The Importance of a Food Diary

Before you grip a dumbbell or lace on your running shoes in hopes of shedding a few pounds, you should study your diet.  Good health starts with what you put into your body.  Daily trips to the gym don't make it okay to scarf down cheeseburgers and wash them down with cokes.  If you really want to slim down and get the body you want, you need to make note of what you're eating.  The simplest way to do that is by keeping a food diary.

Just like you would with a normal diary, make sure you account for everything that happens over the course of the day.  Keep meticulous notes on what you eat over the course of a week or so.  From a glass of orange juice to a late-night bowl of ice cream, make sure you jot it all down.  By notarizing everything you eat throughout the day, it will help you visually see what you can do without.  Maybe you didn't really need to eat that bag of chips on your way home from work.  It will highlight the areas where you can cut things out.  It will also help you see if you're eating a variety of foods and not neglecting certain food groups.

Of course, this seems like a relatively simple task that you could probably keep track of in your head.  And, well, you might, but you also want to make sure you're counting calories.  You would be surprised as to how many, and how few, calories certain foods have.  Look for labels on everything you eat and drink.  And, if you can't find a label, use an online calorie counter.

Now, unlike a personal diary, you're going to want to share your food diary with a friend.  By enlisting a friend to read over your food journal, you're going to help yourself stick to a better diet.  Of course, always stay honest; write down what you eat.  But, next time you go reach for a 4th slice of pizza, you might reconsider since you know your friend is going to see it.  Keeping an accurate food diary will help you kick start your quest for a new body.  Once you've become used to jotting everything down, you can start counting calories burned as well as calories consumed.