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Using a food journal can be beneficial in losing weight. It provides a daily account of the calories, carb, sugars, protein that you consume each day. And, should your weight loss stall, you have records to analyze which can show where to make changes in your diet.
Part I - (as showcased on Labrada Nutrition blog, August 2009)
I had a friend who never balanced her checkbook. She never knew if there was enough money in the bank to cover her transactions. She panicked quite often, called her automated teller system to find out which debits and credits had occurred in order to get a “general idea” of her balance. It made me thankful that I didn’t have to live in such a state of emotional upheaval!
I recently realized that basically many people handle their nutritional lifestyle the same way. They play it by ear, never knowing how many calories that they consume in a given day. I hear it often, “I don’t understand why I cannot lose weight. I eat healthy.” Yet, when questioned for a day’s worth of menus, there is nothing healthy about it. Daily, we are faced with food at every turn (fast food, snack food, fried food, carb heavy food, and even “comfort” food). It is imperative that we educate ourselves on the nutritional values of food options as this will help us choose healthier substitutes.
A study was published in the August 2008 issue of American Journal Of Preventive Medicine where two groups of people were examined for a period of time. One group maintained food journals, the other did not. The final determination was made that those who kept a food journal were more successful in losing weight than those who did not. There are valid reasons and positive benefits for those who utilize the tool of a food journal.
Recording every thing you put into your mouth (including food, beverages, condiments, spices, sauces, candy, and dessert) is much like keeping track of your bank account. As you enter food choices, you will be able to tell how much more you can eat and remain on budget. Failure to keep track of the choices could cause a deficit, causing a negative impact such as no weight loss or even weight gain!
I would like to make a challenge. Over the next few days after reading this, begin to write down everything you consume in order to get an accurate reflection of your nutritional intake. You can choose whichever system works best for you, a pad of paper or a website. Two great ones which are free include: Livestrong (formerly The Daily Plate) and Fitday. *It’s easier to enter them all into a computer program because it automatically calculates the math for you. This is the conclusion of part one, but come back soon for Part 2 where we will discuss the results of your “homework”.
Last time in “Food Journaling – Part 1”, we discussed the importance of balancing our nutritional checkbook. And, left off with a challenge to write down everything you consumed to gain an accurate reflection of your intake. I’ve been curious as to how you fared in the challenge! If you want, please leave some of your observations in the comments section! Let’s start off today by discussing the methods used to journal food.
- Some choose to use a pen/paper method to write down the brand name and amount eaten as the day progresses and come back later to do the figures. The problem arises when researching each item, writing the nutritional values into the blank pages of your journal, and growing weary FAST! It’s a cumbersome task to search foods in a book that gives the proper values, and saving your food labels throughout the day can become messy. If you desire to use this method, visit your local bookstore to find a food journal that best fits your needs (keep in mind that you need space to write in).
- Others choose to utilize online sites such as LiveStrong or Fitday. While these are great programs, unless you have a blackberry or access to the internet 24/7, it’s easy to forget the foods that you’ve consumed by the time you make your way to a computer. (After I had gone to bed at night, I would remember foods that I had not recorded!) However, a few benefits of these types is that the database of foods is endless, and it’s not necessary to have a math degree to be able to calculate the totals!
I’m of the thought that both the pen/paper and online programs are helpful when used together. Throughout the day, jot down your food choices and amounts consumed, while entering them all once you can access the internet.
Next, I want to address accuracy of the food journal. I remember the beginning of my food journaling experience. The nutritionist made it clear how important it was to record EVERY SINGLE THING I put into my mouth. How hard could that be? I ate 3 meals a day, and a few snacks in between. Surely it wouldn’t take me long to enter three items per meal, one item per snack.
Fantasy Journal
Breakfast: eggs, bacon, toast, milk
Lunch: meat, vegetables
Supper: meat, potatoes, vegetable, bread
Nightly snack: 2 scoops of ice cream
In this equation, I not only stayed within my daily budget of calories, I had quite a savings nestegg stored up for another day!
Actual Journal
Breakfast: 2 eggs with salsa, cheese, sour cream, sausage inside a tortilla, 3 slices of bacon, piece of cheese, toast (2 pieces white bread) with lots of butter AND jelly, glass of full fat milk
Mid Morning snack: Bavarian Cream donut
Lunch: Lasagna, brocolli, garlic bread, carbonated beverage, warm pineapple cake
Afternoon snack: daily visit to the work vending machine for 1, perhaps 2 candy bars for a “pick me up”
Drive home from work: bag of chips to avoid a crash
Supper: Chicken breast smothered with cheese, barbecue sauce, onions, bacon on a bun, baked potato with sour cream, butter, chives, sour cream, and cheese, broccoli casserole, 3 rolls with honey butter, 2 glasses of sweet tea
Nightly snack: ice cream with hot fudge, banana, whip cream, or a hot fudge cake from the local restaurant and if I watched a movie, a bag of buttered popcorn with yet another soda
Conclusion
It doesn’t take an accountant to analyze this data and tell me that I had overdrawn on my budget! I was operating in the red! Yet, starting out, I really believed that the numbers on my food journal would be low. (even though I was 5’4, weighed 251 lbs and considered morbidly obese by a medical physician).
Perhaps at the beginning of the challenge, you thought “Oh this will be a breeze. I’m a routine eater, I eat the same thing every day. I bet I am within my budget!” But, the results in black and white (if you were honest) said something completely different! It is important to continue food journaling so that our weight loss efforts will not be sabotaged by poor choices or lack of knowledge. Next time, we will discuss how your food journal results have affected your food choices and amounts consumed.