Keeping A Food Diary
Why Keep A Food Diary In The First Place???
Keeping a food diary should be part of your weight loss routine. Nevertheless, as Kenneth Williams’s famous last entry in his diary stated, “What is the bloody point?”. Indeed, you argue there is no bloody point in going through the motions, weighing and recording. Don’t delude yourself. If you want to lose weight, then keeping a food is a critical tool in your quest for success. Without it, it becomes all too easy to lose focus and give up altogether.
Out-of-control eating is the worst, and the food addict returns to that comfort zone time and time again. Depressing? Yes, but it is a necessary part of the weight loss process.
You need to keep a food diary because your consumption will start getting into your head when you do.
Keeping A Food Diary Is Easy, Right?
The reality is yes and no! Simply pop down consumption, and bingo! However, like most things in life, it’s not as simple as that.
After the mild sickness and new discoveries of last week, this week is turning into a damp squib. The dieting dream of losing appetite has faded, and that darn beast has returned. I’ve literally not stopped eating since weighing myself on Saturday. Out of control is not a nice place to be. I think you can become a victim of your own success, though. A couple of good weeks of loss tend to get into your head!
I did my usual free-for-all at the weekend. It’s not ideal, but I have got into this routine again recently. Then, the struggles began. It’s all well and good not tracking over the weekend, but it’s imperative you get back on it on Monday.
I’m blaming the usual—extra work, not enough sleep, life etc… but somehow, I always find an excuse to eat. In my case, it never takes much. I know I’m not alone! In scenarios like this, counting and keeping tabs helps enormously so you don’t stay off the path for too long.
The Pain Of Keeping A Food Diary
I’d be lying if I didn’t say keeping a food diary is a pain. But, you learn to live with it. Weighing, counting and recording are embedded in me now. I’ve been doing this long enough to know when I go more than a few days without recording, this can start a downward spiral. Don’t let that happen. Stay on top.
Yes, counting and weighing are inconvenient pains, but you get used to them. Since starting this journey, they’ve become part of my routine.
Sometimes you have to force yourself. The longer you do it, the easier it becomes. To coin an age-old cliché, no pain, no gain!
More Than Just Jotting Figures Down
A food diary is more than just jotting down items on a daily list. It dictates life and how you choose to live. Even when I don’t track, I’m still conscious of consumption in my head. The food diary helps you make the right choices and psychologically can help you gain results in the long term.
My recent food behaviour has been the exact reason I used to gain weight so easily. You need something to remind yourself of where out-of-control eating can lead. The food diary is king and a key component for weight loss.
You Won’t Record Your Food Diary Every Day!
It’s almost impossible to record daily, but you should count five days a week, a minimum of six, as recommended. If you can do all seven, that would be brilliant! You have more dedication than me!
The food diary is a stark reminder of what you must do. It plays on your mind and helps you achieve better results.
Don’t underestimate the power of the food diary in your goal for a healthier lifestyle and weight loss.
Be Honest With Your Diary!
You need to be as honest as possible when recording. If you lie to your food diary, you lie to yourself, and you’ll fail to achieve the desired results.
Like many things, keeping a food diary will never be perfect, but it should be part of any dieter’s life. Have some integrity, and remember that honesty is the best policy.
After a while, counting and weighing become second nature.
When Your Diary Goes Wrong!
Aside from days without counting, there are days when you give up completely. This happened yesterday, but I was on a mission to eat. I literally couldn’t stop.
I gave up counting around the 2400 mark, estimating that I must have consumed at least 1500 to 2000 more. When this happens, I just put it down to “one of those days”.
The food addict needs a fix sometimes, and when this happens, it is better to go with it and wake up the next day as if nothing happened. This is how I feel today.
The problem with losing appetite is you want to eat twice as much when it returns. I’ve found myself consuming all the badly nutritious ultra-processed foods I’d vowed to cut down. The biscuit jar at work got abused for the first time in months.
In this kind of situation, the food diary is your best friend. I went back to logging on Monday and went slightly over. I logged but gave up yesterday. Doesn’t this defeat the point of recording? Absolutely not, because subconsciously, it’s there playing 0n your mind.
Learn to love your food diary like a friend, and the food diary will love you back and help you achieve better results.
Keeping A Food Diary Summary
What You Should Know About Keeping A Food Diary
- The food diary will help you stay on track.
- Don’t expect to record daily, but record as much as possible.
- Apps are great. They have all the nutritional value you need (and plenty you don’t need). Personally, I use the premium version of My Net Diary, which costs £20 for a year (I got it on promotion), but there are plenty of free options out there. It’s fine to record on a notepad, though!
- A diary will give you a sense of discipline which you can inject into other avenues of life.
- Don’t underestimate the power of the food diary and how it can help you.
- Record some extremely bad days. The worse, the better! This gets in your mind when you see the figures after eating a takeaway or snacking!
