Dear Diary: Today was a bad day. Tommy told Rachel that I am stupid. I used to love Tommy, but now I love Bobby.
Thanks for listening! xoxo- Fit
Remember the days? Diaries are back, but this time with food in mind.
When it comes to controlling a healthy weight, your downfall could simply be that you're losing track of your calorie intake. One of the best ways to aid in shedding a few pounds is to jot down a food diary. Try it for just one day... you'll really see that everything you put into your body matters. Remember to add specific things that would allow you to decipher your eating patterns (portion size, times, where, with whom, etc). This is also a great way to see if you're getting enough fruits and veggies per day.
For example, I recently found myself pigging out randomly each month and nothing (and I mean nothing) could satisfy my appetite. So I started a food diary and then I was able to realize that my pigging out was directly related to Aunt Flo (or that time of the month). Now that I know, I am able to figure out how to combat it rather than to think I have completely lost my mind.
Fit's Tip: Remember to list sauces and condiments. They can always up your calorie intake more than you expected.
Inspirations
Wallis
Alexander McQueen
I've done this before and I recommend it for anyone trying to watch their weight. I was less likely to eat something bad if I had to actually ADMIT it and write it down.
1This is oh so good in theory but then you must carry the diary with you everywhere and be really diligent about writing in it immediately after eating!
2I used this, too, and it worked great for me. You do it recording your normal food for just one day, and you can see where your extra calories are coming from. Then do it a couple days while eating right to make sure it's adding up correctly. It's like portion control, you only have to be analytical about it a couple times before it comes 'naturally.' It also pushes you to eat simpler foods so you don't have to go searching all over the net for calorie counts!
If you do have to, though, here's a couple good links:
ntwrks.com/~mikev/chart1a.htm
cooks.com/rec/nutrition/
nutritiondata.com/
The last one is my favorite because you can input your own recipe and it will tell you pretty much whatever you want to know about it.
3I did a massive spreadsheet, and I charted everything from calories, to grams of fat, saturated fat, carbs, fiber, sodium, calcium, cholesterol, sugar, and protein, and tried to manipulate my foods so that I ate more 'good stuff'. You will be totally amazed at how bad some things are for you (for instance, Smart Start cereal!)
It REALLY made me change my diet and stay away from whole-fat cheese, and makes you conscious of how unhealthy things are-- sodium is a real killer. It's in EVERYTHING! On average I ate almost 3000mg of Sodium a day.
Very eye opening, and I highly recommend it. For calorie info for unlabeled stuff, I used calorieking.com
4I used this, too, and it worked great for me. You do it recording your normal food for just one day, and you can see where your extra calories are coming from. Then do it a couple days while eating right to make sure it's adding up correctly. It's like portion control, you only have to be analytical about it a couple times before it comes 'naturally.' It also
pushes you to eat simpler foods so you don't have to go searching all over the net for calorie counts!
I have some great links to find them, though, if anyone needs them!
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