Double your weight loss? You can with a food journal.

I'm sure you have heard it before. Keep
a food journal. Keep track of everything
that you eat, everything you drink, and
you will see just what exactly is going
into your body. And it is true.

By keeping track of everything you eat,
including everything you drink, you can
see where you are "cheating." So often
we forget to include that piece of candy
there, or that disregard that cup of
coffee this morning, that had three scoops
of sugar and some creamer put into it, but
those calories can really add up. If you
are on a 1,600 calorie a day diet, and have
one soda, that is 150 calories gone with no
nutritional value to your body.

PLUS, it's 40 grams of sugar in your diet.
We are only suppose to have around 42 grams
a day, so there goes your recommended daily
allowance. One soda! Anything else you eat
during the day, if it has naturally occurring
sugar, will mean you are in sugar overload.
Which means, that excess sugar is being
converted into starch, so it can be stored as
fat!

That's right. All because of one soda. But you
don't think about one soda, because its a drink.
And you're not keeping track of your food.

This is why a food journal is necessary to diet
success. You have to account for everything,
including those cups of coffee or sodas.

Everything.

Keep a food journal is easy. You can blog about
your intake. You can keep a journal that you can
carry around in your purse or pocket, to record
items as you eat. Stores now have small pocket size
notebooks available that are perfect for journaling
about food.

You can also go to My Diet Diary and get a free online journal.

Its completely up to you, but if you want to lose
weight, adding a journal to your fitness program
will help. Most individuals end up losing twice
as much weight as they intended, just because they
became aware of the junk they were ingesting.

Honestly, have you ever stopped to think about what
you haven't had to eat during an average day?

This is a great way to become aware of how you may be
sabotaging your diet without even realizing it.