Ever thought of writing a diary? Well, for those who want to shed extra pounds and haven’t pondered on the subject must start thinking about writing one. A study indicates that maintaining a food diary almost doubles the amount of extra fats you shed in a given time. Easy way out, isn’t it?

Eat whatever but make a habit of putting down each and every minute detail in your food diary. This can give you a lot of insight about your own dietary habits and you will be in a better position to judge for yourself what is good or bad to stay healthy and fit.

Not just what you eat but also what thoughts accompany different kinds of food must also be jotted down in the diary.

This practice can be really motivating when you find out that the strategy you employ for weight loss is actually benefiting you, it also helps you to track down and abandon those techniques which do not work for you.

It’s all about finding and sticking to what works best for you.

The way to start writing a food diary is illustrated in the example below.

Example of how to fill in your diary (cited by www.bbc.co.uk)

Time Food and drink Where and who with Thoughts
8am Glass of orange juice At home with family Rushing to get
everyone organized
9am Chocolate muffin, large coffee Coffee shop - alone Stressed, need
something sweet

A new study examined the weight-loss strategies of 1,700 obese or overweight adults who were also taking medicines to control the levels of their blood pressure and/or cholesterol.

Going by the study, to be published in the August issue of American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the participants were asked to take up different ways to loose extra flesh like following an exercise regime for half an hour a day, stick to DASH diet (rich in fruits and vegetables and low-fat dairy), attend support group sessions every week and most importantly, write everything in a food diary.

A unique element about the study is that 44% of the participants were from an under-represented group in such kind of weight-loss studies, the African Americans -who potentially are more prone to obesity and problems linked to it.

Lead author Jack Hollis of Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore. said in a news release that after six months it was found out that participants lost 13 pounds weight on average and those who kept more food details in food diary lost more weight, they lost almost double the number of pounds each day as compared to those who avoided the diary keeping activity.

Medically,loosing 13 pounds is a successful outcome as it greatly contributes in controlling cholesterol, blood pressure and the risk of developing diabetes.

Keeping a food diary can do wonders especially in case of those who binge on food or those who are compulsive/emotional eaters.

The more the compliance towards keeping the records, the more helpful the activity would be.