If you have ever been on a diet advised by a medical professional, your nutritionist must have advised you to maintain a food diary on daily basis. Ever wondered what this practice does? Yes, it does help your nutritionist analyze your daily meal intake, but is there more to it?

Keeping a food diary may be a key to losing excess weight, according to a recent study. It’s all about accountability and awareness, weight loss experts say. According to the study those who kept weight records at least 6 days a week, jotting down everything they ate & drank lost about twice as much weight as those who kept a food record once a week or less.

The Secret Behind Tracking

What makes this practice work is the fact that you become accountable not just to yourself but also to the other person you show your track record. It also makes you self-realize and self-analyze your daily meal portions and deviations on daily basis. Keeping a daily record of your meal patterns and food consumed can help you remain focused and disciplined in terms of maintaining a healthy lifestyle and ideal weight. It also helps realize about the areas where there is scope of improvement and one can start working on them at the right time.

Keeping a weekly record of the type of physical activity and weight can be helpful to be regular in your workouts and help achieve your fitness goals faster. Maintaining a food diary is also found to be helpful in analyzing food

allergies and food sensitivities.

How To Track

Set a mode to track - Maintain a daily diary or record in your phone. Fix a single method to track and maintain a record of the same.

Fix a time to record - As per your convenience, fix a particular time to record your daily intake. It can be after every meal, on 3 hourly basis or at the end of the day. No matter what mode or time you chose, most important is to stick to recording on regular basis.

Don’t skip your cheat meals - People should record their indulgent days and deviations too. What gets noticed can be changed and improved.

Prefer home cooked meals - You are more likely to be on the right track when you eat home cooked meals as you have more control over the type of food and method of preparation and you know what it contains.

Remember, it’s not just about the weighing scale showing a lower number, it’s about getting healthy and disciplined!