 Food journals help weight loss
"My problem is I just don't eat enough to lose weight." This can be a tempting myth to believe.
Weight loss can slow if you eat too little, but it does not stop. 3,500 calories = 1 pound. If you are maintaining your weight, cutting 500 calories per day will give you 1 pound of loss per week. But the numbers aren't perfectly linear. You might lose 2 lbs per week if you cut 1,000 calories, but eventually your metabolism will slow down so that if you cut 1,500 calories per day, you might only lose 2 to 2.5 lbs per week.
The law of diminishing returns comes into play.
The problem is that 1 pound per week doesn't show very clearly and quickly on the scale. So, when we are working really hard for two weeks and we perceive very little change, it can be disheartening. If you keep at it for a solid month, you should see measurable results.
The only way to know exactly what you are consuming is to track your food. You need to weigh, measure and log everything you eat.
If you are finding that the weight is not dropping as fast as you would like, you can make the necessary adjustments. For the average person, consuming 1,000 calories per day less than you burn is the most you should deprive your body without medical supervision.
Even at this level you will likely be very hungry and suffer serious cravings. You can up your food intake a little if you add exercise so that you can work it from both sides. Cut 500 calories per day from your food intake and add 500 calories per day in activity.
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