A food journal (also called a food diary or food log) is a useful tool for determining your daily calorie intake, and best of all, it doesn’t have to cost a thing. While it does require several days’ diligence, consider it a crash course in the nutritional content and portion sizes of the foods you’re eating. More importantly, it can help you identify emotional eating patterns, nutrient deficits, and foods you’re over-consuming. You’ll need measuring cups and spoons and an internet connection; you may also want to pick up a kitchen scale (widely available at stores that sell housewares like Target and Bed Bath and Beyond).
Count Calories by Measuring Your Food
To create your food log, you’ll be recording all food consumed for 3-5 days. Your log should reflect your eating habits on a typical day; therefore if you’ll be attending a lot of events or will be out of town on a given week (unless this is your normal routine), this is not a good time to record your intake. Also, weekdays are ideal---according to Shape.com, we eat an average of 115 more calories per day on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
On the first day of your log, begin tracking the calorie content of everything you eat and drink (don’t forget additives like sugar in your coffee or condiments like butter and salad dressing). This will mean reading a lot of labels, and here’s the important part: pay close attention to the portion size on the package. You may need to measure or weigh your food to calculate the exact number of calories you’re eating. This will also give you practice at eyeballing what the proper size should be. If you’re eating out or no label is provided (like produce), look to the web: many restaurants carry their nutrition info on their websites, and there are plenty of online calorie counters like CalorieKing.com.
Carbohydrates, Fat, and Protein: The Macronutrients
In addition to counting calories, you may want to record the grams of carbohydrates, fat, and protein, or macronutrients, in your food. An important component of healthy eating (and weight loss) is getting a balance of nutrients in your diet. Nutrition experts typically recommend eating 50-60 percent of calories from carbohydrates, 25-30 percent from fat, and 15-20 percent from protein. Since carbohydrates and protein each supply 4 calories per gram, and fat 9 calories per gram, you can calculate what percentage of your total calorie intake comes from each macronutrient.
Let’s say you’ve recorded your calories, carbs, fat, and protein for everything you’ve eaten from Monday morning through Thursday night, and you’ve converted your macronutrients from grams to calories by multiplying grams of each by either 4 or 9. The next step is to add the daily numbers in each of these categories over 4 days, and then divide by 4 to arrive at your average daily intake. Divide your calories from the macronutrients into your total calorie count, and you’ll know what percentage of your diet comes from each group. Are you getting enough (or too much) of each?
Identify Emotional Eating Patterns
The final component of a successful food diary is to interpret and record the emotional patterns informing your eating habits. These may include writing comments about how you feel before and after eating each meal, what triggers your desire for a food (like boredom, sadness, or true hunger), and any cravings you’re having. You should also record the times of day when you eat. If you can identify the various factors influencing what, when, and why you eat, you’ll have a greater amount of control over your diet.
Like any element of your fitness and nutrition regimen, you should tailor your food journal to your goals. If you’re trying to add muscle, for instance, you’ll need to watch your macronutrients closely to be sure you’re getting enough protein, and you may want to subdivide your fat intake to account for unsaturated versus saturated fat. If you’re struggling to identify your triggers for emotional eating, a more free-form, diary style might be more appropriate.
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