The Importance of Using a Weight Loss Journal

Weight loss journals allow you to record everything you eat and drink, as well as your physical activity and many other things. As you get ready to start losing weight during the winter or holiday season, the journal can become one of the best tools at your disposal.

It Keeps You Accountable

When you have a weight loss journal, you typically record everything that is related to your weight loss journey, including everything you eat, what you drink, when you exercise, and even your thoughts and feeling about your diet. This holds you accountable to what you do or don’t do on any given day. No longer do you feel satisfied at the end of the day that you most likely made good choices, but you can actually see them written down, which then makes you accountable for the choices you made. If you see in the journal you didn’t do so great today, then you are motivated to do better tomorrow.

You Can See Your Personal Dieting Trends

It is also possible that by the end of the day or the week, you really don’t know why you tended to have more severe cravings on some days, or why other days you were so exhausted that you didn’t get to your workout. With a journal, you are recording everything, so it is easy to look back on it and see exactly what happened. If there was a day when you were stressed out, you might notice that you tend to eat more on those days, or maybe when you work too many hours, you don’t exercise. This information can be helpful to you in the future.

It Helps You Keep Track of Your Macros

When you are trying to lose weight, you don’t just need to know what you are eating, but exactly how much. You can easily keep track of all those macros with a weight loss journal. You want to record things like the amount of calories or fat grams, carbohydrates, sugar, protein, and various other details about what you are eating. You can also record details about workouts, getting the information from your Fitbit or another activity tracker you like to use.

You Can Use it For Emotional and Mental Purposes

Don’t forget that journaling provides a lot of mental and emotional support as well. Weight loss isn’t easy for most people, so you might really struggle with emotional eating, mental health disorders, stress, or anxiety during the process. Getting it all out on your journal is a good way to express those emotions in a healthy and productive way.

