Keeping a food diary can greatly enhance your chances for successful weight loss. It may be the means to more fully understanding your food habits, what you need to change, and why.

The results of many research studies document the characteristics of those who successfully lose weight and maintain the weight loss. These are people who have become aware of the choices they make that result in overeating and who then take an active role to change. They understand the need to choose healthy foods, watch their portions, and get exercise.

When keeping a food diary, you can gain insights about your choices if you are conscientious about DETAIL and ACCURACY. It will take some time to keep a food diary but it is well worth the effort. Keeping a diary for a minimum of a week or two would be best, but just a few days is good, and if all you can manage is one day that would still be beneficial. Whatever you can do, get started as soon as possible.

In addition to tracking the food you eat, one of the recommendations for keeping a food diary is to record your feelings. Eating for comfort rather than hunger is very common and not necessarily a problem. However, if you think you eat in response to your thoughts and feelings too often instead of eating to satisfy true hunger, you may want to consider keeping a journal as well as a food diary to have an outlet to express your feelings. Writing your thoughts and feelings down on paper can help you cope with everyday challenges and give you a better understanding of why you turn to food for comfort so often.

I would suggest keeping a food diary for at least a few days before you go on a lower calorie diet. This will give you a good sense of what you need to do to improve your regular diet and lifestyle. A food diary will not only provide you with a guide as to the kinds of foods you may need to eat less or eliminate to lose weight but it will also give you a picture of what you will need to do to maintain the weight loss. If you simply go on a reduced calorie diet without a plan for maintaining, any weight you might take off will likely come back on very quickly. You’ve got to change your habits. Successful long-term weight loss is all about healthy eating and living.

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Here’s a list of what you may want to track with a food diary. Don’t be scared off by all the recommendations! Do what you can but at the very least, keep track of what you eat and drink, how much, and the calorie count.

I use, and recommend, the service My Food Diary because it makes the work of tracking some of the information so much easier. (If you would like to learn more about myfooddiary please read my review.) I’ve also included a link to a detailed food diary I created. But you can choose to use a simple notebook or pad of paper.

1. List WHAT you eat.

Make sure to include ALL food and beverages no matter how little it may have been. One of the most common reasons a person fails to lose weight on a lower calorie diet is the result of eating more total calories than what is perceived. Make sure you include all the extras such as mayonnaise on a sandwich or the spoonful of ice cream from your husband’s dish, or a few small pieces of candy from your place of work.

(Another potential problem with not losing weight is not eating enough. If you have experienced this you may want to read my post on getting started with a 1200 calorie diet. Whether your target diet is for 1200 calories or more, you’ll learn how to determine the lowest number of calories you can have without slowing your metabolism or causing other potential health problems.)

2. Be SPECIFIC about what you eat.

If you eat a canned or packaged product, note the name of the food and the company that produces it. This will make it much easier to determine the calorie or nutrient content later if you no longer have a label to read. On the other hand, if you eat a homemade dish, make note of the ingredients or keep the recipe handy for later reference.

Also, note how much you ate. Maybe you will need to jot down the size of the item such as you might with a piece of cake or pie. Or maybe you will need to record the volume (such as half a cup) or the weight. If you eat more than one item or serving, record how many.

3. Record WHEN and WHERE you eat.

Note the approximate time of day and where you are when you eat. Are you at home, at a restaurant, at your office, in a car or elsewhere? Wherever it might be, jot it down.

4. Note WHAT you are doing when eating.

Do you eat while watching T.V.? This is one of the most common and mindless ways of eating more than you might need. Do you eat standing up in the kitchen? Do you eat directly from a bag or box of chips or crackers? Are you more likely to overeat when visiting friends or family? Or maybe when traveling?

5. Keep track of your FEELINGS.

Note whether or not you are actually hungry when you eat. What you are thinking or feeling right before eating will be a clue as to the times when you eat for reasons other than hunger. Pay attention to whether you are feeling depressed, angry, happy, sad, or whatever it might be. If this process brings up more feelings then you have room to note on a simple food diary, you may want to consider keeping a journal.

Recommended but optional:

6. Keep track of what you do for physical activity or exercise.

Note the kind of exercise and how long you engage in a particular physical activity. This post is about keeping a food diary not an exercise log but the two can be combined for the best results.

A food diary will give you valuable information about your habits. If you want to learn more about your total calorie or nutrient intake from the records you keep, you will need to look up this information with a food and nutrient database.

(Update: For a review of online calorie and nutrient database services read my post on Ferbruary 5: Calorie Counts and Nutrients: Best Sites Online )

Good luck keeping a food diary!

(UPDATE December 7, 2007: The Food Diary is now available and ready for download from Scribd. Some of the formatting did not come as as I would have liked after uploading and conversion but it is workable. Let me know what you think. Thanks!)