Recently I decided to lose ten pounds. Let’s just say it’s been a bit of a stop-start campaign, not exactly the barn-burner we were looking for. Maybe I should keep a food diary or diet journal. This is not a new trick, but lately it’s backed up with new numbers: you could lose twice the weight.
In an article in Time, Sanjay Gupta relates his own experience with keeping a food journal to explore the findings of a recently published paper. The findings state that people in the study who kept a food diary lost twice the weight of those who didn’t. Two times the pounds!
Dr. Gupta claims that, since he shows the diary to his wife, it does help to keep him on the straight and narrow. Just the hassle factor (or the guilt?) of writing down “seven peanut M&Ms” was often enough to keep him from even little cheats. It’s all about accountability and reading the patterns. Learn more about the recently published study in the article “Dear (Food) Diary” in Time.
Thinking about a food diary? Pick up a blank journal today. Need help setting your goal? Check out the cool calorie goal calculator and more at The Daily Plate>
