The Food Diary
Writing Your Way To Weight Loss
As a child, you may have a diary of your daily activities,
your hopes, and your fears. Your diary could be your best
friend if you wrote your diary everyday. As you grew older,
the diary might have transformed into a record of your job
search, love life, or wedding plans.
In fact, psychologists tell us that writing down your goals
can be the first step to reaching them. It has been said that
individuals who kept a written record of their job hunt process
were more likely to find the job they wanted than those who
did not.
And, some of the dieticians suggest that you should keep
a food diary or journal if you are determined to lose weight.
The idea can seem to be a bit troublesome if you are not used
to writing. It might be hard initially, but it is definitely
worthwhile to spend the time to write down everything that
passes your lips.
The key to keeping a food diary is motivation. You need to
have the will and desire to record your food choices. A tip
to help you is: place a picture of your heaviest self onto
the cover of a notebook. And, make sure that you always keep
your notebook in sight. This could provide you with just the
convenience you need to make note of what you’re eating.
Another motivating factor could be writing down your daily
weight to log your daily weight at the top of each diary entry.
This way, you can see if your dietary choices are directly
affecting your weight. If you find that you are shedding pounds,
you can stick a gold star next to your entry. The gold star
can provide the psychological boost needed to continue to
motivate you to lose weight.
And, the next question you will pop is usually: What exactly
should I write down in each entry? As a start, you can include
a running list of foods, along with portion sizes. At the
end of the day, you might be surprised looking at the food
you eat, and also the portion size. And then, you can categorize
each food entry. Is it a fruit, vegetable, whole grain, or
just fat? These are all the important information to find
out the reason of your excess pounds.
Plan your meal with your journal. Always plan ahead so that
you’ll be less likely to indulge in the wrong foods.
Such planning can make you feel more organized and more in
control,which are the two important elements for losing weight.
Don’t panic if you seek for comfort food once in a
while, occasional high-calorie foods occasionally can help
prevent a feeling of deprivation which tends to lead to overeating.
The key is: moderation. The key is to eat “bad foods”
in moderation. Remember to write down everything you eat,
including fatty foods. Trying to hide your food choices by
not writing them down is counter-productive and could lead
to feelings of guilt.
Another helpful tip would be writing down your goal weight
each day. This can be an important element of psychological
warfare. Identifying your goal and making your way to reach
your goal can improve your chances of achieving critical milestones.
Try to make your diary experience fun. Do your writing on
the courtyard, by the pool, or even in your bathtub. Play
your favorite music in the background to help to elevate your
mood. By making your diary-keeping chores more interesting
will certainly be helpful.
You need to understand that it might take you some time to
adapt to the diary-keeping habit. But, when you see the results,
it is all worth it.
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