How to Keep and Use a Food Journal

Did you catch the recent study that was just published on the benefits of keeping a food journal? If you missed it, they had a large sample of 1,700 people and they found that those who kept a log of everything they ate lost twice as much weight as those who didn't.

I have been touting the value of food records for years, and if you are someone who would like to lose weight, I highly recommend trying it. It is tedious and it can be hard to write down high calorie days, but it is so worth it.

How to keep these records is very much up to you. Some people carry around a little steno pad and write it on that. If you have an I-phone, or a Blackberry, you can keep your records that way. If you are at your computer a lot, you can keep them on your computer. There are several online options for keeping food records as well, and most of them are free.

The information your records should contain are: your daily weight, the foods and amounts of calories for each entry (drinks too if they have calories), and any calories burned in exercise. Add the calories at the end of each day to see how you're doing. Some people will subtotal throughout the day so they know where they stand as they head into the evening.

The best way to utilize the information is to take it week by week and average out your calories, weight and exercise for the week. You can gauge your progress fairly accurately by looking at your average weekly weight, average weekly calories in and average weekly calories burned in exercise. Compare your numbers week by week instead of day by day. It is what we do on average, and not each day, that determines our weight.

To be the weight you want to be, women take that weight and multiply it by 10, men use 12. This will give you your average daily calorie allotment, without exercise, to maintain that weight. So, if I want to weigh 130 lbs., I need to balance my calories around 1,300. I can eat 1,500 if I add in 200 calories of exercise.

If you are taking in more calories than you'd like, and your weight is higher than you want it to be, keeping track will allow you to not only see what you are doing, but will also give you insight into how to change it. One trick to try is to look back over your records and circle any food(s) you could have lived without. By taking in just 100 to 200 calories less per day, you will begin to see results. You must deficit 3,500 calories to lose a pound of fat.

That's it for now. Good luck and let me know how you're doing.

If you'd like to participate in the research for Irene's new book about the process of weight loss, please visit http://www.eatingdisordertherapist.com/and take the survey.

Comments

[reader39]

I've started doing this but do you have any tips for how to gauge the calories in restaurant food? For example, if I know I'm going out to eat for dinner, I try to stick to low cal fruits and veggies throughout the day (saving the calories for the nice meal!) but I really have no idea of how to figure out the calories for the restaurant dinner. Obviously 4 cheese pasta has more calories than a grilled chicken entree but I never know how to log this and I have no clue of what the calorie count is for anything since I think there are probably a LOT of hidden calories....I would definitely appreciate any tips anybody has for this...

[Irene Rubaum-Keller - Huffpost Blogger]

Hello reader39,
Good for you for keeping records and for pointing out one of the challenges with them. There are excellent calorie counting sites online, like www.calorieking.com, where you can look up almost any food and get the calorie counts. Restaurants will sometimes be able to tell you as well and some are even printing the calories on their menus. Good luck.

[Skye]

Food journals are also helpful for those who want to gain weight. We often have no idea how much or little we're eating unless we write it down.

[Irene Rubaum-Keller - Huffpost Blogger]

Yes Skye, you are right. Records can help you gain, lose or even eat more healthy foods. They keep you awake, aware and honest about what you are putting in your body. Thank you for your comment.

[gfk]

Thank you for this Irene. I have been keeping records since January and am now down 47 pounds. I hate keeping them, especially when I am overeating, but it works.

[Irene Rubaum-Keller - Huffpost Blogger]

Congrats gfk. Keep up the great work.