Faithful readers of this blog know that I am a pretty big proponent of keeping a food log. For most people who are trying to lose weight, I think it’s instrumental, and even for those of us who are just trying to maintain our current weight, occasional check-ins can be very helpful. But does it really work? In my opinion, the answer to this question (like just about every other question in the world) is: It Depends!
First, I’ll start by saying that if you are new to the weight loss quest, or if you’ve tried a bunch of times before to lose weight but have never kept a food log, I believe it is a necessary step in the process. My reasoning here might be different than you’d think, though.
Unwanted pounds are the result of too many calories consumed – bottom line. And while there are different “types” of calories and one way of eating may help you shed or keep off unwanted pounds better than another, the reason you’re reading this post right now is really just because at some point in your life (probably over a long period of time) you took in more calories than your body could use. This is easy to do. In fact, our culture today makes it almost impossible not to do this. Enter the food log!
I advocate keeping a food log not so much for the strict calculation of calories in vs. calories out, but moreso as a tool of self-education. If you want to lose weight, you need at least a basic understanding of how many calories your body needs to get through a day and approximately what types and amounts of food will put you near that number. This means you’ll need to read labels, measure or weigh portions, and research calorie values online for anything you eat or drink that doesn’t come with nutritional information on the package. It’s a lot of work, yes, but the good news is that as long as you are diligent, you only need to do this for about two weeks in order to get the educational benefit from food logging.
Whether you continue to use a food log as a weight loss tool after that largely depends, I think, on your personality. In my experience (this is really ONLY my opinion!), people fall into one of three camps where food logging is concerned.
Category One: Diligent, Structured, Non-Emotional Eater
These people want to be told what to do. They do well following diets of all types, at least in the short- to mid-term. They like numbers, charts and graphs, they are well-organized. They enjoy food, but it is not their central source of pleasure. They have likely gained their weight a few pounds per year, as the result of decreased activity and/or metabolism and a lack of knowledge about how much is too much where food is concerned.
For this type of person, food logging is a powerful weight loss tool and may be the only dietary behavioral change they need to make in order to lose weight. Clients of mine who fit into this category systematically lose between .5 and 1.5 pounds per week for as long as they keep up the food logging. Some of them acheive this by also adding in a lot more exercise, utilizing online and mobile app software that lets them track both calories in and out. If this sounds like you, I highly recommend that you give food logging a try for a month or two and see what happens.
Category Two: Unstructured, Emotional Eater
These people loathe and fear the idea of restriction. When told what to do, their subconscious immediately tells them to resist authority and do the opposite. They associate happiness with food to a greater extent than others. They have likely gained their weight, lost it and gained it back again dozens of times. They have powerful “trigger foods” that spark binge eating. They may even have an irrational fear of not getting enough to eat.
For this type of person, food logging is likely to have the opposite effect of that intended. It can cause the person to obsessively think about food, counting the minutes until he or she can eat again, making bargains and trade-offs to squeeze in “favorite” foods or beverages at the expense of nutrition.
I have had clients who only wanted to lose five or ten pounds, so they decided to try food logging. A couple of weeks after beginning, they have gained three or five pounds. They say food is all they think about – they’re eating at night – something they’ve never done before! The psychological and emotional effect of “restriction” triggers behaviors they can’t control. If this sounds like you, then I suggest doing your two-week educational stint and using the data from those entries to create a generally more healthy diet plan for yourself. But you don’t want to count calories. A better strategy is to pay attention to portion sizes, reduce or eliiminate your “worst offenders” and count servings of healthy foods, trying to get more of those into your diet every day.
Category Three: The Generally Uncommitted Individual
This is a person who’s not really ready to embark on a serious weight loss effort. He or she starts a food log, but makes little effort to ensure the entries are as accurate as possible. They frequently skip logging altogether on weekends or “cheat” days. They are hoping for a magical solution to their weight loss problem that involves as little effort on their part as possible.
Many people fall into this category. Some begin seriously and end up here after a few weeks or months. It is in our nature to get by with as little effort as possible, so this is understandable. But ultimately, each of us needs to decide what level of priority our health and fitness will take, and unless it ranks rather high, it is unlikely that any plan or program will result in success.
Identifying which category you fall into is an important first step in addressing the dietary piece of weight loss. Once you know that, you can start to build an effective plan that works for you. I wish you luck!
I’m proud to say that I am taking fitness nerdery to new heights with this one.
