How will a diary help me lose weight?
You might think that keeping a diary is pretty low on your priorities when it comes to weight loss but it can be one of the most powerful tools for you to use. First of all, most of us are notoriously hopeless at keeping track of what and how much we have eaten during the day and will actually be stunned by the fact that we’re putting weight when we ‘hardly eat anything at all!’ Studies have shown that that people who keep a food diary could lose up to 50% more weight than those who don’t keep a diary.
The problem is that a great deal of mindless eating goes on; from eating in front of the TV to grazing behaviours such as nibbling whilst you’re cooking and we tend to subconsciously disregard these calories in our daily count. Add to this the continuously increasing portion sizes of foods we eat (90% of food chain restaurants and pubs (as well as fast food chains) serve normal sized portions as child-sized and starters that should be main courses) and it’s easy to see how we can effortlessly eat more than we think.
Nowadays a lot of the hard work has been done for us with apps and calorie trackers but there is something to be said for the old-fashioned paper version. By physically writing things down it gives them more importance and increases your focus (a good reason for you to write your weight loss goal(s) down too) because your brain works harder when you are writing. It is also important to keep track of what else is going on at the moment you are eating as this can have a massive impact on what or how much you are eating.
Similarly, it’s important to keep track of the small goals that you have set yourself along the way as this will show you how far you’ve come if you are feeling discouraged at any point. Turning back and seeing all that success will serve to spur you on to continuing on your journey.
As you can see the type of diary we recommend at simplyweight is considerably more than a calorie tracker but keeping track of the food you eat and when will also keep you eating regularly so you avoid periods of hunger when you might be tempted to overeat. Here are some other benefits of keeping a food diary which does more than track calories:
- Regular eating patterns: eating at the same times every day and not skipping meals will help your body set a routine and get ready to eat at the right times. Your hunger pangs will then become more manageable
- Recognising mindless eating: start noticing whether you eat more if you are in front of the TV or if you eat lunch at your desk. After detecting these patterns you will be able to take steps to reduce or even completely stop mindless eating.
- Realise the speed at which you eat: this is also about being mindful when eating. If you take the time to enjoy your food and focus all your attention on your meal, you will be able to reduce the amount you eat because you will know exactly when you have eaten enough.
- Recognising emotional eating: this can be comfort eating because of stress, boredom, guilt or other negative feelings. If you can identify the stressors for emotional eating you can avoid them or, if that’s not possible, you can put strategies in place to be able to manage them without reaching for food.
Keeping a food diary does more than make you accountable for the amount of calories you have eaten and can really help you manage your food intake and take control of your portion size, mindless eating and emotional eating.
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