54 Part I: Eating Right with Every Bite
Choosing and using a food diary
Ideally, a food diary for someone who had weight loss surgery should have
the following components:
✓ Time of day
✓ How you feel, both mentally and physically
✓ What food you’re eating
✓ How much food you’re eating
✓ Number of calories
✓ Number of grams of protein
✓ Ounces of water consumed each day
You may also want to include other information, such as if you’ve taken your
supplements or exercised.
There are a variety of sources for food diaries. Your surgeon or dietitian may
give you a form you can download and print yourself. You can find many logs
and journals available at bookstores. Or, if you’re really resourceful, you can
customize and create your own. It can be a simple as a small notepad you
keep in your purse or pocket.
In addition, there are now many online food diaries for those of you who are
computer savvy. Many of them can be customized to meet your individual
needs and are really handy, particularly if you use a smartphone or carry a
laptop with you throughout the day. Many of these tools are totally free, and
others let you try out the tools on a trial basis before paying a monthly fee.
Some of the more popular Web sites are:
✓ fitday.com
✓ sparkpeople.com
✓ http://www.calorieking.com
✓ http://www.thedailyplate.com
✓ http://www.obesityhelp.com
If you have had adjustable gastric banding with a LapBand or Realize band,
you have access to terrific online monitoring tools through Web sites
developed specifically for their patients.
Any of these tools can be effective. The bottom line is to find the tool that
works for you — the one that you will use.
