A diet diary can be a powerful tool in gaining control over your eating habits and making it possible to lose weight.
One of the reasons we have a hard time losing weight is because wego over our daily caloric limit, often without even realizing it. By tracking everything you eat in a diet diary or food journal, you'll be able to see exactly what you've done right and wrong when it comes to what you are spending your calories on.
Tips to Create a Diet Diary
Keep it simple.
Keep it real and be honest.
Define your daily calorie range and do your best to stay within that range. This number differs for each individual but should not be less than 1200 calories per day.
Write it all down. Even condiments contain calories and all of the bites that you take have calories in them that can really add up.
Include subcategories for breakfast, lunch dinner and snacks.
Break down the food item into more specific areas for serving, calories, fat, fiber, protein and carbs.
Track your water intake, aiming for a minimum of 8 ups per day.
Make a note of your feelings, especially when you have eaten something that isn't on your meal plan or is not at a scheduled mealtime.
Develop daily, weekly and long-term goals and include them in your diary.
Add a place to track your weight loss on a weekly basis.
Track your physical activities. Note what exercise you did and how long you did the activity.
Include motivational pictures, magazine clippings, drawings and quotes on the cover as a reminder of your weight loss goals.
Add a reward for each day you stay on track. A sticker is a great way to add a motivational factor to stay on track. Set a goal for yourself to earn so many stickers before treating yourself to a reward.
Look back over your diet diary occasionally and see what areas you did well on and what areas could use some improvement. You may not find it necessary to track your calories everyday once you have got the hang of it, but it is helpful to track them occasionally and make sure you are still on the right track for losing weight and maintaining your weight loss.
The copyright of the article Track Calories With a Diet Diary in Weight Loss is owned by Tracy Rose. Permission to republish Track Calories With a Diet Diary in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
Comments
Jul 17, 2006 7:08 PM
Samia B. :
Hello,
I have been on the dukan diet for almost 4 months and I lost aver 30lbs.
In France many people are folloxing this wonderful dier "created" by dr Dukan, a French Nutritionist!
Because, many people (apart from the French) don't know the diet, I created a website dedicated to this diet!
Please go and write, ask questions on my site!
www.dukandiet.bravehost.com
Maybe you won't like it but at least you will know about this diet and one day you will want to do it!!
I have friends who are doing it, and unfortunately, not all of them can speak English.
But on teh French website we post daily about our diet and everyone is happy with it!
Maybe I will see you soon there!
take care and good luck for what I call the war against the pounds!!
Jul 21, 2006 7:08 AM
Tracy Rose :
Thanks for your reply. I also enjoy using Sparkpeople.com. I have mentioned this in some of my other articles as well.
I also track everything on paper. It helps to actually write it down and hold yourself accountable. I like having everything on one page to see my overall progress because as we all know, the pounds don't always come off the way we hope they do and they the scale doesn't always reflect our effort.
Jul 21, 2006 7:12 AM
Tracy Rose :
Thanks for your post. Though readers may be interested in this information and appreciate knowing their dieting options, I hesistate to start any diet plan that has food group restrictions.
