Do you need a food journal to lose weight? Can a food journal help you lose weight? Most food journals focus on tracking your daily calorie consumption, but while it is undoubtedly important to keep a close eye on how many calories you consume every day, some would say that it is even more important to explore how you react to food and what triggers certain eating patterns.

I do not know if a food journal can help you lose weight in 1 month, but most people who are trying to lose weight seem to benefit from creating and using a food journal. Let’s face it – we all react to food in different ways. Do you eat sweets when you are under stress, for example? I do not but other people do, big time.

To find out how food affects you, keep a food-and-mood journal. Write down the following: Time of day, how you feel before you eat, what you eat, and how you feel after you eat. You do not need to write exact amounts because the goal is to track the correlation between food and your mood, not to track fat grams or calories. Keep the journal with you throughout the day to note any changes.

Write in the journal for at least three weekdays plus one weekend day. Then look back and see if you notice any patterns. For instance: Do you drink coffee every time your
brain feels foggy? Do you reach for chocolate after a stressful meeting at work? Do you feel especially sleepy after a carb-heavy lunch?

Keeping a journal can help you prepare for a number of triggers that make you eat unhealthy things. If you have a potentially stressful meeting on your schedule, plan to deal with the post-meeting stress by having a small bag of baby carrots on your hands.

Once you know how you use food and how it affects your mood, you will be more able to change your habits and make healthier choices, which can help you reach your weight-loss goal. [via]