Powerful Tool

Studies indicate that people who keep a food diary 6 days/week lose twice as much weight as those who don’t. By tracking our food we become aware of how much and what we are eating.  Quite often we eat mindlessly when we don’t track.  By having a record, we can also go back and decide what changes we need to make.  Sometimes the mere act of recording our food intake, or being accountable, is enough in itself to make us eat less.

How

1-Know your goals.

By being aware of your reasons for tracking, you can record pertinent information.  In the case of weight loss or control, calories are the most important item to record.  I also record carbohydrates and protein because I eat about 150 grams of protein and 100 grams of carbohydrates every day.  This is a number that works well for me.  Davids Way encourages high protein and low carb eating.

2- Choose what you want to record

Along with nutritional info, you might want to include your mood, location, time or other relevant facts that might affect your food choices.  Keeping track of your exercise and hydration can be helpful.

3-Commit to constant updating

Yes, I know, we get accustomed to tracking and think we know what to eat and get slack about it…and start gaining weight, or quit making progress in our fitness goals.  Just do it…all day, every day.

4-Decide how detailed you want to be

It’s better to only commit to basic info than to commit to writing a book and not do either.  Just record what you need to know.

5-BE ACCURATE.  We are not doing ourselves any favors by lying about what we eat.  Be truthful.  Weigh, measure, look foods up online for nutritional value, obsess about this but, if you really can’t find the info that you need, then make a truly educated guess based on the info that you have been able to find.

6-ALWAYS track the extras.  That handful of chips or candy, that small cookie that just happened to fall out of the box, the extra shake of cereal “just to finish the milk”…it all adds up.  Not tracking these items can result in a 15-20# weight gain/year. [1]

7-Don’t berate yourself.  It’s common for people to feel so bad when they see what they eat that they give up.  Don’t.  You have become accountable.  BRAVO!!!

8-Acknowledgement-This is the key to success.  Review what you tracked and use it to make good choices.

If you like, you can do this with a pencil and paper.  There are many online apps available for this also.  Before long, you will be able to do this here at David’s Way.  We’ve got your back. ;-*

[1] https://www.webmd.com/diet/obesity/features/can-food-diary-help-you-lose-weight#1