It might seem like a pain to track every single thing you eat, from odd snacks to meals but it’s a good habit to log all your food consumption. You’ll discover new things about yourself. It becomes an excellent way to look at the food choices you make.
Overweight people who tracked daily food consumption using a smartphone app lost a significant amount of weight in a new Duke University study. Compliance was key.
Successful participants didn't just say they would keep a food log; they actually did it. (Participants were between 21 and 65 years old).Tracking your food help you determine what foods are “worth it” for you to meet your goals/nutritional needs. After a few days, you may think - Those crisps are really difficult to fit into my food diary and they aren’t that satiating. I think I’d rather eat something else or something like - Chocolate is my favourite dessert.
I know I’m going to have to balance the rest of my day because of it, but I’m ok with that because I don’t eat chocolate often and I really love it, so this is worth it to me. Likewise, it helps you realise what foods are inhibiting you from meeting goals/needs (and therefore help you reduce the amount of consumption or even eliminate). For example, a latte with whole milk and syrups can add an extra 500 calories to your day. If you consume that latte everyday, that’s an extra 3500 calories each week...
It’s sometimes hard to eat healthy on a busy schedule. At the end of the day, there’s usually not much time to reflect on all the food you ate throughout the day. But if you take the time to do it once, you’ll soon realise that you probably consumed way more calories than you wanted/needed to. If you consistently keep track of everything, you might think twice next time. You will experience numerous “aha moments”, maybe
you weren’t aware of how many carbohydrates or how much fat you were eating per day.
Or can also help you if you are looking to gain healthy weight, maybe you never stopped and asked yourself if you were eating enough calories.
Tracking your food intake will give you insight into many aspects of your eating habits. The more specific and accurate you are with logging in what you consume, the more accurate your information will be, and,
you can’t help but use that information for the future to help you reach your goals. Do not forget to track all the little extras; coffee creamer and sugar, condiments, beverages, etc. You may be shocked to find out how many calories are in these forgotten treats. (You can also track water intake to make sure you're
drinking enough daily.)
Do you need more variety? This will also help to point out if you need more variety. For example, you may need to eat more vegetables or more meat and less processed food. The longer you track with your app, the more information you will have at your disposal. You can look at the entries for the last few days and weeks and see what is working well (and what isn’t). Keep track of the progress you make – it will help you
stick with your healthy diet and reach your goal!
Many of our clients confirm that by using our app they increased accountability, awareness and are more encouraged to be honest with themselves. It can make you reconsider what you put in your body. Can you remember what you ate for dinner last night? Often times we forget everything we put in our mouths. Tracking helps us remain mindful of what we eat because we log it. This also helps in deciding what you’re going to get at the grocery store while at home, checkout the logged
in food/drink items, if it was good or bad (moving your towards or away from your goal).
This will make a huge improvement to your choices for your next shopping and future.
You will see – once you get a sense of which foods are healthy and good for you, you will feel better and above all fitter. And who wouldn’t like to have more energy through the day? :)
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