Keeping a Weight Loss Journal
by Admin
Filed under Weight Loss Tips
If you’re trying to lose weight, one of the best things you can do for yourself is start a weight loss journal. It’s an eye-opening experience: You’ll become intimately familiar with your eating habits, and you’ll learn exactly how many calories you’re consuming each day. Because it makes you to pay attention to what you’re eating, you’ll automatically cut back on mindless snacking.
You don’t need anything fancy to start a food journal. A simple spiral-bound notebook will do. However, you may find it easier to buy a journal designed especially for this purpose. A ready-made food or diet journal will have a list of things for you to fill out (what you ate, when, whether you exercised, etc.), so the information is neatly organized for future reference. You’ll also be less likely to forget to write down something important. Alternatively, you could record these details on the computer using Excel spreadsheets or with dieting software. How you do it doesn’t really matter. What’s important is finding the medium that’s comfortable and works for you. As long as you use it consistently, you’re doing fine.
After you eat something, write it down immediately. Make note of the portion or serving size so that you can look up the calorie information in a nutrition book or an online database. It’s also a good idea to note the time of day, how you were feeling, what you were doing, and who you were with. Over time you’ll start seeing a pattern: Maybe you eat more when you’re bored or when you hang around certain people. Once you know what your triggers are, you can plan ahead and make better eating choices.
Don’t cheat. Be sure to write down everything you consume, even if it’s just a couple of mints or a handful of raisins. The best way to stay on track and avoid “food amnesia” is to write it down what you ate immediately after the fact, even if it’s just on a napkin. You can always record it in your actual journal later. If you don’t write it down immediately, you’ll almost certainly forget to later, and you won’t get an accurate picture of your diet.
If you start a food diary and stick with it, you’ll be even more focused on your goal of losing weight. You’ll be armed with the knowledge you need to make better eating choices, and you’ll be able to avoid situations that lead to temptation.
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