Keep a food diary

Keeping a food diary is a great way to help you become more aware of your eating habits and problem areas.

A recent research study* showed that people who monitor what they eat and how active they are, are more likely to lose weight and also keep it off. It also showed that people who kept daily food records whilst trying to lose weight, lost twice as much weight as those didn't.

* Hollis JF et al (2008) Weight loss during the intensive intervention phase of the Weight Loss Maintenance Trial. American Journal Preventive Health 35: 118-126.

There will probably be days when you don't stick to your plan. One secret to a successful lifestyle change is to learn from these "off" days and see if there are any patterns, prompts or pitfalls that are causing this behaviour.

A food diary will also make you more conscious about the kinds of food choices you are making - and help you think twice about giving into temptation or having that extra portion of dessert. And remember the more honest you are in your diary, the more it will help you. Your Special K Personal Plan contains an easy to use food diary to help you to record what you eat every day.

Tips to help keep your food diary

  1. Use your diary to set goals.
    Your personal plan food diary is an active learning tool. Your goals may be to regularly eat a meal that you skip, to add in extra fruit, to plan to take a snack for the times you are hungry, or to take positive action in a situation that currently results in your eating too much.

  2. Review your diary and use it to make positive, achievable goals.
     You will then be able to see how often you are eating and drinking over the day, and show whether there are times of day when you tend to eat more.  Best of all, your diary can help you to start to move towards a healthier style of eating, since it's easy to see if you are getting your 5 portions of fruit and vegetables every day, if you eat too much, or if you simply enjoy too many indulgent snacks.

  3. Use it everyday.
     Don't wait until the end of the day to try to remember what you ate and drank! You should update your personal plan food diary daily. When filling in your Food Diary, remember three rules:

    - Be honest - this is for you and you alone
    - There are no rights or wrongs
    - Days will vary - some will look great and some less so

  4. Focus on your portion size.
    People gain weight when they eat more calories than they use. The choices you make about portion size affect your calorie intake every time you sit down to eat. Cutting down on portion size is a simple way to reduce that intake. Find out more about the importance of portion size and how you can stay in control of your habits.

  5. Don't skip your indulgent or high risk days.
     Don't just record your good days, include the indulgent days or those that are high risk for going off the rails.

Remember the point of a food diary is for you to be honest so you can learn more about what you eat and what triggers your eating. In the end, this honesty helps you gain better control and develop healthier habits.

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