The Best Trick For Doubling Your Weight-Loss

If you’ve set your sights on losing weight, but miles on the treadmill haven’t helped to change the results on the scale, it may be time to keep a food journal. Research has shown that people who keep a food journal can lose twice as much as people who don’t, so this nifty tool may be your secret weapon when it comes to weight loss.

One study tracked people that took part in a six-week weight-management program and found that Keeping a food journal was one of the methods that kept participants accountable when maintaining weight loss for as much as two years after the weight-management program ended, with 70% of participants still keeping food journals after the program.

Why a Food Journal Is Effective for Weight Loss

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It keeps you accountable

If you don’t write it down, chances are you’ll forget it, or just overlook the small stuff thinking that it doesn’t count. It does. It all does. Most people have a bad habit of casually snacking throughout the day, and having a food journal can make a person more mindful of their midday munching. Add to that, many people also make healthier choices when it comes to what they eat when they know that they’ll be keeping a record of what they eat. 

It identifies trends

If you’re the type to sneak a bit of the kids’ food before giving it to them or making a small snack while you cook, you’re not likely to be mindful of these sneaky calories. Because they don’t correlate to the food from meals and pre-planned snacks, they’re easy to overlook. But they need to be accounted for. Keeping track of every bite and every sip may help you notice some not-so-healthy trends hiding in your diet.

How to Keep a Food Journal

The most basic way to keep a food journal is to use a pen and paper, but if you’re constantly on the go, there are various fitness apps that offer food journaling features as well. Either way, you’ll want to keep track of everything you eat and drink throughout the day. Here are a few tips to get the most out of your efforts.

4. Log Quickly

Don’t wait until bedtime to track what you’ve consumed for the day. You’re less likely to accurately recall portion sizes and more likely to overlook the snacking. Instead, log your intake when it happens. If you meal prep — and snack prep — you can log some things ahead of time, but the key here is to stick with what you wrote.

3. Include those Extras

The ketchup with those fries? The dressing on your salad? The dipping sauce for those nuggets? It all counts. To keep an accurate and effective food journal, it’s critical to pay attention to all of the extras you would normally overlook. Seeing these extras — and how they might change the nutritional value of your meal — might help you make healthier diet decisions. And that includes the creamer in your coffee.

2. Record Your Mood

One tip that can really help to identify trends in your eating habits is to write down your mood when you eat as well. Do you tend to go for the chips when you’re bored? Are you drowning your sorrows in soda? You may be surprised to find that your emotions are more connected to your weight loss journey than you thought. Keeping a food journal can help you recognize these habits and break them; possibly leading to improvements in other aspects in your life as well.

1. Get a Second Opinion

It’s not necessary to share your food journal with anyone else, but for some people, having an accountability partner can make a major difference in progress. Even if it’s just getting a friend to look over your notes to help brainstorm on how to address trends you may have noticed, sharing the data can be a great way to keep yourself on track and improve the way you fuel your body. For more detailed insight, consider taking your journal to a registered dietitian. They can better assess the information alongside your wellness goals and help you create a plan to make improvements where needed.

Keeping track of everything you eat and drink may seem like a daunting task, but it gets easier with time. Once you get the hang of it, it can be knocked out in minutes. When you take the data you’ve collected and use it to create healthier habits, you’ll see why a food journal is the best trick for doubling your weight loss.

Nick Bailey is a forward thinking journalist with a well-rounded skill set unafraid to take on topics head on. He now resides in Austin, TX and continues to create content on a daily basis.