Visual Documentation.

So, I keep track of my weight by using homemade graphs.  Lately I've started marking on the graph when I have an increase in weight with the reason for the gain.  Like on May 6th, I went out to lunch and ate Chinese food.  The next day, I was up almost 2 lbs.  As the water weight left me, I dropped back down again.

Yesterday was Mother's Day so I was taken out to dinner at Bonefish Grill (one of my favorites!).  Today, I'm up 2 lbs.  On the graph, I marked it as "mother's day."

I had already forgotten about the lunch out with Chinese food, so if I hadn't marked it "Chinese Food" on the graph, I wouldn't remember the reason for the increase.

I think this is going to help me see what it is that is causing my increases.  Documentation is going to help me, I think.  I mean, I have always logged my food etc, but there is something about being able to see it on one page in graph form with the increases marked with the reasons for the increase that I think is going to help me.

Also, it's helpful to see the decrease in weight once I'm back on track and the water weight is gone.  It helps me see that just because I had a nice dinner out, it's not a disaster and things even back out again as long as I go back to my routine.

I am going to keep this up and see what it teaches me.  I've already learned that eating out is a definite cause of weight increase.  So I can now consciously try to keep that down to 1 time per month or so.  (Although I'm not going to deprive myself - that is a path to disaster!)

I'll be curious to see if there are other causes of my increases in weight - like a stressful day of court leading to overeating that night (using food as comfort after a bad day).  I'm going to start keeping track of this on my graphs.  I'll report what I find!