Daily Journals Improve Your Odds

Posted by Andy - 07/10/08 at 04:07:00 pm

Did anyone else see the “Keeping a Food Diary Doubles Weight Loss” story on ABC? It’s a good read that highlights a study performed by Kaiser Permanente, and I think we can all really learn from the message.

I’ve been training on and off now for over 25 years - well before the internet and all the cool applications available today, but not so far back that I missed out on all those fabulous infomercials that guaranteed rapid weight loss and chiseled abs in only 14 days! In fact, if truth be told, my mother was a significant ‘investor’ in many of those devices, yet for some reason, was not able to replicate the results of those beautifully tanned spokespeople.

Someone once told me that everything is difficult before it becomes easy, and getting in shape is no exception. There are few obvious factors but one that is often missed - the importance of keeping a journal. The Kaiser Permanente study from the article showed that participants who kept a food diary lost almost double the amount of weight of their non-journaling counterparts and more importantly, they kept it off.

The same is true of exercise. Each day our emotions, state of mind, and energy levels fluctuate so without a journal, it is difficult to monitor progress and proactively establish targets for our workouts. Repeatedly ‘winging it’, just doesn’t lead to the progress we hope for and in my case, memory is an enemy, so ‘winging it’ has an even greater impact.

So while it may seem difficult at first, it does get easier and you will achieve your goals, perhaps faster than you imagined.

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