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Written by: Linda Knittel
Writing down
what you eat each day practically
guarantees weight-loss success. In fact,
dieters who record daily what they
consume drop twice as much weight as
those who don't, according to a study by
a health insurance company. As you lose
pounds, you'll gain something else: a
keen understanding of why and when you
overeat. You may learn that you're
feeding your stomach when you really
should be feeding your soul. "Keeping a
food journal forces you to be
accountable for what you're putting into
your body," says Victoria Moran, a New
York City-based motivational speaker and
author of Fit From Within
(Contemporary Books, 2002). "It also
provides you with a clear picture of the
food patterns that keep you from
reaching your weight goal."
Starting and
maintaining an effective food journal is
simple and takes just 10 to 15 minutes a
day. Here's how to do it right.
How to Start Your Weight-Loss Journey
Food will be the focus of your journal,
but you'll also track how often you
exercise. To identify your unhealthy
habits, you must commit to writing in
your journal every day for four weeks,
says Bob Wilson, a nutrition specialist
at Kaiser Permanente, a nonprofit health
insurance company in Portland, Ore.
Experts say that's enough time to change
your habits and start losing weight. And
if you regain weight, you can resume
journal-keeping for short periods to get
back on track. To begin, follow these
five steps.
STEP 1: Get
Your Journal Ready.
Purchase a notebook (preferably a 6-by-9
inch one) and take a few minutes to
prepare the pages: Allot two pages per
day for the next two weeks, and divide
each set of pages into four columns.
Label the columns as follows: What I
Ate, When and Where I Ate, How Hungry I
Was, and How I Was Feeling. At the
bottom of one of each day's pages, mark
off space and label it Exercise.
STEP 2: Record
What You Eat.
For the next two weeks, dine and snack
as you normally would. Immediately after
you finish eating or drinking something
(even water), write it down in your
journal, recommends Anne Fletcher, R.D.,
a Minnesota-based nutritionist and
author of Thin for Life (Houghton
Mifflin, 2003). Fill out each column as
completely as you can. If you do
something else while eating or drinking
(like working or watching television),
note that under the column When and
Where I Ate. For example, Monday's lunch
entry might include the following
information:
What I
Ate: 1 can albacore tuna, 2
tablespoons mayonnaise, 1 stalk celery,
2 slices rye bread, 2/3 cup baked potato
chips, 5 Hershey's Kisses, and 2 cups
green tea
When and Where I Ate: 1 p.m., at
my desk while working on deadline
How Hungry I Was: ravenous
How I Was Feeling: stressed
At the end
of each day, estimate the calorie and
fat counts of everything you ate and
drank. Whenever you consume a packaged
food or drink, note in your journal
under "What I Ate" the calorie and
saturated fat count from the nutrition
label. For those items that don't have a
label, wait until the end of each day to
add their calorie and fat counts.
Consult a calorie and fat counter, like
The Doctor's Pocket Calorie, Fat &
Carbohydrate Counter (Family Health
Publishing, 2002) by Alan Borushek, or
the website
CalorieKing.com,
for this information. Also note how much
water you drank. Finally, write what you
did for exercise that day and for how
long.
STEP 3: Study Your
Notes.
After two weeks, review your
journal. Use a highlighter to mark
the days when you ate and drank more
than 2,500 calories or more than 65
g of fat. Note the days you drank
less than four glasses of water.
Next, scour your journal for eating
patterns (like skipping meals) that
may be impeding weight loss; for a
list of common patterns and tips on
how to overcome them, see related
article, "How to Analyze the Secrets
in Your Journal." Finally, mark
which days you skipped exercise.
STEP 4: Set Goals.
On the next blank page in your
journal, create a list of goals for
the coming week. Weight-loss experts
recommend the following four: Pledge
to drink six to eight 8-ounce
glasses of water a day. Promise to
cut back on calories; Derek Johnson,
R.D., a Los Angles-based
nutritionist, recommends shaving 500
calories a day from your diet until
you reach your ideal weight. Commit
to replacing foods high in saturated
fat, like butter, cheese, and red
meat, with foods high in beneficial
unsaturated fats, like almonds and
avocados, and omega-3 fats, like
salmon and walnuts, Johnson says.
And plan 30 minutes of moderate to
vigorous exercise a day (eventually
you'll want to add another 30 to 45
minutes of mild to moderate exercise
to that amount).
Add
your own food goals for the week
(like eating more vegetables). And
note any anticipated obstacles,
Fletcher says. If you have a
business dinner scheduled, plan to
call the restaurant ahead of time to
familiarize yourself with the menu.
Record your actual weight and target
weight.
STEP 5: Keep Writing.
Create two pages for each day of the
week ahead, again dividing each page
into two columns. For the next seven
days, abide by the eating and
exercise goals you set and record
everything you eat and drink, as
well as when, how, and how much you
exercise. After seven days, weigh
yourself and write down how much
weight you've lost. Check to see how
often you met your goals. Then
create a new goals page (include new
goals and a new workout schedule,
and consider modifying the goals you
missed from the week before) and a
new set of pages for each day of the
coming week. Again, record all
meals, snacks, and workouts
throughout the week and review your
notes after the seven days are up.
You've now kept your food journal
for four weeks.
How to Analyze the Secrets in Your Journal
When you scrutinize the information
you've recorded in your journal each
week, chances are you'll notice some
patterns. Spotting the patterns and
learning ways to overcome them will
lead to long-lasting weight loss,
says Woodbury, N.Y.-based Maria
Walls, R.D., a senior nutritionist
for Weight Watchers. Here are the
six most common harmful eating
habits and how to change them.
You Skip Meals and
Splurge Later.
Do you wake up early but don't eat
anything until midday? Or do you get
so wrapped up in work projects that
you skip lunch? In both cases, you
probably become famished and are
more likely to make poor food
choices and overindulge, says Walls.
Deprivation followed by
overindulgence can wreak havoc on
your weight-loss ef- forts. To keep
your metabolism steady so you can
lose weight, eat breakfast within 45
minutes of waking, and then eat
every 3 1/2 hours, snacking on a
piece of fruit or a handful of nuts
between meals, says Johnson.
You Ease Stress
with Food.
If you find yourself overeating
when you're stressed, you need
to find other ways to manage
that stress. Pinpoint the most
pressure-packed times in your
day and, although it may seem
counterintuitive, schedule a
quick break during those times.
A short breathing exercise or
walk outside will help prevent
or alleviate stress so you're
less likely to reach for food.
In addition, keep healthy snacks
like celery around so when you
feel the urge to munch, you'll
reach for those instead of
chips. Or get into the habit of
drinking a cup of mildly
sedating chamomile tea (Matricaria
recutita) to soothe your
frazzled nerves.
You Nibble Late
at Night.
For many people, emotional
eating occurs between dinner and
bedtime, says Walls. If your
journal reveals that you consume
up to 50 percent of your daily
calories after dinner, check how
you felt during those times. If
you were bored, make a list of
nonfood activities you can do to
relieve the boredom, Walls
advises. Read a book or write a
letter. If you tend to feel blue
in the evenings, call a friend
or take a short walk outside.
Your Hormones
Drive You to Eat.
By comparing your journal
entries with your menstrual
cycle you may notice that
cravings hit at certain points
in the month, says Johnson. Once
you've discovered when your
cravings occur, stock your
kitchen with satisfying healthy
foods during those times. For
example, if you crave salty
foods during your period, snack
on soybeans in the shell, also
called edamame (available in
natural food stores and some
grocery stores). If you crave
sweets, keep fresh fruit on
hand. But keep in mind that
these foods aren't calorie-free
(edamame has 188 calories per
1/2 cup and a medium apple has
80 calories), and eat sensible
portions.
You Eat Mostly
Carbohydrates.
If you see the words "bread,"
"cookies," and "pasta" in most
of the entries in your journal,
you're eating too many refined
carbohydrates, which can cause
erratic blood sugar levels and
make you crave more food, says
Johnson. To keep your blood
sugar levels even, eat foods
containing healthy fat (like
fish and flaxseeds) and lean
protein (like nuts and beans).
When you do choose breads and
pastas, select only those made
with whole grains (like quinoa,
spelt, or wheat). Determine when
your carb cravings hit and have
healthier options on hand at
those times.
You Eat More When
You Eat Out.
If you exceed your daily calorie
count because of rich restaurant
food, cook at home more often.
When you do eat out, choose a
restaurant that offers a healthy
menu and head off hunger pangs
with a small snack (like a few
nuts or a piece of fruit) before
you arrive. Then sip a glass of
water while you peruse the menu
to distract yourself from
overordering or nibbling on
bread. And if you feel
comfortable with your dining
companions, let them know you're
watching your diet; you'll be
less likely to overeat if they
know you're trying to cut back.
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