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Benefits of Using Food Journals - Tracking Calories To Lose Weight

If you are finding it hard to keep track of your eating habits and finding you need to benefit from some fat loss then one suggestion is to keep track of things in a Food Journal.

This can be what stops your dieting merry-go-round and leads you to some success! There are several ways and it is very personal so make it fun. The first thing is to note some goals which are both long term and short term. Long term goals are things such as lose 5 lbs or lose X amount of inches or even to be able to run 4 miles! Short term goals are things such as eliminating or regulating diet items which you are eating more of than you should or maybe to eat more of the good food you resist maybe it be protein or veggies.

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Sometimes we need a little help with notes and diaries to keep our day organized so why not a food journal? Kids, work and various appointments in triplicate are realities of our times and we tend to affect the diet by not eating or grabbing something fast…..the journal may remind you what you may not be noticing accumulatively.

Keeping a food journal does not have to be a chore or time consuming unless you wish to track details in specific so you can go as intricate as you like.

Some people like to track calories, protein, fat and carbs for each item which can be tedious but again it is personal, some like to get detailed while others would fail if they had to keep details so in that case you simplify and add times and foods eaten.

Over viewing the items you log will enable you to be able to find areas you can tweak and improve but also when asking advice from a professional the first item they want is a food journal!

These lists show patterns and reality so you may think you are okay or only eating so much of something until you see it in writing and then you realize there are changes needed! "no wonder I gained weight" is a common comment I get from clients who do keep food journals.
Sometimes it is small changes like replacing certain foods and in most cases people just don't eat enough and live with the body in survival mode which won't let them lose weight!

By Linda Cusmano