| There's a scientific method to losing weight, and it is | | | | find online food databases which allow you to search |
| known in the physics world as thermodynamics. Put | | | | for the food you have eaten - they are very |
| simple, it means that if the amount of energy (read as: | | | | comprehensive! - and record it on a spreadsheet for |
| food) you consume is consistently less than the | | | | easy access. These sites also allow many different |
| amount of energy that you burn, you will lose body | | | | tools that can help you out, such as graphs of your |
| weight. There is no other way about it. | | | | weekly and monthly intake. Finally, there are |
| However, we live in a world where food is so | | | | professional programs available to purchase which act |
| abundant, and in some case, so calorie dense, that it | | | | as a kind of personal coach and nutritionist living within |
| can be very hard to know just what you are eating | | | | your computer, which aid in journaling your diet as well |
| and whether you are over or under eating on a daily | | | | as exercise regime, to fully garner just how much or |
| basis. | | | | little you need to eat to effectively gain weight. |
| This is where the power of keeping a food journal | | | | Some of the great benefits of food logging are: |
| comes in. | | | | (1) Discouraging against 'grazing' and mindless eating. |
| Carefully tracking what you eat every day may seem | | | | (2) Mathematical in/out equation makes weight loss |
| to be quite an arduous and tedious task at first; | | | | simpler to understand. |
| however, over time it becomes a very simple process | | | | (3) Motivating to see healthy eating habits written |
| that only takes a few minutes at the end of the day, | | | | down in front of you. |
| and gives you a great understanding of just how | | | | (4) Helps provide mind to body connections that can |
| many calories you are consuming. The National Heart, | | | | show you when you are most vulnerable to |
| Lung and Blood Institute have done studies that have | | | | overeating; stress et cet era. |
| found that those who kept consistently food logs of | | | | I, myself, came from the other end of the spectrum. I |
| what they consumed lose two times as much as | | | | critically needed to gain weight due to an overactive |
| those individuals who did not have a food journal, and | | | | thyroid when I was around seventeen years old, and I |
| consequently, did not know what they were | | | | was encouraged to journal just how much food I was |
| consuming. | | | | eating, in order to gain weight. Two years later I was |
| There are many great ways to chronicle your eating | | | | back at a healthy body weight, and I couldn't have |
| habits. The simplest is just with a pen and a piece of | | | | done it without logging my diet. I've heard countless |
| paper, and, using the nutritional fact sheets that are on | | | | success stories of people losing a great amount of |
| the back of all commercial foods by law, figuring out | | | | weight with food journals, too. |
| how many calories you are eating. Another way is to | | | | |