When I first started trying to lose weight, I did not keep a food journal. Not because I didn’t want to; I just had never heard of doing such a thing. The road to weight loss is indeed about trying new things. And I found this to be so incredibly effective that I wanted to counter excuses I have heard for not keeping a food journal.
- I don’t know what I’m supposed to write down. The picture above provides a terrific example of just how easy it can be to keep a food journal. There are fancier diet journals that you can purchase that require you to record more specific details, but you don’t need to do that to have a productive food journal. You can purchase your own notebook (I use a 5 x 7 notebook) and start documenting what you eat and drink every single day. This is your food journal – so you decide how you will record things. The only rule is that you be honest. Every time you eat or drink something, write it down.
- I don’t have time. Looks like you and me are two peas in a pod. With our lives consumed by responsibilities, few of us have the time we wish we had. I am starting to wonder something, though. No matter how different or privileged or resourceful we are, each of us gets the same amount of time. Are you the only one who is busy? Look at people around you that are just as busy – or busier – who are fit. How are they doing it? Clearly, it is possible to be busy and have a great body.
- I just don’t see how it will help me lose weight. Writing down what you eat on paper is an eye-opening exercise that allows you to raise awareness of behavior that may be counterintuitive, and also promotes the changes that need to take place for you to be able to lose weight. A study done by Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research found that those who kept a food journal lost TWICE as much weight as those who did not. That study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, can be read here. Medical News Today featured an excellent article interviewing the researchers regarding the outcomes of this study.
One of the reasons that keeping a food journal is so effective is because you are less likely to overeat or make poor food choices if you have to write it all down. Even if you are the only person who will ever see your food journal, it can be rather humiliating if you have to write down that your afternoon snack was a large bag of Cheetos and a 44-ounce Coke. But, because you are being honest with yourself, writing this information down lets you pinpoint the behaviors that need improvement.
- I don’t like writing things down. Let me give you Brian Tracy’s take on this one. “Only three percent of adults have written goals, and everyone else works for them.” There is a great deal of evidence showing that writing things down produces successful results. If it is the physical act of writing in a notebook that bothers you, there are a large number of tools available that can help with this – many electronic devices allow you to record things (either spoken or written). If you would prefer keeping a notebook but aren’t sure how you can carry it with you all of the time, consider keeping it in your purse or car or somewhere you can quickly get to it.
Adding a food journal to my fitness journey made a tremendous difference. It helped me see the kinds of mistakes I was making with respect to what I ate, drank, and my food portions. It opened my eyes to just what an impact eating regularly – and healthfully – had. I could look in my food journal and find an association between a day that I felt sluggish and a day that I made poor food choices. While my food journal wasn’t the only thing that helped me lose the weight, it certainly was a key ingredient.
