The Importance Of A Food Diary For Weight Loss

he most important tools for being successful. Utilizing a food diary won’t only make it more likely that you will meet your weight loss goals, but it also turbo charges your diet. To illustrate, a Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research study, which was one of the longest running weight loss studies ever, concluded in the study published in August 2008 that more weight is lost by simply keeping a food diary.

“The more food records people kept, the more weight they lost,” said lead author Jack Hollis Ph.D., a researcher at Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore. “Those who kept daily food records lost twice as much weight as those who kept no records. It seems that the simple act of writing down what you eat encourages people to consume fewer calories.”

How a Food Diary Helps to Lose Weight Fast

1. By Eliminating the Ability to Underestimate How Much You Eat

Using a journal to track what is being eaten and the quantities of the foods being digested eliminates guess work. Approximately twenty five percent of dieters underestimate their daily calorie intake. Since a major goal is to consume less calories, accurately knowing what is being consumed is vital.

2.  By Knowing What Causes You To Eat More

There may be a reason that you eat more at certain times compared to other times. There may be an emotional trigger or a habit that you are unaware of. The food diary will allow you to visually see upswings in food consumption that will allow you to learn these triggers and habits. Once you know, you can change.

3. By Helping You Cut Back On Unnecessary Snacking

If every time you have an extra snack or cheat on your diet, you have to write it down, you naturally will reduce these behaviors. But it’s important to actually write down every little piece of candy or small bite or taste in the journal … anything that goes in the mouth. There may be a little harmless appearing snack that is causing diet failure.

4. By Getting and Keeping You On A Balanced Diet

To eliminate guessing, a food journal is necessary to ensure that the proper amount of veggies, fruits, protein, fiber, and so forth are being consumed for a successful quick weight loss diet. With a food journal, you can analyze the diet and add or eliminate elements to make the diet work.