Keep a Journal for Weight Loss Success

One of the beautiful things about working out is progress. You get to see and feel your body transform. One way to see this progress is through the use of a diary (for us guys, a “journal”, not a “diary”). By keeping a record of topics such as diet, workout progress, etc. a person has an easy method of determining how much progress they have - or haven’t - made. According to a study conducted by the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, use of a journal can double your weight loss and help the weight stay off. In the study, 1,500 overweight adults were placed on a diet and workout regimen. After five months, participants lost an average of 13 pounds.

The participants who kept a journal daily, however, lost twice as much, and after four years had kept off more of the weight. A journal gives you not only a goal, but a sense of accountability - and you don’t want to let yourself down, right? Starting a journal is fairly easy, you can buy ready-made journals such as BodyMinder, you can make your own, or you can use online journals, such as DailyPlate.

BodyMinder has weekly plan worksheets for you to list out days you intend to work out in a given week and what type of exercise you are doing. After filling out your weekly plans, there are daily workout sheets where you input the work you actually accomplished. These are divided into strength and cardio sections. There is also a dietary section where you may keep track of foods you ate for that day.

Daily Plate has both fitness and diet sections and features a huge database of foods and fitness activities. They even have calorie breakdowns of various foods and the journal keeps track of your caloric intake and expenditures. The Daily Plate site also provides peer support in the form of discussion forums and groups. You can pick a goal, find a group for it and engage in discussion with people who have similar fitness goals to your own.

Keeping a journal can be an educational and rewarding experience, but you must have the honesty to keep accurate records and the persistence to keep it going. Once you get in the habit of keeping your journal, you may find yourself wondering how you ever made it without one.

Written by: Donnell Peavy