If someone asked you what you ate yesterday, would you be able to tell them?
It’s so easy to lose track of all the little things that happen in a day. A (big) bite of a friend’s muffin, a handful of M&Ms at work, that latte before lunch. These are the things that are so easy to forget about. It’s almost like if it didn’t fill us up, it didn’t count.
But it all counts. It all really, really counts. Especially when it’s all added up at the end of the week.
This is the reason why financial budgets work. We as humans, are more likely to be accountable to the things we put on paper. If we can look at it, touch it, see it and remember it – we’re much more likely to think twice about doing that thing we need to be responsible for.
It’s the same reason why food journals work.
If you’re looking to meet any sort of health or weight goal, knowing what you eat is invaluable. When you write what you eat down, denial goes out the window.
HOW TO KEEP SIMPLE A FOOD JOURNAL
You don’t need anything special to do this. You don’t need a special app or any special equipment. All you need to do is open up the notes section on your phone or get a notebook you love, and you’ve started a food journal.
In your new food journal, there are 3 things you should be writing down every time you eat something.
We’re not talking about full sentences or a neatly organized paragraph. These are the cliff notes. The highlights that will remind you of the day on a whole. You’re not getting graded on this. It’s for your eyes only, so make notes in whatever way works best for you.
Here they are.
1. WHAT YOU ATE
Be clear and specific. Instead of writing down “salad”, write down everything you put in that salad. It all counts, good and bad. It might look like this:
A cobb salad with lettuce, tomato, fried chicken, blue cheese and bacon + ranch dressing.
2. HOW MUCH YOU ATE
Be descriptive if you don’t have amounts. You’re the only one reading this, so you’re the only one that needs to understand it.
I ate a salad, becomes:
The lettuce and tomato, all the fried chicken and bacon with a lot of ranch dressing.
If you ate a packaged item, check the nutrition facts and guesstimate how much you ate. Did you eat half of a bag that has 2 servings? Then you ate 1 serving. Add the brand in, if you’ve got it.
You’ll know your favorite salad spot always gives you extra bacon, and “a lot” of dressing means there’s always ranch pooling at the bottom of the salad bowl.
We don’t need a measuring cup to know that double bacon and enough extra dressing to make another salad is more than we should be eating.
3. TIME YOU ATE
We have crazy schedules. It’s easy to never have time to eat breakfast or always be starving by the time you get home from work. Crazy schedules are the main reason why we snack.
Adding in the time of day to what and how much you ate might look like this:
2/3 of break room jelly donut at 2:45pm.
Writing down that you had a full bag of chips and then being able to see it happened during that 6 hours stretch between your early breakfast croissant and your late lunch meeting, can help you quickly see where your weak spots are hiding.
Bonus points if you also write down what you did during or after you ate (1pm lunch at desk while doing work).
KEEPING TRACK OF YOUR DAILY HABITS AND WEEKLY PATTERNS
This easy 3 step food journal set-up will give you a straightforward road map of what you do every day.
You’ll quickly see the strengths and weaknesses of your overall eating habits without having to worry about counting or researching anything.
This food journal gets right to the heart of where you’re starting, and where you can improve.
You will very quickly learn:
- How many times a week do you eat vegetables?
- How many times a day do you eat fast food?
- Do you drink way more juice then water?
- Do you put 4+ sugars in your small coffee?
- Do you eat right before bed every night?
Do this for a month and you’ll have a solid road map that will focus your attention on how to hit your personal goals.
And once you’ve got the map, there’s nothing left to do except follow it to your final destination.
Need to eat more vegetables? Start here.
Want to find better ways to snack? Try this.
Need a quick breakfast plan? Right here.