Dear (food) Diary: Journal your way to a healthier and Happier New Year

When 37yearold Dr Suvajeet Duttagupta was on a Keto diet in 2017 he went from 96 kg to 65 kg in just a few months but when the pandemic hit many things slipped and the weight came back Thatrsquos when he and his wife home baker Shweta Katiyar 36 decided to make fitness a priority to allow them to travel and enjoy physical activities such as cycling and hiking ldquoI weighed 99 kgs and couldnrsquot sleep properly My knees hurt my skin felt greasy had hairfall was prediabetic and had breathing trouble I found it difficult to exercise and procrastinated every chance I hadrdquo she recallsFood journalling has been the easiest way for Dr Suvajeet Dasgupta and chef Shweta Katiyar to lose weight and keep it off PICSATEJ SHINDEThe couple took to mindful eating and documenting their food intake in a notepad and later by entering it on a fitness app called MyFitnessPal The initial hiccup was realising that the quantity required to hit the Total Daily Energy Expenditure TDEE goal felt less ldquoOur brain would feel it was being forced to starverdquo says Dattagupta ldquoIt took some time to realise that the food quantity was more than enough Food journalling helped Also unlike before we didnrsquot want to restrict ourselves from eating certain food groups so we got a fitness band to monitor the calories that were being burnt Now we donrsquot restrict what we are eating but just mindful of how much we are eating We even track our binging Our magic formula has been calorie countingrdquoldquoFood journalling is for anyone looking to practise a little personal accountabilityrdquo says Katiyar ldquoIf you want to understand diet patterns itrsquos a wonderful tool Also you begin to realise that fitness is a lifelong journey and results take time It can turn into a habit if you do it every day Even if I taste new desserts go on a vacation or eat out the next meal I am back to eating the normal waymdasheating what I cook and logging every meal It might not be for people who have underlying medical conditions or someone battling eating disordersmdashthey would need professional helprdquoDattagupta adds that for those who donrsquot cook their own food or canrsquot measure the ingredients of their meal this can be difficult ldquoThey can just track the size of the cooked portion to help make better decisions about eatingrdquo he addsThe couple suggests starting by calculating TDEE and reading the nutritional information given on the label of any food item that comes out of a packet This should help one make a somewhat conscious decision on what or how much of something you want to eat ldquoWhen you see results from this practice it becomes easier to measure meals and learn to develop a visual cue for portions he addsKatiyar feels being able to pursue an active life is her greatest motivation ldquoFood journalling offers a visual reminder of how far I have come My recipes are all in one place Every nonscale victory NSV like being able to go up multiple flights of staircases walking being able to bend or squat without worrying if Irsquod be able to come back up working in the kitchen without any ankle pain or back pain has helped cement my belief in food journallingrdquoWhen you hit a plateau and Dattagupta says they are inevitable maintain a gentle calorie deficit and exercise regularly ldquoIrsquove decided I donrsquot want to restrict my diet or overexerciserdquo he says ldquoEven if itrsquos just walking inside my house and tracking my activity with a fitness band I trust the process of a consistent daily routinerdquoIn December 2022 post delivery model Shama Vazidrsquos weight hit a new high 85 kgs causing ailments such as back feet and knee pain that barred her from doing normal tasks ldquoThat was my moment of truthrdquo she says ldquomaking me realise that I need to turn to an expert for guidance to focus on my diet and be motivated to work out because I wasnrsquot able to move due to the extra weightrdquoVazid turned to FitWood a platform that lets you stay fit by dancing to the beats of Bollywood songs By June 2023 she reached her target weight of 65 kg and presently weighs 61 kilos ldquoI am concentrating on building muscle mass at the moment and developing strength The progress has been incrediblerdquo she saysVazid sends pictures of her meals to her trainer who tweaks whatrsquos on her plate to help her make the right choices ldquoThis got me into the habit of keeping meals simple and effective to attain my goal and to eat cleanrdquo she says ldquoIrsquom not the one to count calories and I was glad that my trainer didnrsquot make me do it eitherrdquoAndheri resident Saurabh Garg relies on WhatsApp support group to stay on track He posts pictures of his food to the group and journals on apps tooVazidrsquos meals are cooked at home and the key to keeping them clean is to prep the day before ldquoI have a weekly meal plan and prep every dayrdquo she says ldquoI start with a threeegg omelette with greens and a side salad of tomatoes lettuce and onions Then soaked nuts at 11 am two rotis with dal and a portion of chicken grilledfor lunch one banana and a cup of black coffee no sugar as a midevening preworkout snack and dinner is either soup or salad or two small rotis with a vegetable ldquoOften Vazid would lose a couple of kilos and gain three ldquoBut I kept going and stopped checking the scale and concentrated on just being consistentrdquo she says For Saurabh Garg 41 grew up in Delhi which meant ldquoI love junk food and eat it at all timesrdquo he says with a laugh When COVID19 hit watching people suffer from lifestyle ailments be more prone to it with longer recovery times made him rethink his lifestyle choicesldquoI was hitting 40rdquo says the marketing professional and writer ldquoand knew that life would go downhill fast from here So I decided to get on to the longevity bandwagonmdashstarting with conscious eating Since I donrsquot cook at home my meals are either had outside or ordered in it was even more challenging Now I make conscious choices for example a lowcarb meal over a fried dish and eating in a limited window of 16 hours It may not sound too great but I prefer to choose the lesser evil I journal what I eat with a close group of friends on WhatsAppmdashthey are my favourite critics who caremdashby sharing photos of what I have eaten The minute I binge in a row they point it out I also write down what I eat in a notepadrdquo Garg feels food journalling can be overwhelming if you donrsquot have a digital tool ldquoIt is not for people who are not technologically savvy but you can start with a pen and paperrdquo he saysKeeping on trackTo build it into a habit Garg recommends doing one or more of the followinghellipgtgt thinspCreate an accountability groupmdashget a few friendsfamily to ask you for updates gtgt thinspDo this over a simple WhatsApp groupgtgt thinspUse apps The way you can set reminders for meetings or medicines set reminders prompting you to log what you eatgtgt thinspOffer yourself rewards after each successful logging of a foodgtgt thinspInvest in tools such as Continuous Glucose Monitors CGMs to track the impact on your blood glucose on an app