The
best weight-loss book might be the one you write yourself.
Keeping
a food journal is one of the keys to success for many
people who have lost weight and maintained their healthy
lifestyles, research shows.
"It
helps them to see where their downfalls are and the times
that they eat more," says Diane Greenleaf, a registered
dietitian in Wichita, Kan.
Knowledge
is power when it comes to weight loss. Recording everything
you eat and learning proper portion sizes and calorie
counts helps you stay on track.
Journaling
doesn't have to be complicated to be effective. For many
people, it only takes about 15 minutes a day.
You
don't want to drag around a notebook and a calorie counter?
That's no excuse. Many Web sites and software programs
offer options for dieters who want to calculate their
calories with the click of a button.
Becky
Hand is a registered dietitian at SparkPeople.com,
a diet and fitness Web site that says it has more than
500,000 members. She says food journals point out trouble
spots that can sabotage weight-loss efforts, recalling
a client who was overeating when she talked on the phone.
"The
phone was in the kitchen, and she'd be cleaning plates
and going into the refrigerator and taking in lots of
extra calories without thinking about it," Hand says.
"All we had to do was get that phone out of the kitchen,
and it saved her hundreds of calories every day."
People
often aren't aware of how much they're eating, says Connie
Niederauer, a clinical dietitian at Via Christi Regional
Medical Center in Wichita.
"Yesterday
I was at a health food store," she says. "They
had a sample out, and I tried one of the samples and it
was the best little thing, but two little bites was 110
calories. So if you're walking around the store and they
have samples sitting everywhere, it's those things that
really add up."
That's
why it's important to note everything you eat.
When
the scale is stuck or your jeans are getting snug, your
food journal gives you a blueprint for how to make changes.
Look
back and see if your portions are too big. Are you including
plenty of fruits and vegetables? How much butter or salad
dressing are you using? Are you eating enough protein?
You
don't have to keep a food journal forever, experts say.
But it can be a very useful tool to keep the numbers on
the scale moving in the right direction.
