Billings Gazette
Healthy weight: Diary can be key to maintaining weight loss
Dr. Kathleen Baskett
Dear Dr. Baskett: I am working on weight loss and have been told to keep food and exercise records. Why bother? - area resident Source:
http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?i...h/65-weight.incIt is interesting that most people take in more food than they realize. In fact, people tend to underestimate their intake by as much as 25 percent, which can account for a lot of additional calories.
Keeping a food diary can be an invaluable tool. Food records show just what you are taking in and how much. They help increase your awareness of what you are eating and the associated patterns. This increased awareness can give you more control and enable you to make the necessary changes.
It is best to record foods when you eat or right after. At the end of the day, most people cannot recall everything they had to eat - how many chips with lunch, how many ounces of milk on the morning cereal … let alone remembering the next day or at the end of the week.
Not only do you want to record your intake, but also calculate the calorie content of each item. The basic equation still applies:
Maintenance: Calories In
= Calories Out.
Weight Gain: Calories In
> Calories Out.
Weight Loss: Calories In
< Calories Out.
The better you get at measuring foods and calculating calories, the better you get at estimating a true serving size. Research has shown one of the habits of people who have successfully maintained lost weight is that they continue to keep food records.
Weight management ultimately comes down to the number of calories taken in compared to the number burned. For most people, the weight comes on gradually and therefore, a slow, steady loss is what is desirable. You want to change habits so when you reach a healthy weight, you can maintain it.
Kathleen T. Baskett, MD, is a diplomate of the American Board of Bariatric Medicine and a member of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians and the North American Association for the Study of Obesity