So, did you find out your RMR?

Good

The next step is to accurately log your calorie intake.

So, you can eat all your meals out of a cans/boxes/packages that have the calories printed right on them and total them up. But while that might work for some college students (ramen, anyone?), it’s not practical for real life.

How can you log your food intake?

You can do it manually. Grab a notebook or a spreadsheet. In the first column, write down everything you eat: description and portion size (cup, ounce, pieces, etc). In the second column, you will need to find out the caloric content of that amount of that specific food.

There are a lot of sites out there with databases of foods and their calories. Calorie King has the caloric content of lots of foods: packaged, restaurant menus, fresh…you name it, and they probably have it. For an annual fee, they have an electronic diary where you can enter your meals online, and it calculates the nutritional information for you.

Some restaurants actually have the nutritional information of their menu available – both online and in the restaurant. Fast food places have sophisticated calculators where you can specify EXACTLY what you ordered at the restaurant and get the nutritional information. Really…you can enter, for example, Wendy’s single, no bun, just pickles and tomatoes, side salad with fat-free French dressing and a diet coke, and it will calculate the calories for you.

Also, you can buy software for your computer and/or PDA to help you keep track of your caloric intake. Like Calorie King, these programs have a database of foods. And you can add foods that are not in the database. When I started my weight loss program, I bought a program called BalanceLog by HealtheTech, at the recommendation of a personal trainer.

Note: I bought my fully-licensed software on eBay for $29, including shipping. The software is really good, but it has its limits. The database could stand to be updated and expanded. You can’t import data into the database in bulk. You have to enter each new food item in manually.

It’s web-sync capabilities are misleading. You can enter your data online, but once you download it to your Palm or PC, it’s deleted from the server. And you can’t upload your Palm/PC data to the web. Since I mostly enter my data at home directly on the PC, this was not an issue for me.

Other ways to keep track? Self magazine subscribers have access to the Self Diet Club online, which includes a Food Log, and even a Meal Planner.

You can try [URL=http://www.sparkpeople.com/]SparkPeople[/URL] which is a free online service for tracking calories.

Some websites offer pages you can print out and carry with you to record your food intake. Of course, you will need to calculate the calories yourself. Or you can use these sheets to help you enter your meals later in the day. You can download one from Low Fat Recipes

Once you choose the method that works for you, you have to use it. Every day. Every meal. No exception.

Just try it for a week. Even before you start your actual diet. If you are like me, you will be shocked at how many calories are in the foods you eat. Just one fast food lunch (sandwich, fries and soda) can take up 50-80% of your allotted calories for the day. It’s crazy!