Musings: Reasons to keep a food diary when losing weight

When I’m at the top of my weight loss game, (which, lol, hasn’t been for a while) there’s one thing I always do. And that, my friends, is keep a food diary

If you were really good when you first started, you probably tracked every last crumb of food you ate diligently. And then you’d kind of forget one day, or ya know, you wouldn’t add that small piece of chocolate, or you had a really bad day and didn’t want to ruin a pretty page in your diary…

We’ve all been there.

I know I go through spells of using one all.the.time and spells where I just try and guess what I’ve eaten and how many syns I’m on.

And guess what?!

Funnily enough, I always get the better weight losses when I keep a food diary!

Shock!

I think it’s because when I keep a food diary, I’m always honest and feel more motivated when I can see where all my food is coming and going from.

So today, I’m here to tell you why you should defo keep a food diary, at all times, when losing weight.

1)      They’re great for reflection 

Bad week? Pin point why or where you went wrong and learn from it? Good week? Same again please the next week please!

2)      You know where you stand

So you had 5 syns for breakfast, and want a 7 syn sandwich at lunch, well now you know you can do that because you’ve kept track of everything. *Pats self on back and eats sandwich with smug smile*.

3)      It helps you plan ahead

If you know you’ve got a big event or meal coming up, why not fill your diary in ahead of time? Then you only eat what is written down, and you know that you’re still on track for a stellar weight loss that week. Bostin’. (I don’t know why I felt the need to put that, but I have and I’m going to leave it there.)

4)      It keeps you honest with yourself 

You know those little things you think don’t matter? They do! If you have a square of chocolate, write it down. It helps serves my first point, if you’ve had a bad week, you can see where you went wrong and also, if you know you’ve had say 1 syn, you can take it off your daily allowance and re-budget that syn elsewhere.

5)      It doesn’t matter how you do it

Pen and scrap of paper? Fancy pants notepad? Actual food journal? Some sort of snazzy app? You do you, just make sure you do actually track, it doesn’t matter how!

6)      They’re extra motivation

You know how at school you always had to write on the first page of a new notebook in your neatest handwriting? Well for me, I get the same kind of feeling when I use a food diary. Not so much handwriting, but in the need to be that little bit more careful and extra dedicated. I want my food diary to look good, so I make sure what I’m eating is good so I can reflect that.

I know I’m talking in syns in this blog post, this can also work for SmartPoints if you’re following Weight Watchers or Calories if you’re counting those bad boys. Regardless of what way you’re losing weight, keeping a food log is so important.

My food diary in these pictures is from Butterfly Ever After Food  Journals who very kindly sent me this bad boy. I haven't been paid to write about, or mention them, and all thoughts and the wonders of keeping a food diary are my own!