For Your Success In Dieting, Keep A Workout Log And A Food Diary
When you’ve committed yourself to losing weight, you want to equip yourself with every tool and technique to aid in your success. This is especially true if you need to lose a substantial amount of weight. You need to follow through and achieve your objective. It’s discouraging if you ‘fall off the wagon’ halfway through, often the result of feeling it’s just too long of a road. There are two essential tools that can make all the difference between success and failure. These are the workout log and a food diary.
Cheating on what you eat and not adhering to your exercise program are at the root of an unsuccessful weight loss plan. Both the workout log and food diary tends to keep you honest. Each log can be as simple as a pocket sized spiral notepad, which you can carry around in your purse or pocket.
You should begin your food diary before you start your diet. Many successful dieters report that keeping a food diary was instrumental in their ultimate success. The pounds you now want to shed came on over time, a bite at a time. A snack of potato chips, a soda or candy bar are easy to forget. You grab it, eat it and think no more about it. However, those three little snacks you ate while on the run, can easily add up to 800 calories!
So, keep that food diary handy and make a note of everything that goes in your mouth for a week prior to starting your diet. When you’ve got an urge for a soda, but resist, mark this down with an asterisk, indicating you wanted it but didn’t indulge. At the end of each day, add up the calories you did and didn’t eat. This provides a benchmark for your diet program and gives you valuable clues on where you go wrong.
Just as important as the food diary, your workout log keeps you focused on your exercise program. Let’s say you’ve decided to take the 8 minute workout approach, with four sessions each day. Without a workout log, in the midst of a busy schedule, it’s easy enough to lose track of just how well you followed that plan. On the other hand, using one page in your workout notebook for each day, you fill in those four sessions at the start of the day and check them off as you complete each. No cheating or forgetting. Mission accomplished. You also gain a psychological advantage, because you’ll feel pride and accomplishment at sticking to your exercise plan.
The workout log is also an opportunity to make a note of any other form of exercise you complete each day, which you might otherwise discount. Did you climb two flights of stairs today? Vacuum the entire house, spending two hours at the task? Walk to the corner store? All of these activities burns calories! Next to each entry, fill in the calories burned. You’ll be surprised at the way it adds up, just like the calories consumed in those little snacks. However, calories burned is weight lost, not gained.
Like the gold stars on a child’s report card, these extra activities may spur you on to be more active. You’ll tend to view your exercise as a plus rather than a dreaded task.
How do you determine how many calories you burn in these various ordinary activities? There are charts available online that give estimates for just about anything you can think of, from vacuuming to swimming a few laps. Compile a comprehensive list, print it out and paper clip it to your workout log.
Armed with determination, a food diary and a workout log, you’ll be a success story!
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