A food diary can help you lose twice the weight than you would without one, according to a study by Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research. What's more, more than 70 percent of those who participated in the study lost enough weight to lower health risks like heart attack and stroke. Recording your diet and exercise in a journal gives you a means to be accountable to yourself, and see on paper how your progress is going. Without a fancy computer program, you can make and exercise and food journal that helps to keep you on track.
Step 1
Find a daily planner that already has the days on separate pages. This will give you plenty of room to record all of your diet and exercise details. If you don't have a planner handy, you can print off a food and exercise journal from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. Or, you can create your own with loose leaf paper in a three-ring binder.
Step 2
Separate each day or paper into five sections using a pencil and a rules. At the top of each section, label the column accordingly: the first to read "Food," the second "Amount," the third "Calories," the fourth "Feelings," and the fifth "Ratings." Then separate all of the columns with horizontal lines so that you can account for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. At the bottom of the daily page, add a section for "Exercise," "Reps/Time" and "Calories Burned,"
Step 3
Record each day in your food journal as you eat. Be completely truthful about the food and amount, and use the the nutritional facts label on your foods to find out the caloric intake. If you are eating something without a label, try a website like SparkPeople.com to tell you how many calories are in natural foods like apples or oranges. Under the "Feelings" heading, choose what emotion you felt when you were eating to identify emotional eating. Under "Rating," write on a scale from one to five how satiated you were at the end of the meal, a one meaning still very hungry, and a five meaning you were stuffed full.
Step 4
Write down the types and amounts of physical activity you do each day. Don't only record focused exercise, but other times you were able to squeeze in activity, like climbing the stairs to work or walking briskly through the supermarket. Then, use a website like CaloriesPerHour.com to find out how many calories you were able to burn for each activity.
Step 5
Compare the amount of calories consume to calories burned. To stay the same weight, they should be equal. To lose weight, you should burn more than you consume. If you are eating more calories than burning, you can easily see it and adjust your eating habits and exercise routine. Use your food and exercise journal as a way to stay accountable and identify problem areas.
Things You'll Need
- Ruler
- Pencil
- Journal
- Paper
- Binder
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