A Fresh Start (Part Two)

Give Yourself Writer's Cramp
Most of us get into the groove of keeping a food diary when we first start assessing our eating habits or when starting a new diet. But once we get an idea of where our trouble spots are, or, we get the hang of our diet, we stop. In actuality, keeping a food diary is a good idea anytime, but it's especially useful if you know that you've gotten off course from your diet program or your healthier eating goals. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, just a notebook or a few copies of a food diary form.

Jot down what you ate, how much and when. Keep track of everything, including the slice of your boss's birthday cake that you didn't know was going to be lurking in the employee break room and other unexpected goodies. Write down each item as soon as you throw away the plate or packaging that came along with your treat so you don't forget to account for it! Make it a daily habit and sit down with your diary and glean your bad habits and pitfalls from your record. Commit to changing the unfavorable patterns you see!

Go Halves
One of the most crucial steps in losing and maintaining weight is to master the skill of portion control. If you've slipped back into old eating habits, a really useful way to start managing your portions again is to cut normal servings of your usual fare in half. Not only does that mean boxing up half of your entrée as soon as it's served or splitting your deli sandwich with a co-worker, there are also sneakier ways to meet your weight loss effort halfway:

• use only half your normal creamer in your coffee
• drink 1/2 your bottled soda now and 1/2 tomorrow instead of downing the whole bottle in one sitting
• use 1 slice of bread halved when making a sandwich instead of two slices
• use 1/2 as much mayo as usual on your sandwich
• use half as much oil as usual when you sauté veggies for dinner tonight