How a Diet Journal Helps You Stay on Track to Slim Down or Muscle-up

Have you set a goal to eat better, slim down or muscle-up your physique in 2021?

If so, a diet journal, whether written in a paper journal or recorded in an App (or a combination of the two), is a powerful way to gain insight not only about what and when you eat, but also how your eating habits affect how you feel and the results you get (or don’t get) from your workout.

Food is many things to the body and the mind: Food is nourishment that fuels your body to perform during activity. Food is medicine when you are not feeling well. We eat food to replenish energy, restore lost nutrients, to promote health, to celebrate, and to get us through sad or stressful times. Sometimes we eat mindlessly, too rigidly, or we don’t eat enough. If this happens once in a while, that’s okay. That’s part of “normal” eating. Over time though, any of those ways of eating–along with what, when and why you are eating–can wreak havoc on your health and fitness goals.

What can Keeping a Diet Journal Tell Me about My Eating Habits?

A diet journal is not just about the measurable amounts of food eaten and inches lost (or gained) to achieve the physique and fitness you desire. It’s more about discovering if you are truly nourishing your body’s needs physically, mentally, and emotionally in the most healthful way possible. Some of the things a diet journal can tell you about your eating habits include:

Patterns of eating as they relate to mood, stress, fatigue level, and training intensity.
How your food choices affect your physical and mental health.
If your diet is lacking key nutrients.
How your diet supports goals you may have set for a medical condition or concern.
If there are certain triggers (people, places, situations) that contribute to poor eating habits.
If you are eating enough, or not enough;
If you are eating at the proper times of day to fuel your workouts and your recovery.

Make diet journaling even more powerful by also working with a sport nutrition specialist.

What do I Write in a Diet Journal?

Diet journals are easy to use. You can opt for paper-and-pencil journal formats or an app. If you use one of the many apps now available for mobile and desktop food and exercise journals (My Plate, MyNet Diary, My Fitness Pal, Yazio, or See How You Eat are just a few) you might still want to combine that with a paper and pencil journal. The written journal allows you to track information that is unique to your personal health concerns, fitness goals, and training routine. There, you’ll have the space to elaborate upon the food data that you recorded in the app. Whichever way you decide to track your food intake, make sure to record during the week and on at least one weekend day.

Nutritionists and health psychologists recommend tracking food intake for at least 2 weeks for you to become in tune with your eating habits.

What Food Info should I Track in a Diet Journal?

Food Factors

When did you eat?
What did you eat?
How much did you eat?
Why did you eat?
How did you feel after eating?

Mind Factors

What was your overall mood before and after eating?
Was there anything that triggered you to over or under eat, or skip a meal?

Body Factors

What did you notice about your body before and after eating? (e.g., bloating, fatigue)\
What was your energy level like during your workout? (and other workout data)
Did you recover strong after the workout or did you have a great deal of soreness and fatigue?

Social & Environmental Factors

Who were you with for the meal?
Did you eat hurriedly or mindfully?
Were you doing another activity while eating?

Review your journal at the end of each day and summarize your habits. Note the key factors for why you chose to eat the way you did, what was going on, how you felt, and if there were any physical reactions or symptoms to the meal. If you choose to partner with a health practitioner or nutritionist, you will use this information to make healthier food choices and improve your training.