When it comes to dieting, so many people do it, but so many people don’t understand the process. They know they need to cut calories, but how does one cut calories when they don’t even know how many they were eating to begin with? And how do people even remember all the things they ate in an entire day? And what about the rest of us not trying to shave off a few pounds? Shouldn’t we be conscious of what is going into our bodies, too?

These are the biggest arguments for getting in the habit of keeping a food journal.

Food logs can help you stay on track in many different ways:

Drinking:
In one evening at the bar you could consume more than 800 extra calories; that’s like running on a treadmill for two hours! If you think about what you’re drinking and add it to your log at the end of the night you will notice how much you’ve actually taken in, which may prompt you to make better choices in the future…or avoid ordering that cheese bread…. (Note: no need to pull out the food diary at the bar, friends. Total buzz kill!)

“Good” foods versus “Bad” foods:
You would be surprised as to how many calories are in foods though of as “good” versus other that are constituted as “bad”. For example, did you know that a Dunkin Donuts muffin has more calories than their regular donut? I bet you didn’t. It’s surprising! Just think what else you may misinterpret as “healthy” or “better” for you. It’s easy to get tricked into thinking something is “good” for you when really it isn’t. So, researching and writing down what you eat will get you thinking about food instead of just throwing it down the hatch. Read More »

With the purchase of my new Wii Fit, I’ve been on a serious exercise and health kick of late (with the glaring exception of Memorial Day). As such, I’ve been trying to keep track of everything I eat and my portions in my head, which is inherently flawed in that in any given day I will lose my keys, sunglasses and purse at least once. And so I’ve found some sites that help not only keep track of what I eat every day and my daily exercise, but also tell me how many calories I should consume for my size, how many calories are in my favorite foods and how many calories are burned in my workout.

The one that I’m using is called thedailyplate. Membership is free and the site is very easy to use. Like the Wii Fit, it has you setting weight goals and gives you tips on how to achieve them. I like the way the days are laid out, it shows fairly comprehensively what you ate, when, and all the nutritional aspects of that meal. Read More »