One of the single biggest helps for my own personal weight loss has been the use of a foodlog. It is nothing fancy, just a text file that I keep on my computer at work, but for the past three months it has helped me remain accountable to my fitness goals and has served as an encouragement, reminding me of all the progress I’ve made.
“what is a foodlog?”
A foodlog is simply a way to keep track of what you’ve been eating. Every day I simply enter in the food I ate at each particular meal. I neglect nothing! Every meal item and every snack goes into the foodlog. Also, I use my foodlog to keep track of my daily exercise and my weekly weight. It is pretty much my own digital personal trainer. It shows me what I’ve accomplished and how far I’ve come. It can also shame me and prod me to work harder. See the typical entry below:
8.13.07 (204.0)
B: egg biscuit; unsweet tea; coffee – black
L: chickfila grilled chicken garden salad; honey mustard dressing; unsweet tea
S: water; honey roasted peanuts
D: ground beef soft tacos – tortilla, beef, black beans, cheese, lettuce, salsa
S: glass of milk
X: jog 2.0 miles
“how do I make a foodlog?”
There’s really nothing to make. A foodlog is just a journal of your eating. For my own foodlog I simply opened Notepad and used the format above. I put today’s date and weight. Then I keep track of each meal and snack I have throughout the day. The “B:” is breakfast, “L:” is lunch, “D:” is dinner and “S:” are the two snacks I sometimes take throughout the day. Lastly, I like to post my exercise of the day as well. Next to the “X:” I list any physical activity that I made a conscious effort to include in my day. (I’m not counting the walk to and from the car here, this is dedicated exercise time). Every time you make an entry, save the file to your Desktop or some other easily accessed location and go about your day. Another tip I’d like to mention is to fill in the foodlog only AFTER you have eaten or exercised, not BEFORE. This way, it’s like a reward to be able to proclaim the salad you had for dinner and the mile you ran the night before.
“what if I forget?”
To keep myself logging all my daily meals, I have integrated this with my email client. MS Outlook (and pretty much every email client out there) has a reminder functionality built in. I simply set a reminder for each day to go off about the time I get in to work. Now, each day I have a pop-up alerting me to fill out the foodlog for the previous day and to keep nutrition in my mind. If you forget or miss a day, simply try to fill in the missing days as best you can once you remember. It’s important to keep this going.
Once you see your progress for a few days or weeks, keeping up with the foodlog is more and more exciting. Literally being able to watch your pounds fall off from day to day is incredibly rewarding and always keeps me motivated to eat right and exercise throughout the day. The power behind this strategy is amazing. I believe it has really been the single biggest factor that has made my recent fitness journey a success.
