Keep Track of What you Eat and Progression

One of the best tools that you can have on any diet is a journal that you use to track your consumption, your workouts and your progression as time goes by. It gives you an idea of exactly what it is you are eating throughout the day and what is going into your body. It also lets you see how long you work out and allows you to increase the intensity as you see fit for each time period. This journal is your own personal log of what you intake and what you put out. Remember to always check the length of your workouts, calories lost (if possible), calorie intake and as much information as you can about repetitions, sets, etc. This is the best way to make sure that you are staying on the right track week after week even if your workout and eating doesn’t change, as long as it doesn’t worsen, you are okay. Tracking Foods In this portion of the journal, you’ll want to make sure you mark down what you eat, what time you eat and the nutritional value of the foods you eat. As a general rule of thumb, portion control is the most successful way to help guide weight loss, so having a journal that keeps you in check is optimal. Make sure you know the nutritional facts about your foods because that is the most crucial thing; knowing exactly how many calories, grams of fat, protein and sodium your body is taking in. For fat, you want to make sure that you intake no more than 3 grams of fat for every 100 calories that the serving has. If you have a serving that is at 300 calories, there should be no more than 9 grams of fat for that serving. Tracking Progression Use this part of the journal to track weight for a period of time (weekly, monthly) and to track exercises so that you can lengthen the time for fitness as your diet goes forward. As you continue to see your weight go down, you can increase the amount of time and intensity of your workouts so that your body can adjust as it should through training. Try your best to increase your workout load as time progresses. If you start by walking 30 minutes each day for the first week, either try to increase your workout by walking 45 minutes each day the next week or keeping it at the 30 minutes, but mixing in some moments of a light jog. This way you’re either keeping your fat loss mode going longer or pushing it to work even harder. You don’t want to go backwards, though, and lighten your workload unless you’re substituting it with another form of activity that will continue to get your blood pumping like a yoga session that way you’re body doesn’t shut down from all the progress you’ve made and you can continue your weight loss. Image by curtfleenor on Flickr