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Tracking Your Meals: The Right Way To Do It

By Lois Klein


When you begin a diet one of the most often heard pieces of advice is to keep a food log in which you write down every thing you eat during the day. Keeping your food log not only helps you see clearly what you are eating, it helps you see what you are not eating. For example, when you keep a food log for a few days you could notice that while you eat lots of fruit, you almost never eat any vegetables. When you write everything down you'll be able to see which parts of your diet must change as well as have a simpler time figuring out what kind and how long of a workout you need to do to shrink your waist line and burn the most calories.

But what if you've been writing everything down and still aren't reducing your weight? There is a correct way and a wrong way to track your food. A food record is more than just a straightforward list of the foods you eat during a day. You must record various other very important information. Here are a number of the tips that can make it easier to become far more successful at food tracking.

You need to be very precise while you write down the things that you are eating. You have to do more than simply write down "salad" into your food journal. The proper way to do it is always to record all of the ingredients in the salad as well as the kind of dressing that is used. You also need to record the amount of of the foods you are eating. "Cereal" is not very good, although "one cup Shredded Wheat" will be. Remember the more you eat of something the more calories you eat so it is important that you list quantities so that you know exactly how much of everything you're eating and how many calories you need to burn.

Write down exactly what time it is while you eat. This will allow you to find out what times of day you feel the most hungry, when you usually reach for snacks and then you can figure out how to deal with those times. After several days you'll see that even though you might be eating lunch at the same time every day, you are still hungry an hour later. You should also be able to discover whether or not you might be eating since you're bored. This is essential because all those are times that you can choose other things to fill your time with than food.



Write down your emotions when you eat. This can help you figure out when you use food to help soothe emotional issues. It also assists you to see clearly which foods you have a tendency to choose when you are in certain moods. There a wide range of people who seek junk food when they feel angry or depressed and are just as likely to pick out healthy things when they feel happy and content. When you look closely at how you eat in the course of your different moods and emotional states, you will be able to keep similar but healthier options around for when you need those snacks--you might also start talking to someone who can help you figure out why you try to cure your moods with food.




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