Before you can fix what needs fixing, you need to know what you're dealing with. Before you start a weight shedding endeavor, start a food diary and write down everything you eat the way you've been eating for 7 days including the servings amount and the total calories.
It's valuable to diary for seven days because you can get in the weekend and the working days in the week. Many people eat differently on the weekends than they do during the work week because there are more parties, social gatherings, and since it's now summer we have all those really cool food & wine festivals. As well, during the work week, you may eat more or less because of the stress from your job.
I find it valuable to also include in your food diary:
- The time of day you ate the food because you can see when you eat the most.
- Whether the food was take-out, pre-packaged, or cooked at home because you can see where your money goes and what quality of food you're eating. Eating fast food or frozen dinners is not the same quality as cooking fresh ingredients from a farmer's market.
- The emotion you felt when you were eating because many of us eat to satisfy an emotion not an actual hunger need.
- The place you ate the food as many people eat in their car, in their cubicle, or even in a closet.
When writing your food diary, do it with absolutely no judgment. Just write down the facts for each day for 7 days. Your mission is simply to collect data.
When the 7 days are done, take different color highlighters and start mapping out your patterns. For example, use the color yellow for every time you eat after 7pm. Use a green highlighter for every time you eat when you are stressed out. Start looking for patterns. By using highlighter colors, you will be able to quickly see where your "weight gaining" sources are coming from.
For me, my biggest problem area was that I found that I ate 30% of my daily calories after 7pm. Night time eating will cause you to gain weight because you are either not moving much or sleeping so there is no chance to burn calories but plenty of opportunity to grow that muffin top.
If you'd like, I have a food diary sheet I created in Excel. You can print it out and 3-hole punch it. Print one sheet for each of the 7 days. I recommend physically writing your food diary as opposed to typing it because psychologically there is something more accountable about writing down what you do.
And again, just write down the facts. Do not judge yourself, beat yourself up, or start calling yourself names while doing your diary. When you've completed your food diary, you will be equipped with valuable information to help you reach your weight goal. You can share your findings with your doctor, nutritionist, life couch, diet buddies, or supportive friends.
