Keeping a Weight Loss Journal

By Dr. Edward F. Group III, DC, ND, DACBN
updated on 11/19/2007 at 03:05PM

With e-mails, text messaging and iPods taking over modern communication, receiving a hand-written letter via Postal Mail (dubbed Snail Mail by the Internet savvy) is like seeing a flying saucer. Surely, anything that needs to be said could be conveniently conveyed in a thirty-two character text message. Since old-fashioned writing has taken a backseat to new-fangled technology, reminisce about the good old days with stationary paper and a few pencils via your new weight loss journal.

If skimming off a few dozen pounds for a healthy, more attractive body is your goal, keeping a weight loss journal can make the difference between losing five pounds at the end of the week and adding another roll to the assorted folds of skin around the back of your neck. You can chronicle your weight loss losses, and there will be a few, in an everyday spiral notebook, or let your friends and family follow your progress through an innovative blog. Either way, getting your weight loss goals out of your head and into the atmosphere is the first step to getting that dream body out of that fashion magazine and staring back at you from the reflection in your full-length mirror.

Steps for Keeping a Weight Loss Journal

Update the Journal Everyday: You will be able to make more accurate dietary determination if you are able to compare daily entries.
Weigh yourself regularly: It's difficult to tell how much of an impact your all natural diet plan is having without a number to take on the incredible disappearing waistline. Weigh yourself regularly, but don’t go overboard, it’s far from the most important part of weight loss.
Remember the Inches: You may not move a single pound on Friday (also known as Weigh Day), but maybe you’ve lost an inch around the belly, perhaps some inches of that odd material that have been clinging your thighs since the late eighties have disappeared. Don't be afraid to pull out that measuring tape-it might just make your day.
Keep a Detailed Log of Food and Liquid Intake: You'll want to include those grams of fat, calories, even the glasses of water you take down. The detailed intake log allows you to look back on Weigh Day and determine just how many more calories you need to cut from your diet. Or perhaps your light daily exercise routine could use a change-up. Writing down what you eat can be a great indicator as to what you should and shouldn't be eating. Be sure to include the cheats!
Chronicle your range of emotions; you'll likely experience them all. You never know when you might need the encouragement to steer clear of chocolate, candies and other yummies that might threaten your weight loss goals.
Say Cheese: With an online blog or an old composition book, include pictures new pictures to match your entries every couple of weeks. Not only will they serve as confidence boasters for you on the Weigh Day when you gain three pounds, but at the end of your journey you'll have visual records to all the progress you made along the way.
Meet Goals-Buy New Book: There's nothing wrong with rewarding meeting your seven pound weight loss goal with a trip to the local movie theater-but try not to eat too many chocolate covered raisins from the concession stand.

Keeping a Weight Loss Journal

Keeping a weight loss journal isn't like that old dusty thing you hid under your bed in seventh grade. This isn't the place to write about Mrs. Sanders' relationship with her gardener, or your co-workers' hangnail. Keeping a weight loss journal is about just the facts, and your feelings on your weight loss. It’s encouraged that you write about your successes, challenges, sorrows, frustrations and the occasional Twinkie relapse on your journey towards that 26 inch waist.

And if you're exercising, a recommended part of any natural weight loss program, list what you did and for how long. Even light jog or a few moments before bed on the treadmill will help you lose weight. At the end of the week when you gear up to go to war with the nearest scale, you'll be able to use your detailed journal to see which new regimes are/aren't helping you reach your goal.

Keeping a weight loss journal is about inspiration. When you're sipping lemonade on your front porch in the same pair of jeans you wore on your first day of high school, you'll be able to flip through your old weight loss journal and remember just how much determination it took for you to get back into those denims.

About the Author

Dr. Edward F. Group III continues to develop, sell and evaluate exclusively high-end natural and organic healthcare products to support a wide range of health conditions. The products we promote are free of toxic tag-along herbicides, insecticides, pesticides, heavy metals, fumigants, irradiation, liver-toxic glues, binders, or gelatin capsules with animal-source risk and toxic preservatives.

For more information, please visit www.slimirex.com and www.weightlossobesity.com.