How to Keep a Food Journal for Weight Loss

Many nutrition experts recommend using a food journal (or diary) as a first step in weight loss and even in weight management. Doing so enables you to assess how and why you eat the way you do, to identify current problem areas in your eating plan and get to the root cause for poor eating behaviors. Also, a food journal can be a useful tool in designing your best eating plan.

What’s the best method for keeping a food journal?

There are many methods for keeping a food journal, including sophisticated ‘food diary’ programs for your computer and applications (apps) for your mobile device. Some programs are free while others require a fee. If you are new to food journaling, consider starting out simple and basic, with paper and pencil. With this approach, you focus on one simple task: writing down everything you eat and drink, being as specific as possible. It sounds simple enough…so why do so many people find it difficult to use a food journal? It can be tedious, you may become overwhelmed by the details, spend an inappropriate amount of time filling it out or wait too long to write down your meal, forgetting what you consumed and making it a fruitless exercise. Just like breaking a bad habit, creating a habit of self-monitoring, what, how much and how often you eat, takes time and dedication. It is worth it as you will soon notice that you are aware of everything you eat. Once this activity becomes second nature, consider using online tools for seamless food journaling. Try the old-school approach to food journaling for 2 weeks prior to delving into an online food journal or diary.

What information should I include in my food journal?

In your written food journal, track everything you consume over the course of about a week. Once this has become habitual, consider adding additional information to your entries. This will enable you to discover more about your eating habits and identify problematic issues. You may also wish to include:

Basic nutrition information: calories, possibly fat grams, grams of carbohydrate/protein/dietary fiber…
Portion sizes and meal or snack time (of day)
List of trigger foods and times of day when you have difficulty controlling your food intake
A rating scale for your appetite (1 to 5; one being not hungry and five being very hungry)
Reasons for eating other than true hunger (such as boredom or emotional factors)
Note ‘cravings’ or urges as well as how you feel before and after eating

It may take time/trial and error to find out which details are most helpful for you to include in your food diary. For example, if you are not an emotional eater, recording your feelings may not be beneficial. Similarly, if you track calories, but are clueless when it comes to portion size – this information might be confusing rather than helpful.  Regularly review the details you include to identify what can be omitted.

How does using a food journal help me to manage my weight?

Using a food journal helps you to manage your weight in several ways. Weight fluctuations over a period of time are most often due to a lack of physical activity, eating habits that lead to weight gain, advancing age, or a combination of all factors. For every decade beyond age 30 you need about 10% fewer calories for weight maintenance. Rarely does one consciously make the required adjustment.

In addition, many Americans are ‘mindless’ eaters, consuming snacks because they are present. Becoming mindful of what you eat helps prevent this. Since accurate food journaling requires noting portion sizes, you will need to measure out your foods (such as one cup of rice). This will eventually lead to better estimation of proper portion sizes. Just the act of having to account for every morsel of food that passes your lips is a deterrent. You may avoid (perhaps subconsciously) foods to keep from having to see the evidence in black and white, such as a handful of M&M's.

Patterns reflecting unhealthy eating behaviors may emerge in your records, such as eating in response to a learned behavior or repeated pattern. For example, if you consume a bag of chips and three beers during weekly football games, you need to learn not to eat in response to an activity or ‘coupling’ event. Coupling events (such as watching television) with eating, according to research, increases the amount of calories consumed. Instead, reward yourself with a healthy and delicious snack after the game and eat it at your designated eating place (DEP). The fewer places in the home you allow yourself to eat, the less you tend to eat. A less drastic measure may be to buy small bags of chips (one per game) or put them away after half-time, reducing your overall intake.

If a certain food ‘triggers’ overeating, you will know that you need to limit (or even avoid) that food. Perhaps the candy dish is calling your name after a stressful work day. Practicing stimulus control involves replacing a negative food cue with a positive one. Replace the candy jars with bowls of fruit. For those who eat or overeat often during times of stress or depression, and/or when your hunger level is low, it is recommended that you delve into the issues behind this. Perhaps with a professional’s help, you can come up with a checklist of activities you can use to divert your attention elsewhere or distract yourself. Or, maybe it is as simple as not eating enough at breakfast or lunch; leading to binging later in the day. Increasing the amount of food you eat earlier in the day may be helpful. It is a combination of addressing these factors that contribute to disordered eating that will help you manage your weight, long-term.

REFERENCES

• Hetherington, M.M., et al. 2006. Situational effects on meal intake: A comparison of eating alone and eating with others. Phys & Behav, 88;498–505.
• Higgs, S., Woodward, M. 2009. Television watching during lunch increases afternoon snack intake of young women. Appetite, 52;39-43.
• Rolls, B.J., Roe, L.S., & Meengs, J.S. 2006. Larger portion sizes lead to a sustained increase in energy intake over 2 days. J Am Diet Assoc, 106;543–49.

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