The Zotrim Way - Diet and Lifestyle
Assessing your current diet
You can't change what you eat until you know more about your usual diet. This is why I always recommend keeping a 7 day record of what you are eating before you embark on any weight loss programme. However, it is vital that you are honest with yourself. Research studies show time and again that overweight people under-report their usual diets by missing out drinks and snacks, or by consciously reducing portion sizes. This approach will get you nowhere. If you feel sensitive about the foods you eat or your portion sizes then keep a private diary only for your own eyes. Remember to include:
- All drinks except water
- Alcohol
- Snacks between meals
- Food eaten in bed or in the car
- Meals eaten away from the home
- Leftovers eaten later
- Food eaten while cooking
- Nibbles in front of the TV
- Binges of any kind
- Party food
I have provided a seven day food diary at the end of this page which you can print off and use as many times as you need. Once you have finished keeping your food diary, use the lists given in the next section of this guide to target two special groups of foods; the High Fat foods and the High Carb foods. Circle the High Fat foods in red pen and then circle the High Carb foods in green pen. Your task over the next few months will be to reduce the number of unhealthy 'red' foods eaten and increase your intake of the beneficial 'green' foods.
Assessing your current lifestyle
As I mentioned earlier, weight gain is caused by a combination of eating too much and exercising too little. So it is important to check how active you are as well as knowing what you eat. Divide your activities into two types: daily and recreational. Daily activities are those which we do around work and home e.g. walking to the bus stop, taking children to school, shopping, cleaning and DIY. Recreational activities are those which we might do in our spare time e.g. sports and gardening. Use the checklist below to add up the time you spend during an average week in physical activity. A good amount of activity is 2 hours each day, with at least 30 minutes of that as recreational activity.
Use the following file to help keep control of your daily intake:
food_diary.pdf
The following document will help you plan for long term success:
setting_realistic_targets.pdf
