Lose Weight, Keep A Diary

Do you want to lose a pound or two? Keeping a diary might help.

We're particularly talking about keeping a food diary, a food journal. That might be one key to losing a few pounds.

Losing weight is something most of us want to do at some time or another. But often that can be easier said than done. Part of the reason might be that we aren't ever really sure how much we are eating. And that's where a food journal comes into play.

Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle looked at how successful different self monitoring techniques were at helping overweight or obese volunteers lose weight.

They found that by keeping a food journal, eating out less and not skipping meals during the day helped the most. Those eating out even once per week didn't lose as much weight. That may be because we tend to eat more and higher calorie meals when we eat out. Those skipping meals are probably also more likely to grab high calorie snacks during the day.

But one of the more successful techniques used to lose weight in this study was using a food journal. Since we often don't accurately remember what we ate during the day the food journal will help keep us honest. That means writing down everything you eat, meals and snacks. And it doesn't matter where you write it down. Use a smart phone app, a piece of paper or even a small note pad. What matters is keeping track of what you eat during the day. You'll be surprised at how all the little things you eat add up to a lot of calories and those extra pounds none of us want.