by L.M. Redding

Created on: October 08, 2008   Last Updated: June 29, 2009

I kept a food journal in 2006 and it helped me lose 15 much unwanted pounds. I'm normally a size 8, but I had recently moved across country, gotten a car and packed on the weight. I had puffed up to a size 10 and couldn't fit into any of my clothes anymore. So I joined a gym in an effort to lose the weight and unfortunately after two months of working out I still hadn't lost a pound. I was more frustrated than ever.

Standing outside the gym one day, asking myself why I hadn't dropped a pound, I overheard one of the more slender girls talking. She laughed as she told her friend how she had lost weight by keeping track of every morsel of food that went into her mouth. I was intrigued.

Normally a shy person, I went up to her and asked how she kept track. She smiled, whipped out a small notebook from her gym bag and flipped it open. I saw listings of dates, food eaten and the time of day it was eaten. She also had listed whatever liquids she drunk, including water to be sure she was drinking enough. At the bottom of each page she had added up her calories for the day. She encouraged me to do it too. I was skeptical, but decided it was worth a try for a week or so. Anything to get rid of this weight, I thought.

Before I drove home, I stopped at a store and purchased my own small notebook. At home I immediately wrote down what I had already eaten for the day, which was a blueberry muffin. I wrote down the calories and fat grams. I also listed that 16 oz. bottle of ginger ale I had guzzled before heading to the gym. I was surprised at how many calories I had drunk. Although it was still early in the day, I had already consumed a whopping five hundred calories.

I opened up my kitchen cabinets and began scanning the food and the calories listed on the back. I rationalized that I couldn't possibly be eating that many calories because I didn't eat a lot and I wasn't a big snacker. I ate three meals a day and that was it. Over the next month my food journal let me know it was the kinds of foods I was eating along with the amount that had caused my weight gain. In some cases I was eating double portion sizes, like when I ate pasta. I also liked to heap on the rice.

I bought a small scale and began measuring my food to insure I was eating the right proportion. I discovered that I ate more than the recommended three or four ounces of lean protein per serving. My serving was closer to seven ounces. And my vegetable intake was skimpy.

When I reviewed my food journal at the end of

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