Keeping a Weight Loss Journal
Keeping a journal while dieting can be an effective tool for weight loss. Not only can you keep a log of all your dieting "facts", but you can also look back and view your progress over time. Below are some ideas of what to log in your journal.
Your Dieting Facts
Keep a record of all the technical aspects of your dieting. Your weekly weight should be at the top of the list. You should log any exercise performed for the day and for how long (you can also visit our calorie calculator to find out and log how many calories you burned while doing it).
Also write down all of the food you ate for that day and how many calories you consumed. Remember to include a log of all the water you drink. It will be easy to look back to ensure you are drinking 8 glasses of water each day.
Your Thoughts
Dieting is a roller coaster and there are bound to be good days and bad. Keep a record of your thoughts and feelings. If you had a tough day, write what you did to make it through while successfully remaining on your diet. If you had a great day, be sure to log how good you feel as a result and how positive you are. If you slip from your diet, write down how that made you feel and how you plan to make tomorrow a better day.
Not only does this allow you to work through your feelings, but you can also use it to stay focused. If you feel like grabbing a bag of chips, take a peek back to a day when you had a slip and read about how you felt. Then skip to a day when you did exceptionally well with your diet and see how good that made you feel. That can help motivate you to stay on track.
Inspiration
An important factor of your journal should be inspiration. Take a few pages in the back of your notebook to write down inspiring quotes or tape in motivational or spirit lifting comic strips. Add photos of yourself that allow you to see your progress since starting to keep your journal. Keep a picture or description of what you will reward yourself with when you have met your weight loss goal.
Keeping Focused
Keeping a journal during your dieting experience can be a good source of focus and motivation. Our site provides Free Printable Weight Loss Journal Pages that you can use in a three ring binder.
If keeping a journal with a pen and paper doesn't appeal to you, try using your PDA, or check out the following links for free online diet and weight loss journals:
FitDay Online Diet and Fitness Journal
Weight Watchers Journal to Success
You can also find many personal weight loss journals that people publish online to share.
Many people find that something as simple as writing down their thoughts and habits in their goal to lose weight can make a difference. And nothing is a better motivation than looking back to see your successes and how far you have come since you began.
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