A Diet Log : The Key to Calorie Crushing

Keeping a diet log is the key to calorie crushing. I don’t recommend being totally focused on calories, but I’m willing to admit that different things work for different people. I feel like I am better off watching my complex carbohydrates. (I recently read a fat loss report by a nutritionist that said women really only need ONE serving of complex carbs a day. That means nearly everyone I know is taking in too many.) And when it comes down to it, most of us really are just eating too many calories. More than we are burning. So, yes, a diet log is a great idea and it doesn’t cost you anything to do it, either.

I don’t know why it is, but writing down what you eat really helps. Just like keeping an exercise log sheet. I’ve done these diet logs mostly during pregnancies, to keep track of protein, etc. I’ve done one on a few other occasions, not devotedly, but more to see an average caloric consumption. The times I have used a diet journal have been extremely informative. I had NO CLUE where I was at, even though I thought I did. And I know a lot about food and stay fairly conscious of what I eat. It does take a few extra minutes a day to keep the log, but I’d say it is totally worth the effort.

The other thing I found was that keeping a log occasionally prevented me from eating junk. Just because I didn’t want to write down that I’d eaten it. No one was even looking at my log but me, so it really didn’t matter. But it still somehow kept me from consuming needless crap. Of course, if you are the type of person who would cheat or lie about what you’ve eaten, a log won’t help. And trust me, there are those people out there. You know who you are!

One more benefit for those of you who are moms, you can’t just randomly eat the leftovers from your kid’s plate. Those calories DO count and add up too quickly. I don’t know what the compulsion is to eat the kid’s food, as I’ve never been inclined to eat the remains from other people’s plates before. It seems to be a mystery that is married to motherhood. Anyway, tracking and writing it all down will help combat this problem. (I hope I didn‘t just reveal some gross habit that only I possess!)

If you are skeptical of the value of keeping a diet log, I suggest you simply try it for a week or two. See what happens. What can it hurt? You may find it very enlightening.