Why Keep A Food Journal
Keeping a food journal may seem like more work than you want to do. I know for me when i first began I felt like I was writing all of this down for nothing. I mean why should care what I ate? Not to mention I could just lie or not write something down. In fact, I did that a lot. I didn’t want to have to write down that i ate the entire cake. I didn’t want to be reminded of that or have other people be able to see it. I was more than embarrassed and ashamed.
What I learned over time was that writing it down gave me accountability not to mention control. Yes, control. When I committed to writing everything down no matter how it looked or read I found that I had better control over my eating. I discovered I asked myself if I really wanted to write it down before I ate something.
Keeping Track
It’s important that you write down or track every food or beverage you eat or drink. It will help you see the times that you eat more. Maybe you will discover that you are an afternoon snacker and can adjust your lunch a bit to help curb that. When you writing your journal list the times that you eat your meals and snacks. It will help you take charge of your intake. I am a night snacker and know that if I adjust the time we have dinner I am less likely to snack at night.
Set Better Goals
You can set better much more realistic goals if you know what you are working towards. Honestly it is easy to say you are going to give up sugar. However, if after keeping your journal for a month you discover that you only ate a very small amount of sugar you need to reevaluate the goal you set. You may not eat or drink as much of something as you think. You may actually be eating and drinking better than you think too.
Always List
Be sure that you are listing not only what food you are eating but how much of each one as well. Also include the toppings. If you have a sandwich with mayo and lettuce add those babies in there. I sometimes forget to include the butter, the salt, just everything. I’m getting better at it though. One thing I have learned is that the cheese puffs that I occasionally enjoy, a single serving is actually much larger than I thought. A serving size is thirty two of those puffs. I normally eat a handful, maybe two so I figured out I was eating less than the serving size.
ENJOYED THE POST? PIN IT, PLEASE!
A food journal (or diary if you want to call it) will help you in so many ways. If you are unsure about keeping one I suggest you give a try for a week or two and see how much it helps you.
DO YOU KEEP A FOOD JOURNAL? LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW YOUR THOUGHTS ON ONE PLEASE.
