Record Your Meals To Lose Weight
|
Are you one of the many people who feel frustrated because you think you eat well and exercise regularly, but you just can't seem to lose weight? If so, a food journal is a great tool to help you reach your weight loss goals. It will help to determine any patterns in your eating habits, it will force you to be accountable for what you eat, and it will help you to see where you are consuming your "hidden" calories.
The first thing I always tell people when they start to keep a food journal is to write down EVERY bite they put in their mouths. When most people think back over their day and what they had to eat, they go straight to their meals. It's amazing, though, how all of those calories you consume in between meals add up. You might think that one little piece of chocolate doesn't count, so you don't need to write it down, but that one little piece of chocolate every afternoon can add up to quite a few calories over the course of a week. Many mothers of young children tend to finish what their kids leave on their plates, but a chicken nugget here and three bites of macaroni and cheese there really add up! Be sure to write it down right after you eat so you don't forget.
It's also important to be very specific when recording what you eat. For example, don't just write "turkey sandwich" for lunch. Instead, write down "4 ounces turkey breast and 1 slice Swiss cheese on whole wheat, with mustard, tomato and lettuce." The mayonnaise on your sandwich, butter on your baked potato, and creamer in your coffee may be contributing empty calories and fat to your diet that are easy to cut. And speaking of that coffee, don't forget to write down what you drink. Your mid-morning mocha latte or your glass of wine with dinner contain calories, too!
Another thing to include in your food journal is the time you eat each meal or snack. Then, when you look back over your notes you can determine if you have any "trouble times." If you tend to eat junk every day around 4:00, then you might want to start having a healthy snack each day before that time, before you get too hungry and grab whatever is in sight. Or, if you see that you get the munchies every night while watching TV, you are probably eating out of boredom. When you know that is a problem for you, it's easier to distract yourself.
Keeping a food journal can make you accountable for what you eat. I know that I am much less likely to have a big piece of cheesecake if I know I have to write it down! It will also make it much easier for you to determine what your eating patterns are and where you can cut calories that will make all the difference in your weight loss!
Download FREE Diet Journals today:
http://www.shapefit.com/diet-journals.html
Kris Bierek is a fitness specialist for the health and fitness site http://www.ShapeFit.com where you can find FREE fitness tools like fitness newsletters, dieting tips, weight loss help, exercise questions and a free fitness analysis to help you get into the best shape of your life!
|
|
|
Fat, Fat Go Away
I am Dr Patrick Flanagan, and this is the latest edition of my Dr Health Secrets newsletter.Lately I have written about toxins in our water and food supply. This installment is about a diet that has gotten a lot of attention all over the world. This newsletter about the Atkins Diet and its effects on your body.Beef, It's What's For DinnerAnd breakfast, and lunch, and snacks. That, and all other things of the protein persuasion, such as chicken, eggs, cheese, fish, and la...(related: Weight Loss)
Get Neanderthin On The Cave Man Diet
Are you up to a cave man diet? You won't have to start living in a cave, but your eating habits will have to become... shall we say, more old fashioned.Ray Audette, the author of NeanderThin touts his diet as a way to "Eat like a caveman to achieve a lean, strong, healthy body," hence its more ...(related: Weight Loss)
Weight Loss: Keeping Your Results Over The Summer
Having just returned from a week of basking on a beach, I couldn't help but notice how many over 30's were overweight and apparently doing little to help it.The other thing I noticed from chatting, was how many people had low carb dieted prior to getting to the beach, yet didn't seem to be following any diet now, except perhaps a weight gain diet.Many of us diet to look good on the beach, but then fall into our old habits once we get there, and end up getting back on the diet roller coaster yet again. If this s...(related: Weight Loss)
Serious Dieting Tips, Humorous Explanations
A few months ago, I set out to lose 22.6 pounds, then to put back on at least half of it.Huh? Anybody who's ever found herself stuck on a yo-yo diet is probably thinking that I am either crazy or planning way too hard for the inevitable yo-yo heartaches. However, my plan is more sneaky than that.First, I want to lose this rubber tire I've been carrying around my waist. Have you ever gotten stuck inside a rubber tire? It's not a pretty site.Then, I want to put back some of that weight in the form of muscle. It's my grand master plan to change my shape from looking like a silly pear to looking like an upside down silly pear.Will it work?I think I have the "silly" part figured out. And so far, I have lost14.6 pounds, but I think I really lost a few more, because I have b...(related: Weight Loss)
When Is A Diet Not A Diet? When Its A Lifestyle!
Dieting and weight loss is almost certainly the most lucrative of all health- related businesses both online and off. our waistlines are bulging, our health is deteriorating and diet "gur...(related: Weight Loss)
Can Quick Weight Loss Really Work?
Quick weight loss is promised by diets all the time. "Lose 10 pounds over night," the ads will scream. Most people know in the back of their mind that quick weight loss is either not healthy or is a short term fix.Most quick weight loss pounds are only water. Your body will flush water out of your system and the scale will show a quick weight loss of 3 to 10 pounds. The quick weight loss is however short lived. The second you drink any fluids your body will hold the water and your quick weight loss will disappear.The short tem success of quick weight loss in a low carb diet is also this loss of water. Dieters are excited when they see the quick weight loss however this excitement is short lived. Once carbs are introduced back into their diet, boom, there goes the quick weight loss.<...(related: Weight Loss)
Exercise, Diet And Weight Loss ? When Do Your Desires Turn Into Lifestyle Habits?
Just one more day I can do this, I told myself in the beginning. When I awoke the next morning, I said it again, "Just one more day I can do this." I knew in my heart that if I kept a one day at a time attitude something had to happen with my body and my mind.I see so many people quit their exercise and diet programs for the lamest of reasons. And you know when they do it? The day before something happens. (So it seems) You have to give yourself a fighting chance....(related: Weight Loss)
Waist To Hip Ratio
Your health is affected not only by how much body fat you have, but also by where most of the fat is located on your body. Waist to hip ratio (WHR) analyzes the relationship between your waist and hip measurements to help you understand your body-type and current health status. Most people store their body fat in two distinct ways, often cal...(related: Weight Loss)
Lose Weight - Think You Cant?
You step on the scale and groan at the number peeking between your toes. "Oh, No!""I'll start a ...(related: Weight Loss)
site-map - Copyright © 2006 | Contact Webmaster | All Rights Reserved. | Weight Loss