A key component in being successful in healthy eating is to know what you’re eating. Stats show people tend to underestimate the amount of food they eat and overestimate the amount of exercise they do. Imagine that. One of the best tools to lose weight and maintain that weight is keep a food journal.
To lose weight requires both eating healthy and moving your body and you need to do both. 80% of your success in losing weight is what you are eating and the other 20% is how much exercise you do.
One of the first “diets” I did way back in the day was Weight Watchers. They had these 8.5 x 11 sheets which had spots for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, water etc. and check off boxes for each category of food you were supposed to eat. I kept that faithfully for the year it took me to lose 78 pounds. What was interesting was I was able to go back and see things I had done wrong without knowing it and learn from those mistakes. I could also look back at the weeks where I “lost weight and” see what was working.
Well, as we know food journals have come a long way since back in the day. At every book store there are 20 or more styles to choose from. Another 15 programs on line and of course there is always “an app for that.” So whatever method you prefer, there is a way to do it. When we commit to recording what we eat, tracking our food, sometimes we choose not to eat something just because we have to write it down. With a log to look at we can make sure we get everything in we want and ensure we don’t eat too much.
Beachbody offers My Meal Planner which I began using this morning.
My Meal Planner
Team Beachbody® makes it easy to plan everything you’re going to eat, so you’ll always have delicious food that supports your fitness and your weight loss program. You can figure out your personal nutrition requirements, build and print out menus and shopping lists, and make sure you have plenty of variety so you’ll never get bored. New! Our updated meal planner is more customizable than ever, with lots of extra features that make it even easier to lose weight and get fit. In order to use these features, you’ll need to select a plan (even if you had one previously). Use the Meal Plan Wizard to choose your plan, or self-select if you already know which plan you want and your daily calorie requirements.
The Meal Planner tool is available at no charge for Team Beachbody Club Members. To become a club member, click here, and join as a club member. You will get access to the message boards, trainer chats, meal planning tools and lots of other great tools to lose weight and get fit.
