The Value of Keeping a Food Journal for
Weight Management and Weight Control

Many people are interested in losing weight or controlling their weight. One of the most overlooked methods managing your weight (for those of us who happen to be over weight) is to keep a journal.

What kind of journal?

No, we are not talking about a diary of what happened to you each day, although that can be useful as well. What we are talking about in this article is a food journal. 

At a bare minimum, a food journal should contain a record of what you ate each day. Additional useful information can be included, such as where the food was from/who made it (fast food place, restaurant, home-made, etc.) as well as the portion sizes.

A food journal will allow you to keep track of what you eat, which means you’ll have a good record of your nutritional intake. A food journal will also give you the ability to actually see if you are overeating or eating the wrong types of foods.

Deficiencies can more easily be spotted, as can overindulgences.

Let’s say, for example, that you have a penchant for eating too much chocolate fudge cake. Your journal will make that immediately clear. And with a food journal, you will have no way to make excuses, nor any way to allow yourself to “forget” the fact that you ate things that were better left untouched.

So if you want an easy and effective way for you to better understand, control and correct your eating patterns and habits, a food journal is the way to go.

One final note: you may also benefit from keeping a food journal by showing it to a medical professional/registered dietician so that you can get concrete advice to help you control and manage your weight.