1. Write Down What You Eat By Michael D. Morrello, M.S. Licensed Psychologist

2. Write a food plan that includes everything you are going to eat tomorrow. Tomorrow, you’ll check off whatever you eat that’s on the plan and write down any food you eat that isn’t on the plan. You’ll continue to plan and monitor your eating every day until you’ve lost all the weight you want. Planning What you Eat is Essential It helps you to think about how you’re going to get and prepare the food on your eating plan. It helps you to remember what you’re supposed to eat and when.

3. If you don’t plan ahead, you put yourself in the tougher situation of solving problems in the moment. It helps you to eliminate spontaneous eating. It helps you tolerate occasional hunger and cravings and learn you can withstand them. It helps you to make decisions about eating before you encounter triggers.

4. Once you’ve written down your plan, make sure you have the food or the ingredients to make the food. Is there anything you can do today to make tomorrow go more smoothly, such as cutting up vegetables for tomorrow’s dinner.

5. There are some internet websites that will help you write down what you eat and help you monitor your calories and nutrients.

6. When dividing your balance of macronutrients you should strive to get 50% of your calories from carbohydrates, 25% of your calories from protein, and 25% of your calories from fat. In regard to fiber, men ages 50 and younger should get 38 grams per day 51 and older should get 30 grams; women 50 and younger should get 25grams and 51 and older should get 21 grams of fiber daily.

7. You need to choose two diets, one that you plan to follow and another in case the first diet does not work. Any diet will do as long as it is healthy and well- balanced. There is no miracle diet. All diets enable you to lose weight in the same way– by getting you to eat fewer calories.

8. Researchers at the US Department of Agriculture have determined that most people who don’t vigorously exercise need to reduce their daily consumption to between 1,400 and 1.500 calories to lose weight. There are two types of diets, one that suggest you stick to a set eating plan and the other type is a counting system.

9. Set Eating Plans Pros: Not having plenty of choices makes it easier for some people. This makes it easy to decide on what you will eat. Cons: This inflexibility can create an image of “good” and “bad” foods. If you slip and eat something not on your plan, you might convince yourself you have blown it and keep bingeing. You might not be able to sustain a set eating plan in the long term. It is also difficult to maintain on vacations and special occasions.

10. Counting Systems Pros: You can more easily match your diet to your lifestyle. You can also make sure your diet includes all of your favorite foods. Cons: These plans might provide you too much flexibility. You might eat foods that are not particularly healthy. It also take more time and energy to figure out what you will eat.

11. Guidelines for a Doable Diet 1. Your Diet should be healthy 2. Choose a diet that includes food you like and you can easily prepare 3. Choose a diet that is flexible. 4. Choose a diet that allows you to budget for indulgences A diet that puts your favorite foods completely off- limits will likely lead you to crave those foods sooner or later. Don’t Skip Breakfast!

12. Several studies show that keeping a written record of what you eat increases the likelihood that you’ll lose weight and keep it off. One study showed, that dieters who kept detailed food logs were even able to lose weight over the winter holidays. Dieters who didn’t keep a log gained weight.

13. It helps you remain accountable for what you actually eat. It is amazing what our minds both naturally forget and allow us to forget when we really don’t want to remember. Even dietitians have difficulty remembering what they eat. In one study dietitians were asked to estimate how many calories they consumed. They underestimated their calorie consumption by 10%.

14. Checking off what you’ve eaten and writing down what you hadn’t planned to eat forces you to become aware of what you’re doing. You can’t fool yourself when you’re looking at the evidence in black and white. Writing Down What You Eat will Provide the Following Benefits 1. It helps strengthen your motivation. It gives you the opportunity to give yourself credit. 2. It helps build your confidence. As you focus on how well you’re following your plan you begin to realize that you can stay on your diet.

15. 3. It helps you recognize and solve problems. When you look at your successes and failures you can recognize what worked and areas causing you problems. Then you can take a problem solving approach to fixing your problems areas.

16. How to Monitor in Writing What you Eat Carry the food plan you wrote the night before with you throughout the day. As soon as possible after you finish eating, make three kinds of notations. 1. Put a check mark next to the things you ate that were written on your plan. 2. Cross out anything you had planned to eat but didn’t 3. Circle any food that you ate too much of and write down and circle any food you ate that you hadn’t planned to eat. Be sure to make these notations immediately after eating.

17. If you wait, you won’t be as conscious of what you ate, you’ll be at higher risk of unplanned eating, and you’ll forget about some of the food you ate—all of which increases the risk of your gaining weight. At some point, you’ll feel tempted to stop writing down what you eat. This generally occurs when you stray from your diet and you’re trying to avoid facing it. Take a step back. It’s 10 times more important to write things down now.

18. Be aware of the sabotaging thought that says, “It doesn’t matter if I don’t write my food intake down this time.” Of Course it Matters!