Writing down everything you eat in a food journal can double your weight-loss success and help you keep that excess fat weight off permanently as well. It is actually harder maintaining your weight than actually losing it so all the helpful tools we can use is a good thing.
A recent study of 2000 overweight men and women showed that those who wrote down what they ate in a food journal (along with an exercise and healthy eating program) lost 18 pounds in 20 weeks compared to the group who did no journaling who lost 9 pounds.
Just the act of writing something down in a food journal acts as a deterrent and knowing you have to do that might put you off eating that second helping of dinner. A food journal makes you accountable and that can mean the difference between you sticking to your healthy eating plan and not sticking to it.
A food journal will keep you honest
It also helps you identify where extra calories may be sneaking into your diet that you were not aware of. You soon get to know the macro-nutrient (protein, carbohydrate, fats) values and can make sure you eat enough of them. Often on a proper fat loss diet plan you have to actually eat more food and your food journal will help you in getting this aspect right.
It is not all about reducing calories so your food for the day will fit through the eye of a needle it is about making sure you are making healthy choices and getting enough food. When you do this food cravings are reduced and you are more likely to be able to stick to your healthy eating plan long term.
Without knowing what you are eating you would soon slip back into your old eating patterns and that is the likely cause of you becoming overweight in the first place. So, getting motivated about keeping your food journal up-to-date each day is a very important step in losing excess fat weight. If you are serious about it you will do it and you will get a huge sense of satisfaction from watching the improvements that you make.
Keeping your food journal is not something you have to do forever. Some people only need a few weeks to get their new way of eating sorted out. Others may need a few months. A good way to do it is to use it during the week and have the weekends off so you can have the freedom of going out with friends or family and not having to worry about it.
Five days on and two days off is a great way to do it but you may need to start with the full seven days with your food journal so you can really get a good start and get some fat loss happening. They say what you want to be successful at you must manage and your food journal is how you manage your eating and your healthy eating plan.
One of the most important things you will discover is how much a serving size really is. It is so easy to pile our plate high but this is not so good when we become overweight. When you think of a serving of rice or pasta as only one half a cup you can easily see where you may be going wrong in your current way of eating and can correct this.
Your food journal is your secret weight loss weapon
Your food journal is also a record of your success and provides instant motivation when you look back at how you are doing. Before long your new way of eating will be just as much as a habit as your old way of eating. It will not seem like a chore and in fact you will feel really good when you do eat properly and eat enough that you are not always hungry. As the fat drops off you can give your food journal a big thank you as that is what will have gotten you the fat loss that you wanted so much.
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