Keeping Records Of What You Eat

Do you keep records of what you eat? Now, starting today—or tomorrow if that is more convenient for you, but certainly not a minute later— write down every single thing you eat, with the amount of it, as nearly as you can estimate, in cupfuls or half-cupfuls. This need not be absolutely accurate as to measurements.

It should be accurate as to foods. Write down what you eat for breakfast. Draw a line. Then all of the foods or drinks you have in between. Write down the number of glasses or cups of liquids you consume— water, tea, coffee, milk. The first day or two you'll probably forget a number of things. Train yourself to think accurately—to remember. You'll need these pages for reference later on, so keep them as neatly and as accurately as you can. Child's play? No, indeed. Only when you record of what you eat can you arrive at any conclusion about your food and liquid intake. You must find out why you're fat before you can be cured permanently.

Don't say, “It isn't the food. I eat like a bird,” and let it go at that. If you are too fat, then you eat too much. That's the basic truth. FOOD MAKES FAT!
Of course, you know that some people do not get fat, no matter how much they eat. We all know of lucky people who can gobble the most fattening viands and gain not a single ounce. I know a lovely young girl with a waist so slender a man can—and does—span it easily with his two hands, and she devours mounds of rich desserts, great fluffs of whipped cream, huge portions of chocolate pie. Disgusting—if you're fat, and can't imitate her. On the other hand, I've known fat people who can gain seven pounds over a week-end of fairly rich living, and not lose an ounce of it when the week-end is over. Food makes fat—-and it makes fat more quickly for some folks than for others. It's up to you to find out why it is making fat for you—to regulate the causes, if possible, and otherwise to regulate the results.

You'll have to diet, of course. But, if you find out why you are fat, and correct the “why,” the results may be far better than you have any reason to expect. There may be purely physical reasons for your overweight. There may be psychosomatic reasons—a combination of body and mind. Or the reasons may be purely mental. Once you know the real cause of your overweight, it is far easier to get to the results. Even your dieting will be far less annoying—and much more rewarding.

And diets aren't half bad, anyhow, when you've learned what to eat, and how to order or prepare it. It's the tasteless and monotonous diet, that does not satisfy your hunger, which is bad. You won't have to have that at all. Your diet can be fairly exciting, even if it is strict. And it may not even have to be strict. Of this much, however, I'm sure—if you are overweight you will have to change your eating habits, and your habits of thought about food. Food makes fat. You are what you eat.

Those two facts are inseparable. The badly adjusted fat person can gain weight on food that would leave a thin person practically starving. When you've learned to change your food habits, and your food thoughts, you'll grow slender. And you'll stay that way, though you never again can slip back into your old ways of eating and thinking. So, to think yourself thin, buy the two sets of scales, unless you have them already. And don't tell me—or yourself—that the old, inaccurate ones will do. They won't do at all! Accurate scales are your first “must" for reduction. The note book is the second. They are your first necessities. You are taking the first steps to thinking yourself thin.

Start today with your own records of what you eat.