As a Personal Trainer, I always get asked what's the secret to losing weight and in all honesty the big secret is writing down what you're eating and tracking how much food your consuming each day and how it effects your macronutrients. Whether you are trying to lose weight or simply maintain a healthier diet, a food diary can help you out tremendously as I've seen with all my clients and myself over the years.
People are often their own worst enemy when it comes to putting on weight and they don't understand why they are doing so. I've seen it a million times. A client comes to me for the purposes of dietary advise and he or she will tell me, "I hardly eat anything at all." Then I ask all of my clients to complete a food diary for me by using the VVT app and when I provide them the results, they are shocked at just how much they actually do eat, and when you add up everything you eat and drink up they tend to always be over in their Carbohydrates and Fats and low on their Protein which is a complete disaster if your trying to lose weight.
It's only when individuals are asked to write down everything they eat and drink that the true story is told. The importance of keeping a food diary goes way beyond just the food we eat. A recent study following 1,800 men and women over a six-month period showed that those who kept a food diary lost 50 percent more weight than those who did not. The problem is, as our busy lives go on, we tend to eat more than we think we do. We underestimate the exact amount of our daily intake because we fail to take into consideration portion size
Here are a few Reasons why we encourage using your VVT:
Accountability: Writing everything down and seeing your daily intake increases your perception of how much you actually eat.
Helps to truly portion out your foods: Once individuals use more accurate methods of measurement, they have a better understanding of their overall portion distortion.
Ties in the connections to stress, emotion and circle of Influence: For example, a client of mine realized that she consumed large amounts of chocolate and fried foods after interactions with one of her family members. The family member was clearly a trigger to unhealthy eating but only after seeing the connection on paper did my client realize this.
Be Honest: Remember that honesty is truly the best policy when you are doing a food diary simply for yourself or at the request of a health professional.
*Disclaimer: Individual results vary based on agreed goals. Click here for details.
