We live busy lives. We get hungry, and we often have to grab some food on the go without giving it much thought. All that mindless snacking adds up. It’s not doing any of us any favors when we are trying to stay or get healthy. One of the easiest ways to solve this problem is to keep a food journal. It will help you track what you are really putting in your body. I know it really helped me when I got serious about losing a few extra pounds, trying to feel comfortable in my clothes again.
What to Write Down
Most importantly, you have to keep your journal with you at all times. You may choose to use a traditional paper journal or notebook or you can record what you eat/drink on your phone (or other device) that you keep with you. If you don’t keep it handy, you’ll probably forget to record some of the stuff you consume. Just because you didn’t write it down doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Every time something that is not water goes into your mouth write it down. You won’t know what you are putting in your body if you’re not honest and keeping track.
If you have trouble taking in enough water, you can track that too. You might find out that you avoid eating or drinking some things just because you feel more accountable knowing that you’ll have to write it down.
Keep your journal for a week. Then, you can go back and see what a typical week of your eating habits look like. This will make it easier to plan and make changes for the next week. You can see if you’ve been eating or drinking too many sugary snacks or high fat meals. Once you see what needs to be reduced or increased, you can make a plan to replace the unhealthy things with things like fruits, vegetables, or nuts. Try to replace processed foods with more whole foods.
What Journaling Taught Me
I kept a journal of everything for 2 weeks. It helped me lose 3lbs. in the first week. Sometimes journaling can keep you from eating certain foods, just because you don’t want to write them down. Like I said before, it holds you accountable. I could already feel the difference in my clothes. I felt like I had a good grasp of what kinds of food and how much I should be eating on a daily basis by then. It allowed me to be more aware of what I was actually consuming after tracking it for 2 weeks.
That was about a year ago and I ended up losing about 8lbs in total, which was what my goal was. Occasionally, I find myself slipping back into old habits and I go back to my journal to remind myself what my meal and snacking schedule should look like. It really did make a huge difference for me. I hope it can do the same for you too. If you try it, I’d love to hear about how it went for you. Let me know!
