by admiller

Created on: May 18, 2009   Last Updated: January 22, 2010

The secret to diet success is not exercising, eating low-carb foods, or drinking more water. It's keeping a food journal. The simple act of writing down what you eat will make you a more successful dieter. A major study conducted by Kaiser Permanente found that dieters who kept a food diary lost twice as much weight as dieters who didn't journal.

Why are food journals so effective? They provide an eye-opening method of accountability that enables you to use a simple tool to make healthier choices. Food journals will help you:

Get a reality check. People tend to eat more food than they think. Writing down every little thing that goes into your mouth will provide a good reality check regarding food intake. The best practice is to be as accurate as possible. Instead of "a handful of pretzels," write 25 pretzels. While it may feel like you eat mostly healthy foods, the journal will help you determine if this is a reality.

Use laziness to avoid food. "If I eat that, I'll have to go write it down." This simple statement may keep you from mindlessly eating the doughnut a co-worker just brought in. Journals transfer inherent laziness to less eating. Whatever the reason for not eating more, the result is increased weight loss.

Make healthier choices. Somehow it seems easier to write down 1 apple than to write down 1 large piece of chocolate cake. Having to admit high fat, high calorie food indulgences is hard to do even it if it's just to an inanimate piece of paper. Do you really need to eat potato chips at midnight? Having a journal will help you make this decision.

Develop food goals. After keeping a journal for a week, it will be easy to determine where the wasted calories are coming from. Is it emotional eating, excessive snacking, too many sweets, or late-night munching? The journal will provide a snapshot of your eating habits and allow you to find and eliminate excessive calories.

Use a simple weight loss tool. Many people seeking to lose weight will avoid diets because they seem complicated or daunting. Journal writing only requires you to write down every food and drink item you digest. If it has calories, you must write it down. You don't have to count the specific calories or figure out the nutritional value of each food item. You just have to write down what you eat in terms easy for you to understand. It's hard to come up with an avoidance excuse for a system that is so simple to do.

Avoid quick-fix thinking. Food journals are long term undertakings. Weight loss programs and fad diets fail because people are looking for the quick fix and lose interest when the results aren't immediate. A journal, by nature, requires a long-term commitment. When people begin journaling, they are accepting that the diet is a lifestyle change and are ready to embrace the "slow and steady" mentality necessary for healthy weight loss.

References:

Study: Keeping a Diary of What You Eat Can Reduce Weight

Writing It Off: Keeping a Food Journal May be a Key to Weight Loss Success

Nutrition: Keeping a Food Diary

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