Another useful tool I’ve been
using is my hand dandy behavior calendar. Every day, at the end of the day
(meaning right before I got to bed) I record the number of calories in, the
number of calories burned by exercise, whether or not I binged and purged, and
the names of the three people I had positive interactions with. If I ate
normally, I highlight the day and it counts towards my monthly goal.
I think having a behavior
calendar can be extremely useful. First, it helps you figure out what kinds of
things occur on a day when you eat poorly. I noticed that on days I was binging
I was less likely to have positive interactions with people. So I changed my
behavior accordingly to integrate more positive interaction, and it helped.
Second, it helps you to realize
how often your behaviors occur. Just seeing it in simple colors is really
powerful.
Third, it can be motivation. I
mean, not much motivation, but highlighting a day at the end is kind of nice.
And seeing a mostly highlighted month is a good feeling.
I think it’s a good tool and I
recommend it to you.
Below are two examples of months (april and February) that I am keeping/kept track of with a behavior calendar.
That's neat!
ReplyDeleteThat looks great! I love things like this. A visual reminder can make such great motivation.
ReplyDeletexx
I think I am going to do this with work-outs! it would be good to see that I am actually sticking to it for once!
ReplyDeletewow this is astounding!!!
ReplyDeletei think i always go back and assess and reflect anyone but this calender thing sounds great to be honest. i might do it on an Excel sheet when i get home. it does sound like something i can use to help me in the future. besides, there are so many things that you can track. i'd also recommend mood (for me, mood plays an important factor) and quite a lot of ED people have anxiety issues (i'm one of them) and i noticed that on days where im anxious im less likely to eat which makes me very likely to overeat after my anxious phase is over with (i'm trying to keep a consistent pattern to eating). which made me create this idea of an average calorie intake per day
basically on an anxiety day, if i undereat by let's say 100 calories so i intake in at 1 540 (my intake is 1 640), i can add that to my intake tomorrow and i can eat 1 740, which helps with the whole 'overeating when im happy/undereating when im not' cycle.
^_^
its amazing identifying triggers though. you really begin to understand yourself.
-Sam Lupin
Great idea Emily x
ReplyDelete