by Elaine Thigpen

Created on: May 17, 2009   Last Updated: May 22, 2009

A lot of us have tried all kinds of diets and exercise. Usually it does not last very long and we gain all the weight back and more. Some of us may have even tried writing a journal of what we eat. Is just writing what we eat enough? How much information do we put in it? Some might say that it is hard to do and/or too much work. Maybe so, but you get used to it. After awhile it becomes second nature.

There are health websites that you can go to that provides a daily journal or use a notebook. It matters a lot as to how you write things in your journal. Here are two examples: Example 1: bowl of cereal with fruit and a cup of coffee. Example 2: 1 cup of Corn Flakes with cup skim milk and 1 banana, and 1 cup of coffee with 1 teaspoon of sugar and creamer each. Which one do you think gives you a better picture of what you ate? Example 2, because you can easily calculate the calories and fat or whatever else you want to record. The ideas can be endless as to what you can put in your weight loss journal. You can include charts of your weight loss and measurements. Also, on a daily basis keep track of all the activities you do for exercise, even the small things such as walking around the block or walking to the store.

The most important thing about journaling is being honest with yourself. Documenting all that you eat, even the food at your company parties, because when you don't you will be cheating yourself. So I ask do you really want to cheat yourself? By using example 2 method to enter into the journal makes it easy to accurately calculate the calories and fat into your body. When documenting everything that you do, you can see how much of the calories that you burn in a day.

When you see on paper all that you do you won't be tempted to look at the scale so much. You may check once a week and that is ok. When you slip up it is ok too, because the next day will come and you just make up the difference you. When you are succeeding you can see that you are on your way to great slenderness. When you calculate calories, you can start at, for example, 1,600 calories a day and as you eat and drink you subtract from the total amount. By doing this it gives you more freedom to eat what you want. Eventually you may choose healthier foods. This allows for a gradual change. Keeping your journal in the kitchen or somewhere for easy access makes it easier to keep track.

I have done both methods of journaling to lose weight. Writing in my journal using the example 1 was not very effective. I never kept track of the calories coming in and out of my body. Therefore the weight loss was not working. On the other hand using example 2 was much better. I saw a better picture of what calories was going into my body as well as what I was burning. That is what helped me better to lose weight.

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