Knife, Fork, Spoon & Pen

What if there was one thing you could to do that almost* guaranteed you would lose twice as much weight? What if this one thing was free, had no side effects and was not sold via late night infomercial with annoyingly perky spokeswoman and eager yet questionable physician touting effects? Yes, yes, I’m serious! It exists!! Are you ready for me to tell you what it is?!

It’s….. A FOOD LOG!

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Hey, where are you all going?

Seriously, what’s the big DEAL over this little collection of papers? I have never found such an effective, worthwhile tool that has been met with so much freaking resistance.

You think it’s hard? Define hard. If your definition of hard is “twenty minutes to look up calories of foods I ate and write them down in a little notebook”, then I would like your life. I’m willing to bet many of the zillion other things you do in your day are much, much harder than putting pen to paper with a calorie book by your side. (Or fingers to keyboard if you’re e-savvy with your food log.)

*A study came out this year that found people who wrote their food downs and ate healthy (specifically the heart-healthy DASH diet) lost TWICE as much weight as the people who followed the same plan without tracking. This study included nearly 1700 participants, making it one of the largest weight loss studies of its kind. It was published in the August 2008 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and was followed up by USA Today, CBS, Time and Yahoo News. Kind of a big deal, folks.

If you want to lose weight you have to become aware of what you’re eating. And you might think you’re the Dalai Llama of portion control, but if you’re not logging, you’re at risk for suffering calorie amnesia. Yes, calorie amnesia. It is a rare but treatable symptom experienced most frequently by people who are an environment with plentiful and inexpensive food. In other words: you. You are at risk for forgetting what you ate, how much you ate, where you ate it and why you ate it…. unless you write it down.

When I was introduced to the food log almost seven years ago, I found it to be a gift. Finally, I could see in black and white why the pounds had been creeping on. There was no more mystery. Every day that I write down what I’ve eaten reminds me to eat with intention and purpose. The best part is that eating with intention is actually more enjoyable than eating mindlessly. Everyone tells me they want to ENJOY food while they’re losing weight… here is your chance.

The truth is if you’re resisting writing your food down it’s not because you’re too busy. If a loved one needed 20 minutes of your day for something that would restore their health, I know you would find the time. If you’re not willing to do that for yourself, the real question is how much of a priority are you making your health and yourself.

The resistance to writing it down is also a resistance to accountability. There’s often a part of us that doesn’t want to see in black and white the damage we’re doing to our health. It’s like throwing the unopened credit card bill in the pile – sometimes it’s easier not to know.

A food log provides insight. It provides accountability. It provides understanding. It is the key to unlocking yourself from the vicious cycle of frustrating, overwhelming “why can’t I do something about this” weight gain. Change your thinking about what a food log means to you and you may find that twenty means a day is a small price to pay in return for being in control of your weight and your health.

Food for Thought: We’re all busy people, so I often find that when I’m saying “I’m too busy” to do something what I really mean is “It’s not a priority.” Is your weight loss a priority to you? If it is, and you’ve resisted the idea of keeping a food journal, try redefining your thoughts around journaling. Find what you like about it. Set yourself a goal of a limited time to try it – two or three weeks is ideal as a trial period. When the pounds start coming off, you may not need quite as much persuasion to want to keep going.

Tags: calorie counting, food log, weight loss tools