When you first start your diet one of several things you will learn right away is that maintaining a food journal is very helpful. Keeping your foods record not only helps you see clearly what you are having, it helps you see what you are not eating. For example, after retaining a food record for a few days, you might see that you are not consuming very many vegetables but that you are consuming lots of sugar and bad carbohydrates. Having it all written down may help you determine the parts of your diet that need to change as well as how much exercise you need to get to make sure that you burn enough calories to keep your waistline in check.
But what if you write every little thing down but no weight drop off of you? There is a proper way and a wrong way to observe your food. A food log is more than just a simple list of the foods you eat during a day. You must account for some other very important information. Here are a few hints that you can make use of to help your food tracking be more successful.
You should be very precise while you write down the things that you are eating. You should do more than merely write down “salad” into your food journal. Write down every one of the ingredients in the salad as well as the type of dressing you used. You should include the volume of the food you eat. “Cereal” is just not as beneficial an entry as “one cup Honey Nut Cheerios.” Don’t forget that the more of a thing you take in, the more calories you are going to consume so you need to list out the measurements of what you eat so that you will know just how many calories you take in and will need to burn.
Write down exactly what time of day it is while you eat. This makes it possible to figure out when you feel the most hungry, when you are vulnerable to snack and what you can do about it. After a day or two you might notice that, though you eat lunch at the same time every single day, you still feel hungry an hour or so later. You may possibly also be able to determine when you are eating only to have something to do. This is important because all those are moments that you can select other things to fill your time with than food.
What type of mood are you in while you eat? Write it down! This could show you if you use food to solve emotional issues. It may also identify the meals you select when you are in certain moods. Lots of us will reach intuitively for processed food when we feel upset or angry and we are more likely to select healthy options when we feel happy or content. When you focus on how you eat during your different moods and mental states, you will be able to keep similar but healthier options around for when you need those snacks–you might also start talking to someone who can help you figure out why you try to cure your moods with food.
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