A Proven Weight Loss Tool

This strategy is valuable for more than just weight loss. Everything you record gets better just because you are recording it. Baseball coaches buy radar guns and record the speed of their pitchers. Whether they work in speed developing exercises or not, they notice that their pitchers start throwing faster just because the speeds are recorded and published to the team. Any budget counselor will tell you that the first step is to record all of your expenditures.

A spending diary is a great first step that begins to help even before a strict budget because you do not want to write down that frivolous purchase. Something in our minds is concerned about our “permanent record” even if it is just your own scribbling in a notebook.

A similar strategy is very effective for weight loss. There are two important categories – consumption and exercise. In one column list everything you eat and drink each day, and in the other column list all of the exercise you do each day. It becomes a competition, even if only with yourself, to do better today than yesterday, or better this week than last week. Also record your weight every day, either first thing in the morning or after strenuous exercise.

If pen and paper feel too time consuming, you can utilize one of many free online and phone applications such as My Fitness Pal. Those weigh-in times will give you the best results, and you will build momentum and enthusiasm from seeing incremental success.

The simple act of recording your eating, drinking and activity in your fitness diary will yield a healthier lifestyle. That doughnut or cookie that used to be impossible to resist will now be easier to turn down because you will not want that on your record. You will find that are disappointed to see days without any exercise listed, and you will try to work in something even late in the day so you don’t finish the day with zero exercise. A log or diary will help you eat less and exercise more, and that is the key to lasting weight loss.