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

By William Weldon


When you first start your diet one of the things you will learn right away is that maintaining a food journal is very helpful. Keeping a food record makes it possible to recognize the foods you are eating as well as the foods you aren't eating. For example, once you keep a food record for a few days you could notice that even though you eat lots of fruit, you almost never eat any vegetables. Writing all of it down can help you see exactly 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 write everything down but no weight drop off of you? There is a great way and a idle way to track the food you eat. A food journal is more than just a basic list of the foods you eat during a day. You must account for various other very important information. Here are a number of the things you need to do to be more successful at food tracking.

Be as particular as you can while you write down what you take in. It just isn't enough to simply write down "salad" on a list. Write down all the ingredients in the salad and the type of dressing you used. You need to include the amount of the food you eat. "Cereal" won't be sufficient however "one cup Fiber One cereal" is okay. Don't forget that the more of something you eat, the more calories you are going to take in so you need to list out the measurements of what you eat so that you will know exactly how many calories you take in and will need to burn.

Record the time of day time that you consume items. This allows you to 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. You'll observe, for example, that although 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. This will also enable you to identify the times when you start to eat simply to give yourself something to do. This is very important simply because, once they are revealed, you can find other ways to fill those moments than with unhealthy foods.



What kind of spirits are you in whenever you eat? Write it down! This could show you if you use foods to solve emotional issues. This will also show you whether or not you gravitate in the direction of certain foods based on your mood. Lots of us will reach naturally for processed food when we feel disappointed or angry and we are more likely to pick out healthy options when we feel happy or content. Paying attention to what you reach for if you find yourself upset can help you stock similar but better 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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