before), I am also able to account for the effect of the preparation method. If I am having a busy day or am really tired, I will only log the top 2-3 ingredients in order to have a rough estimate of what I am eating. As mentioned earlier in this article, food logging brings awareness with it that will cause you to eat simpler foods, thus decreasing the number of such situations in the longer term.

To give one quick example, in a cheeseburger you will be interested mainly in the bread bun, the meat pattie, the cheese itself, bacon and any sauce (if it is in a non-negligible amount).

How To Estimate The Quantity Of Food That You Are Eating

For the quantity, I started out by visually observing the density of the main food ingredients by buying packaged food from the supermarket and using up rounded subdivisions of the bigger package (e.g. one fourth, one half). I also held the empty plate into my hand, and put the actual ingredient in the plate to learn how the actual weight of the ingredient feels on your hand. Note that this works best with plastic dishes, which are lighter. I know, it's not environmentally friendly, but it's a learning process!

3 months into my food logging, my wife received an electronic scale as a gift. By that time I was already logging food at home, at work, and while I was away on vacation or business trips, so naturally I started to use it myself. I mainly use it to train my weighing skills, especially for more difficult ingredients. One good example here is the avocado, whose seed weighs a very significant amount of the total weight. By using the scale, I learned that I was exaggerating my over-estimations of the avocado.

Conclusion & Personal Results

How do I know these techniques work? Well, while losing 23 kg (50 pounds) of weight during this year, I plotted my expected weight (using data from calorie burns and the food log) against my actual weight.

As you can see, the estimation works quite well! The emerging difference towards the end of the graph is due to the over-estimation technique previously mentioned.

Food logging is a daily habit that can take up to 5 minutes per day once you are well trained in doing it. There are a lot of challenges, starting from creating the habit, to correctly selecting the ingredients from the food database, and estimating their quantities. Last but not least, business trips and vacations, as usual, disrupt our routine.

Logging my food for 9 months has been a wild ride, with so much I have learned about myself and my habits! I have described all my small struggles, and all the small victories (eyeballing, over-estimation, being able to predict my weight). If a former naysayer like me can do it in under 5 minutes a day, you can do it too!

Andrei Ismail is an experienced software engineer with startup experience under his belt and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence. He has lost 50 pounds in 6 months.

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