Hi everyone!

I was just wondering how many of you regularly do food journaling? I never have done it, but I just started recently. I've been counting calories for a long time, but I've mostly done "rough averages" or guestimations of calories rather than being super-specific. I've never really kept a log of what I ate day to day.

Well, after doing an online search, I found some free printable weekly food logs, and I started recording every single bite of food. It's kinda eye opening! I actually think I must be regularly eating more calories than I really think I am. I am losing weight, nonetheless, but I was surprised a little. Also, I like how I can see the TYPES of food I'm eating most often. For example, I could really cut down on the carby snacks and add in some fruits and veggies to make it more balanced. It's really interesting.

Anyone care to share their food journaling experiences? Does it help you to stick to the plan? I'm not sure yet if I'll be committed enough to do this everyday. How do you all do this?

Hi Kellost! Keeping a food journal is part of the program I am doing. I find that it helps! Since everything is recorded, I'm more careful not to cheat. Plus someone else is going to check over it. Very key for me.

I also kept a food journal when I had gestational diabetes with my last pregnancy. Again, saw such a huge difference in my habits when it went onto paper. Swore I would stick to it after having the baby and going back on a normal diet when not on a specific diet for the diabetes...but alas I did not stick with it as I now had noone keeping me accountable.

I have a little pad of paper that I keep with me at all times. I have recorded every bite of food since 12/28/09. It has been invaluable in keeping me on plan!

I use FitDay to track everything because I suck at doing it by myself.
I've always been journalling my food and such, but not exact numbers.
Since I started using FitDay I realized WHY I haven't been losing weight; because eyeballing portions and estimating calories totally misled me, and I really thought I was eating less and healthier, but I was really eating very poorly. I'm doing much better now

I was the exact same way before I began this weight loss journey. I would argue "there is no reason I should be gaining weight, I barely have any calories" HOWEVER, as I began to write things down and the amounts of calories, I can definetly see how my estimates could have been way off.

I have been writing everything down for 2 weeks now, and have lost 5lbs.

What website did you find the printable pages?

It's tedious but I find that when I slack off journaling, so does my weight loss even though it does not completely stop.

I have started food journaling and take a picture of everything I eat. I figure I don't want to write something down that I shouldn't have and, and I certainly don't want to take a picture of something I shouldn't have ate. It is like taking a picture is acknowledging my food, and all the calories,fat, etc. in it. When used in conjunction with my journal, it is the perfect tool to stay on track!

I keep track of my daily calories in a little notebook. I put my daily target first, then deduct throughout the day. It absolutely keeps me accountable. If I don't write it down, I overeat.

i found that it was the single tool behind my weightloss.

i used a software i had to buy, but there are free alternatives like fitday. the reason i paid for the software was because i didn't know about the free ones! but it's good, cos i can use it regardless if i am online.

be honest with it and you'll see great results.

on another note, i found really helpful to plan the whole day ahead! that way i never found myself thinking about what dinner i would have and how to fit it in.

I journal online, its easier for me to track what i eat and one of the things that jumped out at me was the amount of sugar in my diet. i'm not diabetic nor have any problems with my insulin levels. however it was a big eye opener. i discovered that alot of products marketed as low fat 'healthy' food had a lot of sugar. the DRV of sugar is 40grams and alot of yogurts have 20grams, a banana 22, granolas 16g. this does not help the dieter at all, it definately does nothing for me, i have quite the sweet tooth. now because in part of my logging my meals, i get my sweet kicks in other ways.

I keep a small notebook and plan and write down what I'm going to eat every day. I find that it keeps me from straying from my plan when I have already written down exactly what I will be eating. Also, it helps me to know exactly when and what my next meal will be, no guess work and I love it. On top of my food, I journal my weekly weightloss goals, progress, and measurements. I couldn't do without it!

I journal on my "Lose it" program. Now a days I eat the same thing every week day that I don't journal because I already know what the total is. But if I do decided to throw in something different I will journal in the whole day to get the grand total.
Everything's measured.
We try not to go out to eat anymore but when we do it's hard to keep track of that food unless we make it a point to eat only at places where Calorieking has info on.

I journal in just a plain notebook. Every evening, I write down the plan for all my meals and snacks for the next day. This way it's already there. It helps to make sure I'm not eating too many carbs and holds me accountable.

It's something I'll probably be doing for the rest of my life.

Yes, it's an excellent, excellent tool!

I've used journaling as a "get started" technique - I tell myself I will *just* write everything and I don't have to make any changes. But the writing itself causes such an awareness - and leads to me wanting to improve my habits.

I use a plain notebook, one page per day, so I can "customize" it the way I want to.


The online tools like Fitday are also very helpful and very convenient since they give you the calories counts as you track. But I myself am partial to writing my journal by hand. Any counts I don't know I look for online or on the food packaging.

I use SparkPeople for journaling what I eat. I'd say counting calories is the main reason why I'm losing weight. Although the daily exercise sure does help.