When you start a diet probably the most often heard pieces of advice is to keep a food record in which you write down every thing you eat during the day. Keeping a food record helps you determine the foods you are eating as well as the foods you aren’t eating. One example is that, after tracking your meals for a few days you could realize that you are consuming far too many sugars and unhealthy fats and not nearly enough organic nutrients. Writing all of it down will help you see specifically which parts of your diet program really need to change as well as how much exercise you are going to need to do to make sure that you keep your caloric intake in check.
But what happens if you’ve been writing every thing down and still aren’t losing weight? There is a great way and a lazy way to track the food you eat. A food log isn’t only a list of the items you’ve eaten during the day. You need to account for some other very important information. Here are a few tips that you can use to help your food tracking be more successful.
Be as precise as possible while you write down what you consume. It is not enough to just record “salad” on a list. The proper way to do it is to record all of the ingredients in the salad as well as the kind of dressing that is used. You ought to include the volume of the food you eat. “Cereal” won’t be sufficient however “one cup Fiber One cereal” is okay. Remember the more you consume of something the more calories you take in so it is very important that you list quantities so you know exactly how much of everything you’re eating and how many calories you need to burn.
Write down precisely what time of day it is whenever you eat. This helps you see what times of day you feel the hungriest, when you’re likely to reach for a snack and how to work around those times. After a day or two you might notice that, even though you eat lunch at the same time every day, you still feel hungry an hour or so later. You should also be able to observe whether or not you happen to be eating because you’re bored. This is significant because all those are moments that you can pick out other things to fill your time with than food.
Record your feelings whenever you eat. This can show you whether you use meals to solve emotional issues. It may also identify the foodstuffs you choose when you are in certain moods. Many people will reach for junk foods whenever we are disappointed, angry or depressed and will be more likely to choose healthier options when we are happy or content. Not only will this enable you to notice when you reach for particular foods based on your mood, it will help you find ways to keep healthier (but similar) selections on hand for those same moods and help you figure out whether or not someone professional can help you deal with the issues that are sending you towards certain foods in the first place.
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