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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – On average, people cut calories by 10% when they keep track of what they eat. Thirty to 50% of those who kept a food diary changed their eating habits. It can be one of the most important tools a dieter can use.
“Tell me what you’ve eaten today?” is one of the first questions I always ask. Some people can’t remember what they’ve had for breakfast; they pay so little attention to eating. Others have no idea how much they ate. Few can accurately estimate portion sizes or calories.
I know it’s a chore to write down everything you eat and keep track of the calories, but it’s worth it. After a week of writing down calories, most people have a good idea how many calories are in about 75% of what they eat. People who kept a daily food record lose more weight and kept it off.
Keeping a daily food diary makes your dieting efforts real, offers continual reinforcement of your goals, and puts the responsibility for making food choices squarely on you. You are in control. You make choices. You write down those choices. If you are honest with yourself, right there in front of you, you have an immediate assessment of how you’re doing. Made the right choices — great! Keep up the good work. Make choices that might derail your dieting goals — relax! Your whole diet plan won’t be ruined by one meal or snack. Use your food diary to put your eating plan right back on track with your next meal or snack.
Many people balk at the idea of writing down everything they eat. It is a big job. Start by writing down everything you eat for one week. After that you can keep track every other day or just a few days a week, to be sure you stay on target.
No one will ever see what you write down, so there is no advantage to cheating. Be honest and you may find out a lot about how you eat, why you eat, and what you eat.
Note the day of the week. Some days of the week can be trigger days that cause us to eat differently or more than usual. Saturday and Sunday are often considered atypical days. You may go out more. You may be home and have greater access to food and snacks. Some people eat more on Friday, celebrating the end of a work week. Some eat more on Monday to reduce the stress of a new week. As you record your daily intake, you will discover your own eating pattern. If some days “trigger” overeating and you are aware of this, it will be easier to change the pattern.
Consider the day divided into three time periods. Most of us eat on a crazy schedule. Three meals a day is anything but typical. Breaking the day into 3 periods is an easy way to keep track of how you eat. It will also show you when you do most of your eating. You may skip breakfast, eat a light lunch and then have a large evening meal and snack after dinner. Recording when you eat will help you see your eating pattern and help you adjust it to your advantage.
Consider AM is any time from midnight till noon. AM eating will include eating during the night, breakfast and any morning snack, like an AM coffee break. Many people eat late at night or even in the middle of the night. This is often a way to cope with stress or anxiety. If you do this regularly, you’ll need to work on reducing your stress. Middle-of-the-night-noshing results in calories that are rarely needed and hard to work off.
Consider mid-day as any time from noon till dinner. For most this will include lunch and any afternoon or pre-dinner snack. Do you switch gears after work by snacking or having a drink? If so, you need to adjust this habit or consider these calories in your total eating plan.
PM is dinnertime through midnight. It will include your evening meal, and after dinner, TV or bedtime snacks. Snacking in front of the TV can add a lot of calories. Consider fruit or other lower calorie options if you love your TV snack.
Next you’ll record the portion size and calories of every food you eat. I recommend subtotaling your calories three times during the day so you can make adjustments. This is also a way to balance unexpected situations. For example, knowing you have to attend an afternoon reception for work, you can skip your usual coffee break and plan a lighter lunch to compensate for the extra calories eaten at the reception.
Note whether you eat alone or with company. Many of us eat differently in private. You may begin to see a pattern of how you handle food when you are alone compared to eating with someone. Some people eat more when they eat alone. Others eat more when they linger over food with company. Learning this about yourself will help you eat better in different situations.
Some people get so used to keeping a food diary and it becomes such a useful tool, they enjoy doing it daily. Others fall back on the tool during more stressful times, holidays, vacations, or business trips. Knowing the importance of a food diary and how to use it, can be a great ally in achieving your weight loss goal. Use it to your advantage.
© NRH Nutrition Consultants, Inc.
Jo-Ann Heslin, MA, RD, CDN is a registered dietitian and the author of the nutrition counter series for Pocket Books with 12 current titles and sales in excess of 8 million books. The books are widely available at your local or on-line bookseller.
Current titles include:
The Calorie Counter, 5th Ed., 2010
The Ultimate Carbohydrate Counter, 3rd Ed., 2010
The Complete Food Counter, 3rd ed., 2009
The Fat Counter, 7th ed., 2009
The Healthy Wholefoods Counter, 2008
The Cholesterol Counter, 7th Ed., 2008
The Diabetes Carbohydrate and Calorie Counter, 3rd Ed., 2007
For more information on Jo-Ann and her books, go to The Nutrition Experts
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