keeping a food journal

keeping an accurate food journal is changing my life. I document important facts to reach my goal. for me, I eat 4-5 times/day. this can be every 2-3 hours... I mark the time, state if it is breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks.  state the  foods, P-protein, S-starch, F-fruit, D-dairy, V-vegetable, the amounts as 1/2 cup...calories, carbs, fats and sodium. I do a food chart and plan my menu and change up as needed. anyone else find this method effective? monitoring your intake is the key besides exercise!

I do the same thing as you too, but I don't state what kind of food I'm taking in because I don't really know how much nutrients there are in the food I'm eating. I'd just state the general names like salad, grilled salmon, sushi, etc.

It does help a lot to monitor your food intake!

There have been some studies that show that people who are more conscious of what they eat generally eat less than people who eat without thinking. 

A simple experiment I saw once had two sets of diners sat at long banqueting tables.  Both tables were brought a continuous supply of chicken drumsticks and the diners were asked to put their finished bones on the plate in front of them.  On the first table, the bones were cleared away regularly.  On the second table the bones were left to mount up on the diners' plates.   The people on the second table ate fewer drumsticks simply because they were more conscious of how many they'd already eaten.

So if you keep track of your food intake via a diary, you are much more likely to eat less than if you don't.  Well done so far!

good work. i need to start doing this again.

My Fiance read in the paper a few months ago, that their was a study done on people who keep a food journal (like us).  The study found that people who keep a food journal eat healthier, weighted less or lost more weight and are healthier because of this.

I do this too and plan for the week ahead, it help keeps me focus and since I have tight budget it also help making sure I buy thing I'll need only.