How to Make a Food and Fitness Journal

A Simple Guide for your Nutrition and Exercise Program

Sep 30, 2009

Review is a basic part of any weight loss, nutrition, health or fitness program. Using a journal provides vision, value, and power for a food and fitness plan.

At first, the thought of something else on your plate to do doesn't sound so appetizing. However, keeping a food and fitness journal is a practical way to raise awareness to the fact that eating and exercise are closely connected. Even if you are quite diligent and pay close attention to what you eat and how you exercise, keeping a journal can become a testament to your success!

Share with a Professional

Health professionals we visit always welcome someone who is willing to take initiative. Most professionals in the business of helping others are quite use to looking at data about their client or patient. Data provides a timeline and record that helps the professional devise or improve a planned program. Therefore, it is important to be record with honesty and diligence. Here are a few of the Health professionals that probably wouldn't mind having a peek at your journal.

Creating a Food and Fitness Journal

There are few ways to start the process. You could buy a blank lined hardback journal book or you could make your own from scratch. Both ways require some preparation. Making it from scratch start with a full size standard sheet to write on. No sense writing small and then having to look back and wonder if it’s readable. Using a binder is best for the convenience of adding more pages.

Keeping it Simple

The date should be at the top for easy referencing and a daily time schedule starting with your approximate daily awakening time through bedtime. This not only helps keep track of when you ate something but also reveals how long it has been between meals. The event is either a food event or activity event. To make it easier, put a capital F (for fitness) next to the time of day you are exercising then write the name of the activity. This makes the exercise portion standout as you review several pages at a time. There is no need to add a label for a food event.

Sample Food/Fitness Journal

Keeping it Close

Keep your journal with you. At home, leave it near the kitchen where it is easy to find and make an entry just before you eat. Writing an entry down in real time increases the discipline to continue making it a habit. Committing it to memory may work in a pinch when you’re not near your log. However, the sooner it is written, the sooner your mind is free to work on other tasks.

Clarity is Power

When we’re in a hurry, skipping an entry or writing too quickly will result in a less useful log. Remember, information is power. Once a month (or weekly), look back at your log. Share what you are doing with someone you trust.Valuable insight can be gained from keeping a food journal and will help with meal planning and quite possibly the motivation you to continue striving for a healthier you.

The copyright of the article How to Make a Food and Fitness Journal in Nutrition is owned by Quinn Collor. Permission to republish How to Make a Food and Fitness Journal in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.