




13
Earth Day is nearing, and I’m in the mood to recycle, reuse, etc. (Also, I’m really busy this week and out of original ideas to write about.) BUT, as luck would have it – I’ve unearthed some of my articles from waaaay back, and will be posting them all week long. Recycle, reuse, re-purpose…call it what you will, in honor of the upcoming Earth Day (drum roll please)...THE IMPORTANCE OF SELF-MONITORING!
Self-Monitoring is essentially the process of recording various aspects of behavior and progress toward your health and fitness goals. The act of logging your daily journey toward improved health allows you to clearly see where you started, where you are now, and where you are headed. It is a motivational tool seldom taken advantage of, yet it can yield tremendous results when implemented correctly.
What do you log?
By logging your food/exercise habits, you can:
The process of tracking your progress enables you to modify your behaviors on the fly. For example, by tracking your workouts and food intake, you may discover that you do great during the workweek, but free fall out of control on the weekends, overeating and putting off exercise. Or, you may find that fatigue in the evenings prevents you from working out consistently. In this case, switching to morning workouts may be the solution that leads to lasting success.
Research confirms that the practice of self-monitoring increases success.
Often, we overlook progress and choose to focus on “all-or-nothing” thinking. When this happens, those little setbacks or changes in your schedule can derail your efforts for days, weeks, or permanently. By monitoring yourself on a consistent basis, you can evaluate what is working and what isn’t, where your weaknesses lie, and gain an overall picture of the changes taking place. This lessons the likelihood for failure by a large degree.
Follow these tips to get the most out of your exercise / nutrition-tracking system:
07
Surfing the world-wide-web for information can be the equivalent of looking for a needle in a haystack. Logging hours scouring pages of information from hundreds of sites is also time consuming. As I’m sure you’ve discovered, some website are a goldmine for information, while others provide little in the way of valuable.
I scout the net for information on a regular basis too, and when I find a website worth coming back to, I like to let people know. After all, the more time you save looking for answers, the more time you’ll have to work out!
Below I’ve compiled my picks for the best ‘healthy’ recipe websites, food tracking sites, and nutrition tips/advice.
Enjoy!
Here are my ‘Blue Sky’ picks for Recipe and Nutrition Websites
FoodFit
Hodgson Mill
Food for Life
Mayo Clinic
Discovery Health