HOW JOURNALING CAN HELP WITH YOUR WEIGHT LOSS

Before I started working on my weight loss journal (or better to say: before I started my weight loss journey) I was always (and I mean every day) writing about my dissatisfaction with my weight. I felt anxious with every new pound I got and getting dressed to go out into the world was always a challenge because I felt bad.

Through journaling I realized that part of my anxiety was connected to my weight, so I decided to do something about it. Well, it took me some time to actually start. For months I’d write in my journal about my weight, always complaining, always telling myself that I should start. Then one day I actually started.

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In the past I tried various diets: from the infamous Military diet to South Beach, 5:2 Intermittent Fasting and Keto. They were all somewhat successful (well, all except Military diet – a week really isn’t enough to lose anything). I would generally lose a few pounds and gave up pretty quickly after. But this time I decided it would be different. I was determined more than ever and promised myself I wouldn’t give up.

My choice of diet was Intermittent Fasting. I was eating in a 5-hour window and fasting other 19 hours – in time I switched to OMAD (One Meal a Day) and now I’m eating all my daily food in one hour window. My biggest problem is snacking. I’d eat a hearty breakfast but half an hour later, while fixing myself coffee I’d munch on a cookie. Or a few hazelnuts. Or almonds. Or some cake. Or all of the above 🙂 And I’d do that throughout the day.

So I decided to make myself accountable and started keeping a weight loss journal. I know there are great apps for tracking your food intake (like My Fitness Pal) but I simply love pen and paper. As with any other journal, keeping a weight loss journal is all on you. Every person has his own way, so I needed to find my way.

First thing I needed was my stats page. The idea was to measure myself every two weeks and write down my stats, so I could keep track of my progress (or the lack of). I wrote down all the basic measurements: my height, weight, size of my waist, chest, arms, legs, belly, thighs and hips. I have a very inaccurate scale so measuring was the best way to keep track.

My stats page was the only page of my weight loss journal I prepared in advance, all the other were added later. On a daily basis, I record how much water I drank, what I ate (later I added at what time I ate), how much coffee or tea I drank and I added a section for my workouts. I was basically just doing yoga with Adriene almost every day so it was easy to keep track of my workout schedule.

Since I really wanted to work on my brush lettering and I don’t like those worksheets where you write each letter many times, I decided to write with my brush pen in my weight loss journal. Some days it was great, others not so much, depending on how much I concentrated and how fast I’d write. But I definitely see progress.

So basically, keeping my weight loss journal, where I recorded everything I put in my mouth really kept me accountable. I had one cheat day per week, so I really didn’t want to add bad foods to my journal on the other six days.

When I’d have a craving for some cake or chocolate I’d pull out my regular journal and write about it. During the process of writing, I’d remind myself why I’m doing this, what is my goal and how I want to ultimately feel. It always, and I mean ALWAYS, helped to curb those cravings. I’m really not a persistent person by nature but journaling really helped me and I must say it really is a life savior.

I’m still on my weight loss journey. In these few months, I lost around 12 pounds and have another 15 to lose. It’s a slow, but consistent loss. And journaling is really helping me in achieving my goals.