Food Journals vs. Workout Trackers

One method that lots of people who are trying to lose weight use is the food journal. I used to keep one for months at a time, adhering to the If you bite it, you must write it. mantra. But I hated those occasional, and sometimes frequent entries that read something like, “six pints of beer and a quesadilla” following a night out. I loathed writing that, even though it was true. But to me, it was obvious. I knew that was not a shining moment, so why did I need a permanent record of it? I mean, what would your food journal say about yesterday’s Super Bowl parties?

Actually, starting with last year’s ECG, I opted instead for what I call the “Workout Tracker.” There’s an app for that [for iPhone; for Android, though there are literally hundreds of others], but for me, it was a simple spreadsheet with every day of the year, and what I did for physical fitness on each day. That way, at the end of each week, I could see, whoops, I only worked out twice, I should go for a run right now! Or I could see that my 6 days of working out lead to a greater weight loss that week.

It showed the good things I was doing each week, my accomplishments, not my failures. To this day, even the act of entering my workouts into Excel feels like a small victory.

It’s different for everyone, but please don’t let the weekly weigh-ins be the only measure of your life for the next 12 weeks!

Head to the comments to share what works for you!