How A Food Diary Helps Weight Loss

Losing weight is simple mathematics: You have to burn up more calories than you consume. But monitoring caloric intake is not always an easy proposition. Psychological factors and firmly entrenched eating habits can cause your eating to get out of control. A food diary is a journal where you record aspects of your eating behavior, such as food selection, when you eat, why you eat and how you eat. Focusing on these factors helps you consciously monitor your food intake, in addition to making smarter food choices. Consult with your health care provider before starting a diet program.

Significance

Americans spend an average of $34 billion a year on weight loss products, such as diet pills, supplements, programs and books, notes a June, 2006 article in "American Family Physician." Obesity is a serious concern, as approximately 65 percent of Americans are considered overweight. Being overweight or obese is a risk factor for heart disease, diabetes and some forms of cancer.

Types

Food diaries can come in many forms. If you prefer to write, record the data in a simple notebook. Or, combine the written data with an audio recorder. If you prefer to record data on your computer, consider an online journal or software.

Features

In addition to recording what you eat and drink, and the quantity, you should also record stressful situations or emotional events can trigger binge eating. Record your feelings in your food diary before eating. You should also note where you eat. Eating while watching television, for example, can cause you to pay more attention to what you are watching, and not enough attention to how much you are eating. Make a record of the times you eat. Eating too late at night, for example, can lead to overeating. To prevent eating when you are not hungry, record in your diary how hungry you are before eating. If you exercise to burn more calories, record the type of exercise and how long you performed it.

Benefits

Keeping a food diary allows you to monitor your eating habits and pinpoint small problems before they get out of control. Keeping records of your eating creates a conscious awareness of your eating habits and minimizes mindless overeating. Also, individuals who keep food diaries lose weight effectively. According to The Kaiser Permanente Center For Health Research Study, dieters who kept track of what they ate in a daily food diary, showed double the weight loss of those who didn't.

Considerations

For you to change your eating habits for the long term, you need to analyze your food diary. For example, calculate how many calories you consume each day, and where those calories came from. You may determine, for example, that you are not eating enough fruits and vegetables. By shifting to eating more fruits and vegetables, you can reduce your caloric intake and improve your overall nutrition.

Warning

It is important to record everything that you eat, regardless of how insignificant it may seem. Record what you have consumed as soon as possible after you finish. According to "Good Housekeeping," the average bite, lick or taste contains 25 calories. If you fail to record six of these small bites a day, that would mean 150 additional calories, and a weight gain of approximately 15 lbs. during the course of a year.