If you’ve ever tried to lose weight before, you are probably familiar with the concept of writing down your food intake. I am a firm believer in mindful, intuitive eating and more often than not we overeat because we are focusing on something other than what we are eating. This can be a very difficult habit to break, especially if we are used to eating for other reasons besides hunger.

Enter the food tracker, a simple 7-day food log designed to bring awareness to your eating and help you with your goals. I am a big fan of fellow RD Kati Mora’s Ultimate Food Tracker, a compact diary to track a month’s worth of intake.

The tracker is set up so you can be as successful as possible. There is space at the top of each day to write your goals and contains helpful tips along the way.

Along with becoming a more mindful eater, tracking your intake allows you to monitor your caloric intake.  Losing weight, for the most part, is an equation of intake less than expenditure.  Monitoring your caloric intake is the first step in lowering it.

You can check out the Ultimate Food Tracker, and all of the cool cover designs, online @ the Around the Plate boutique.

What’s your favorite way to track your intake?