Best Diet Tip – Keep a Food Journal – Day 47

You’ve probably tried countless diet plans. But regardless of how you choose to go about it, the basic tenet to successful weight loss is the same: Burn more calories than you take in. As simple as that seems, staying on track can be tricky. After the first weeks of excitement on your new weight loss journal temptation, boredom and frustration can set in sabotaging your best effort.

Often after the first 2-3 weeks of “serious dieting” and some weight loss, we tend to believe that we don’t have to take it as serious or we can cheat here and there. Wrong!

There are tried and easy ways to keep those weight-loss saboteurs at bay.

Keep a food journal.

Write down exactly what you eat each and every day, as soon as possible after a meal or snack, making sure to note the quantities. Then look up calorie contents in a book such as The NutriBase Complete Book of Food Counts . For better results, also keep track of your feelings whenever you eat. This will help you recognize emotional triggers that lead to overeating.

There’s a huge disconnect between what people think they eat and what they actually eat. The interesting thing is, that because you’re more accountable, you’re going to think twice about what you’re putting in your mouth. Since I’m writing my journal I can testify that this is I think the reason food journal writing works.

When you first start keeping track, it can feel ridiculous, but we are creatures of habit, so stick with it and you’ll get into the routine. Be accurate and be honest, because you’re not fooling anyone but yourself.

You can even ask a friend to make you accountable every second week, or once a month to check how your food journal looks like.