Dieting Tips: Include a Food Journal
Every day in America there is a person who either starts a diet or stops a diet. Obesity has become a major health risk for people in the United States, including our children at early ages. A lot of the problem is that people don’t realize they are over weight until they are really over weight.
You can be successful at dieting and it doesn’t take a miracle for you to achieve the desired results. Just like any time you are planning to diet, consult your doctor first. They will give you a good rule of thumb on how many calories you need a day to stay healthy but to lose the excess weight, and they will also give you some pointers on exercising. If you have a lot of weight to lose, it might be best not to start an exercise program right off the bat, but weight until you have lost a few pounds to make it easier on your joints.
One of the first things to do however, before you even consult the doctor, would be start a food journal to see exactly what you eat in a day or a week’s worth of time. A big problem with people is that they don’t realize exactly what they consume on a daily basis. They don’t think about that cup of coffee from Starbucks with the extra shot of cream or extra whipped cream on top as being an issue, and it may not be ever once in a while. But if it is consumed on a daily basis or two to three times a week, you might be surprised how that will quickly add up and add on the pounds.
A food journal will show you not only what you are eating, but you can count the calories and share that with the doctor. It will help to know what you have been consuming and how much to start cutting back to at the beginning. If you are consuming 3500 calories a day and think you are only eating 2000 a day, this will be a good way to open your eyes. Sometimes starting too fast in a cut back of calories will throw your body into shock. It might think it is starving and instead of burning fat try to store it, and you will not be any better off.
Share your journal with the doctor and work out a plan together. Keep the journal going even after you start either manually or through one of the websites that are available on the internet. It will help to keep you going and you will have accomplished the weight loss in the end.
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