7 Things You Should Be Writing down in Your Weight Loss Journal if You Want to See Results ...

A weight loss journal is a valuable tool for keeping track of your goals and progress. Not only does it hold you personally accountable, but a weight loss journal also helps you see patterns that might be hindering your progress and patterns that are getting you to your goal weight. Make your weight loss journal work for you by writing down the following things in it each and every day. It can only help you if you use it properly so don’t slack off!

1 Everything You Eat Must Be Recorded

One of the most important things you can write down in your weight loss journal is the foods you eat throughout the course of the day. Keeping track of what you eat is a great way to make sure you’re only putting things on your plate that are conducive to weight loss. Having to write down a big bag of Doritos can also deter you from making unhealthy eating choices.

Frequently asked questions

2 Don’t Forget to Include How Much You Eat

It’s not good enough to just write down the food you eat. You also need to write down how much. That way you can see where cuts can be made if you aren’t seeing the results you want to see. If you need to, measure your food so that you know how much is going into your mouth at any given time. Just like having to write down junk food, recording a huge portion of something might be enough embarrassment to help you keep things in check.

3 Write down How You Feel when You’re Eating

You might think this has nothing to do with weight loss, but it absolutely does. How many of us have inhaled a pound of Oreos after a tough day at work? If you write down what you ate and how you felt when you ate it, you can start to see patterns so that you know what situations and emotions might drive you to overeat so that you can have a plan of attack in mind to get around it.

4 What Kind of Exercise You do is Important to Keep Track of

The current exercise recommendations include doing at least 30 minutes of cardio most days of the week and two or three strength training sessions each week. By writing down your workouts, you can make sure you are hitting those targets. Cardio includes things like walking, running, team sports, swimming, biking and dancing. Strength training includes lifting weights, doing kettlebells, using resistance bands or doing yoga.

5 Make Sure to Include How Long You Exercise

It’s great that you went for a walk at lunch today, but make sure you know how long your walk lasted so that you can supplement later if you need to. You can also use this information to be sure you’re getting enough physical activity as well as seeing which days are making it hard to meet those goals so you can make adjustments as necessary.

6 Record Your Weight and Measurements Regularly

This isn’t something you have to do every single day, but it’s an important thing to record at least once a week or so. That’s because you can monitor where you’re at and if you’re losing as quickly as you want to. If not, you can make changes going forward to support your goals.

7 Keep Track of Your Future Goals in Your Journal

Having your goals written down in front of you, along with the steps you need to take to reach those goals is a powerful way to ensure success. As you meet each goal, check it off the list and then write down your future goals.

Do you keep a weight loss journal? Which of these things do you include?