Weight Loss: Keeping a Food Diary

Mode diets go in and out, but doctors and dietitians agree that keeping a watchful food diary is the single best way to lose weight and keep it off.
 
“A food diary makes eating a conscious act,” says Joanne Larsen,  founder of Dietitian.com.
Tracking what, how much and when you eat can offer real insight into where extra weight is coming from. The food diary helps you recognize how even small adjustments in what you eat can encourage weight loss.
 

 
Here are some simple steps to keeping a food diary:
 
Step 1: Choose Your MediumA pen and a small notepad work fine, but devotees of personal digital assistants (PDAs) might find that technology helps them best. The most important factor in keeping your food journal is finding a method that works well for you. A host of food and exercise journals are also available online — some free, others for a small fee. These online services often offer nutritional facts, including calories, fat grams, sugar grams, exercise components, even recipes and message boards for diet support. In a pinch, recording a meal on a napkin and entering the information when you get home works too.
 

Step 2: Write It Down Right AwayThat afternoon apple or that nibble of your child’s Cheez-Its needs to be recorded immediately for your food journal to be effective.”Food records are more accurate if food is recorded immediately after eating rather than recalled from memory at the end of the day,” Larsen says. “Recording what you eat, as you eat, can help change what you eat at the next meal.” Forgotten calories — even a measly 20 or 30 — can lead to weight gain or plateaus in a weight-loss program. 

 

 

Step 3: Learn What to Write Down

The basic information to include in any food diary – whether you’re keeping it to record sugar consumption, allergy possibilities or to track weight loss – is what food was eaten and the amount of it. For weight loss, you’ll also want to record calories and/or fat grams and keep a running total for the day. The time of day you ate can also be useful information. When you eat can be just as important as how much you eat. If most of your calories are consumed in the hours after work and before bed, that could explain why the pounds continue to linger although you feel like you’ve hardly eaten all day — you might adjust to eat smaller meals throughout the day to curb the overload at dinner. You may also want to record how you were feeling or what you were doing when you ate to determine if there might be some pattern to your moods or activities that leads you to eat higher calorie meals. 

 

Step 4: Measure your PortionsWhen beginning your food journal, you may want to invest in a food scale to make certain your portion size is in line with the calorie count. A typical 4-oz. serving of chicken may be smaller (or larger) than you think.

Remember to include the food you’ve eaten while dining out. It may be difficult to track amounts and other nutritional information, but it’s important to record what you ate to get an accurate snapshot of the day’s intake. As you grow more comfortable with measuring portions at home, you will be able to accurately estimate portion size when dining out. Ask your favorite restaurants if they have a nutritional listing – often they will provide one at the restaurant or will direct you to where you can find the information online.

Food diaries are designed to uncover patterns and habits in eating that adversely affect your weight. Be honest with yourself and be thorough in your recording. You may find that — with just a few adjustments to your diet — you could lose those last stubborn pounds or even drop a whole dress size.