One factor that many successful dieters have labeled as the key to their weight loss success is keeping a food journal, however, there are those that absolutely loathe the idea of having to keep track of everything they eat in a day.

Personally, I stand somewhere in the middle.  I believe it’s an excellent tool to help those starting out on a diet to get a good idea of how many calories they actually eat in a day (which can be a real eye opener), help them make the necessary adjustments when they aren’t seeing results or have hit a plateau and it’s a great way to see how far your diet has come.

Most people I have talked to generally don’t like the idea of tracking every item or calorie they eat for the rest of their lives.  I think food journal’s are great for helping novice’s create healthy eating habits, but overtime as these habits become permanent they can forget about their food journals all together.

Are you a little skeptical about starting a food journal?  Have you thought about it, but just not sure you want to jump in and record your daily eating habits?  You’re not alone!  To help those on the fence here’s 5 benefits of creating a food journal and exactly how to use it to maximize your weight loss potential.

1. Track down those “extra” calories that sneak into your diet: you might be surprised at how many calories you consume at the end of the day.  Even if you ate “healthy” for breakfast, lunch and dinner, all those little snacks you thought were harmless can really add up.
2. Know when you can cheat: If your below your caloric goal for the day and you haven’t cheated in a few days, then you know you can afford to have a bowl of ice cream or whatever you’re craving at the moment.
3. Increase your self control: Consciously knowing that you have to write down everything you eat may help you pass on that dessert or second helping.
4. Blast through plateau’s: Everybody hit’s plateau’s while on their diets and there is no easier way to blast through this than by going through your food journal and seeing where you can easily make changes to start losing weight again.
5. Motivation: It can be very motivating to look through your food journal and see how far you’ve come, the successes you’ve had and to be able to visualize how far you can go in the future.

So how do you get started?  There are many ways to keep your food journal, whether it be writing it down or plugging your data into an online program and there are many factors you could record such as:

• What you consumed: Include everything you ate or drank in detail.
• Amount consumed: Possibilities include size, volume and/or weight of the food.  Or break it down by calories and/or macronutrients (protein, carbs and fat).
• Time: The time of day in which you ate or drank.
• And more: Some people like to zero in on other factors such as the mood they were in when they ate, where they ate at and even who they ate with – all factors which can influence the amount you eat.

The key is making your food journal work for your specific diet goals.

What is your opinion of food journals?

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