Keeping Track Of What Exactly You Take In: How To Do It Correctly

By Susan Ebling


When you begin a diet one of the most often heard pieces of advice is to keep a food journal in which you write down every thing you eat during the day. Keeping a food log helps you determine the foods you are eating as well as the foods you aren't eating. For example, once you keep a food log for a few days you may notice that even though you eat lots of fruit, you almost never eat any vegetables. Having it all written down can help you recognize the elements 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've been writing every little thing down and still aren't slimming down? You can observe your meals the correct way or the wrong way. A food log isn't only a list of the things you've eaten during the day. Other sorts of important information are going to need to be written down as well. Here are a few of the elements you need to do to be more productive at food tracking.

Be as particular as possible while you write down what you eat. It is not sufficient to list "salad" in your food log. The proper way to do it is usually to note down all of the ingredients in the salad as well as the kind of dressing that is used. You need to include the amount of the food you eat. "Cereal" is just not as beneficial an entry as "one cup Honey Nut Cheerios." It is important to understand that the bigger your servings, the more calories you will be eating so you need to know just how much of every thing you actually eat so that you can figure out how many calories you will need to work off.

Write down what time it is while you eat. This can help you determine what times of day you feel the most hungry, when you usually reach for snacks and then you can figure out how to deal with those times. You'll see, for example, that even though you eat lunch at the very same time every day, you also--without fail--start to snack as little as an hour later, every day. You could also be able to determine when you are eating in order to have something to do. This is critical mainly because, once they are revealed, you can find various other ways to fill those moments than with unhealthy foods.



Record your mood when you eat. This will show you whether you use foods to solve emotional issues. It may also identify the foods you select when you are in certain moods. There are many people who seek junk food when they feel angry or depressed and are equally likely to pick out healthy things when they feel happy and content. Paying attention to what you reach for if you find yourself upset will help you stock similar but healthier items in your house for when you need a snack-you could also start talking to someone to figure out why you cure moods with food (if that is something that you actually do).




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