Reminders about Record Keeping
The most important thing you can do to help change eating and physical activity behavior is to write it down! Writing down everything you eat and the amount of physical activity you perform has been proven to be essential for weight loss success.
Here are some tips that can help you make the most of your food and activity diary:
- Your diary will be most accurate and useful to you if you record physical activity and food intake as often as possible. Consider carrying your diary with you so that you’re able to enter every meal, snack, and activity session along the way.
- Be honest, accurate, and complete!-it’s really for your eyes only!
- Take note of all the foods that fall under the categories of fats, sugar, or alcohol. Eating these foods will make it harder for you to lose weight. Think about what foods you can replace these items with for the upcoming week. For example, try choosing an apple instead of those potato chips.
- Think about all the items that you wrote down. Are there any that you’d be willing to cut back on or eat fewer times per week?
- Surprise! Did you find a food in your log that had more calories than you originally thought? It happens to all of us! It may be hard to remove these foods from our diet, so here are some additional tips to help you keep these favorite foods around:
- To start, prepare or purchase small portions of your favorite “high calorie” food.
- When you’re eating that high calorie food, savor it! Eat it slowly, chewing it completely, and keeping it on your tongue for as long as possible.
- Finally, balance your “high calorie” foods with lower calorie foods at other times to prevent bumping up the scale.
- When preparing a home cooked meal, think about the following while shopping at the store. These tips are simple and help contribute to weight loss!:
- Vary the color and type of your vegetables
- Make sure you’re consuming dairy foods that are rich in calcium, but, watch the fat!
- At least half of your grains should be “whole grains”
- Focus on fruits and go lean with your protein
- Know the limits on fat, salt, sugar, and alcohol. Remember that any sweetened beverage is high in sugar and calories!!!