One of the reasons people have a hard time losing weight is because they go over their 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 areminder 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.
Tracy Rose - Tracy Rose is a powerflifter who holds the state record in deadlifting and has had success in her own weight loss journey.
