Today I am going to talk to you about a fitness tool, the ‘Food Diary’. There are literally hundreds of apps/websites where you can record your food diary – myfitnesspal is just one of them. But why are they out there, what do they achieve and why do they work?
A food diary is an accountability tool, one that all our clients at Pursuit Fitness Training use. They have to write down everything they eat and drink – and I mean everything! It’s great because once you start to realise just what you’re eating, how much, when etc., it’s only then that you can make positive changes (but only if you actually look at it!).
The problem with some of the food diary apps/websites is that once you’ve entered the information, you never look back at it, making it absolutely pointless. You will continue to eat badly because you don’t realise you are doing it. You have to REVIEW your diary- each day look back and see what you ate, where you slipped up and try and establish why you slipped up etc.
The review is the most important part of having a food diary. Review it with a coach or a friends, go through and scrutinise every aspect of your nutrition. Now you are being accountable to someone else you will think… “Oh no, I can’t eat that because then I have to write it in my food diary and my coach/friend will see that I have eaten it.” So, what do you do? You change your mind and eat something better!
So, in summary… Food diaries are great IF you review it each day and review it with a coach or friend. My advice is start a food diary NOW. Pick up a notebook and start writing down everything you eat/drink, it’s easy!
Chris