I’d be willing to wager a bet that most of you have tried one diet plan or another. I had tried more diets than I’d care to confess to before I finally lost weight using percentage of fat, portion control, and exercise.
I frequently get emails from people asking my opinion on a wide variety of topics. One of the common questions I get is that involving journaling of food. When I teach my weight loss class, not surprisingly called, Fit to the Finish, I offer the participants a food diary sheet they can use if they’d like, but I don’t “require” it. Some people use it, and some don’t.
But perhaps more of them should. . . There was a study of 1700 people, that came out in 2008 conducted by Kaiser Permanente. For the study, 1,700 people agreed to diet and exercise. According to Victor Stevens, co-author of the study, those people who kept a daily food diary lost twice as much weight as the people who didn’t. That’s impressive results.
People often ask me whether or not I kept a food diary as I was losing weight. The answer is no, I didn’t keep a food diary on a regular basis. BUT, I did occasionally track what I was eating for a few days to make certain that I wasn’t 1) eating too much of a good thing, and 2) missing out on certain nutrients. The occasional food diary was a good compromise for me, because although I am pretty disciplined, I didn’t think that writing down my food for the rest of my life would be something I could stick with.
However, food journaling doesn’t have to be an all or nothing affair. For me, the occasional food journaling worked beautifully, but for other people, even that small amount of journling would be restrictive and difficult. For still others, keeping track of every bit of food that goes into their mouth is their number one best way to success. And I admire that because it’s a time-honored, proven strategy.
There are a lot of online diet tools available, but one that I admire greatly is SparkPeople. That’s a free site which offers calorie tracking, an abundance of weight loss articles, exercise routines, message boards and more. Their primary recommendation for weight loss centers around food journaling (through their site), calorie counting, and exercise.
What are your thoughts on food journaling? Yes it’s worth your time, or not for you. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Diane
By the way, there are lots of other food diaries on the web, including the one from the NHLBI website. They offer free a food diary and a menu planner that automatically calculates calories in common food items.
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I track calories online. I don’t know if that is necessarily journaling, as I think of that as more of a diary-type of thing.
When I track what I eat, it hammers home how easily I can balloon portion sizes. My eyes are truly bigger than my stomach!
Lori (Finding Radiance)´s last blog ..Liftin’ and bagels
I cannot stand to track calories because I cook everything I eat from scratch and after cooking for nearly 40 years (yes, I’m that old) I don’t use recipes and don’t measure anything. So it’s a huge pain in the posterior for me if I want to try to count calories. Because I eat low carb I don’t really have to count calories, but rather need to focus on choosing the right ingredients. BUT I do know roughly what calories are in various foods so I’m aware of what I need to use sparingly (oils, nuts, etc.) and what I can eat without worrying too much (vegetables). So I make meals based on unlimited vegetables, moderate amounts of lean proteins and small amounts of complex carbs and fruits. I think about portion sizes and I weigh myself every day because self-delusion can be a powerful thing – but I only track my low weight. If I bounce up a pound or two, I don’t obsess, I just look for that next new low and am very aware when I’m moving up rather than down. Rather than thinking about calories, I tend to think about how many servings or cups of vegetables I’ve eaten each day so I monitor myself in that way. I don’t write it down but do like to think over my day each evening.
A HUGE thumbs up to food journaling. The hardest part is getting started but I truly feel it’s the X-factor in weight loss. I stress it so much with my patients, and the ones that bite the bullet and do it, religiously, are so much more successful in their weight loss journey. Just my $0.02!
Nicole´s last blog ..Puttin’ Popeye, King of Spinach, to SHAME!
I have had an on again off again relationship with food journals. They do work, but then I have to go through the trouble of actually admitting what I stick in my mouth throughout the day. Hmm, maybe that’s the idea…
BlessedMama´s last blog ..Baked Leeks with White Sauce
It’s a lot of work… sometimes I wonder if I’d lose more if i just worked out everytime I worked on losing weight…food journals, blogs, meal planning, etc.
It’s crucial for me. It’s really easy to slip into bad habits and start eating more than I realize during the day if I don’t write it down. But then, I have always been a very visual person. It’s how I learn best.
I’ve used small blank notebooks from Walmart and usually will put the date, my weight and record the exercise I do on that day. I’ve been doing it for a couple of years and I prefer the notebooks to online stuff because it’s portable and I try to limit my time on the computer.
MamaBearJune´s last blog ..What I’m doing
I’m an online WW member and I track my food on the site. I have a food diary on the table in the living room where I write down every thing I eat and enter it on the site at night. If I enter everything immediately I get cranky because I’m thinking to much about points.
Writing down helps me a lot, if I don’t do it there’s going food in my mouth which shouldn’t go there. I intend to keep this up till I’m at goal weight, then a few months to maintain and then let it go. I should be able to do it without at that time.
I like Sparkpeople very much but tracking the food is difficult since I’m Dutch and we have other products and other measurements but the articles are great!
Fran´s last blog ..A day in my life: Wednesday January 13th 2010
I have done this in the past and it has been helpful. I am thinking about doing it again for a little while.
Kat´s last blog ..Perfect 10 – Update #2
I have just been tracking it in a section on my blog and found that works really well for me. Actually, I find that I do better anytime I track things, whether it’s my food, fitness, or expenses!
josie´s last blog ..Perfect 10 – Week 2 Update
I love SparkPeople, too.
My food diary while I was losing weight was my food blog. For the first year or so of blogging, I took a picture of everything that went into my mouth and put it on the internet. That kept me accountable more times than not!
Lara (Thinspired)´s last blog ..The Best Chili