Tip 3. Start a Food & Exercise Journal

by ayoub oubara

Don’t just dismiss this section. I did! The first couple of times I read about doing this in fitness and weight-
loss books, I said to myself, “I don’t have the time to do this.” But you know what… it really works!

I cannot stress how important it is to write everything down that you eat. All you need is a little notebook.
Make four columns: what you ate, how much of it you ate, how many calories were in it, and what time of
the day you ate it. It's that simple. Also write down any exercise or other activities that are more strenuous
than just sitting around.




Chicken Breast


6 oz


180 calories


2pm


Wheat Bread


2 slices


90 calories

2pm


Mustard


1 tbsp


0 calories

2pm


Total for Lunch



270 calories



Walked for 30 minutes



-150 calories


3pm



Taking the time to recognize what you're eating is the first step to losing weight. A lot of people truly don't
realize how much crap they're eating. When I first started doing this - and writing down everything I was
eating - it really opened my eyes to the volumes of junk food I was eating before. I was a slave to cookies,
chocolate, chicken wings, and pizza. When I first took the time to look up the fact that a chicken wing has
150 calories in it (yes, one wing), I was astounded. I used to eat 20 wings and 2 or 3 slices of pizza for
dinner.

Now you can get yourself one of those little calorie counter booklets from your favorite book store.
Sometimes you'll even see them in the grocery store. They're invaluable. Once you get to know the foods
you eat on a regular basis, keeping track of what you eat is really quite simple. You will gain a better
appreciation for what you're putting in your body.

So please, please, please, take my advice and journal everything you eat. You do NOT have to do this for
the rest of your life... just until you hit your goal weight. By that time, you'll be able to keep a good mental
track of what you're eating, and you'll be more aware of what you should eat, and how much exercise you
should be getting every week.

Also, you do not have to obsess over every little calorie! Counting your calories can be as detailed as you
like. If you want to track every last celery stick, by all means do so. However, you can just round your
calories off to the nearest 10, or 20. Don't worry whether or not something contains 24 or 26 calories. In the
end, it doesn't make that much of a difference... but whether something has 100 or 200 calories does.

The important thing... and I cannot stress this enough... is write everything down!

We have an online Food & Activity Journal database on our web site at RicksWeightLoss.com. You can
log everything you eat and it will count up the calories for you. Visit the Database section for details.
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