Tracking Weight Loss with a Diary

A food diary is a record of your daily food intake. You can make it simple or you can track specific things like serving size, calories, fat, carbs, fiber, and proteins. Keeping a food diary is an essential element for helping you stick to a weight loss plan.

The amount of information you put into your diary is totally up to you. The first thing you want to consider is listing a daily menu. When you can see what you eat every day, you may find unhealthy eating patterns that you wouldn't have noticed before. Be specific in your food diary, keep notes of how you feel about your weight loss plan, cravings you may have, and other reasons you're eating other than hunger.

Rmember that you are not limited to keeping a more traditional diary with a lock and key by your bed. Some people prefer to use a word processing program and keep an online journal. Use whatever kind of recording and writing tools you like best. A plain notebook works fine. I personally use Excel, which is a data entry program that gives me the totals at the end of the day as well as the end of the week. You can also use a hand held palm pilot or a laptop. The idea is to use whatever works best for you.

To successfully track your progress you will need to update your food diary daily and review it at the end of each week. Make a note when you reach goals or gain weight so you can look for the causes of such events. You may want to show your food diary to your doctor or a weight loss professional to make sure you are doing all you can do to stay healthy as well. In order for you to lose the most weight possible you should consider starting a food diary today.