How to Make a Food Diary into a Habit

I firmly believe that a lot of success in dieting isn’t down to willpower or self-control: you don’t need to have iron self-discipline in order to lose weight. In order to succeed, you need to establish good habits which work for you.

There are plenty of habits you could try: perhaps eating a piece of fruit before each meal, or drinking a glass of water whenever you feel hungry. One of the best habits, though – shown to double your rate of weight loss – is to keep a food diary.

I’ve kept food diaries numerous times over the years (and watched other dieters do the same) and I know just how easy it is to have a day or two when you don’t record anything … only for your whole routine to slip. So here’s how to make keeping a food diary into a habit, rather than a tedious chore that you keep forgetting about.

Step 1: Keep Your Diary Handy

Firstly, I know it’s obvious, but you’ll have a much better chance of filling in your food diary if it’s easily accessible. That means making sure that you can use your diary at home and at work – so a spreadsheet or online solution may not work unless you can access it in both locations.

If you move around a lot during the day, a small notebook which you can keep in your pocket or purse is probably the best solution: you’ll always be able to jot down what you’re eating, wherever you are.

Step 2: Keep Your Diary In Sight

Just having your diary near you isn’t necessarily going to make you remember to fill it in! Where possible, keep your diary in sight – so that you’ll see it and remember about it. This could mean keeping your notebook on your desk at work, or fastening a paper diary sheet to the kitchen noticeboard or the fridge at home.

For a computer-based diary, find an easy way to load it up whenever you start your computer: if you’re using an online diary, you could set it as your browser’s homepage, for instance. This makes it easy to flick from whatever you’re doing straight into your diary.

Step 3: Write Down What You Eat Regularly

If you’ve kept a food diary, I’ll bet you find that the times you give up are the times when you’ve “forgotten” about your diary for a day or two … only to find that you’re struggling to remember what you’ve eaten.

When you’re getting into the habit of using a food diary, it helps to write in it on a frequent basis. That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to whip your diary out every time you eat something (which could get a bit awkward in meetings or at lunch with friends) – but it does mean getting into a routine: perhaps updating your diary at lunchtimes and when you get home from work each day.

It takes seconds to jot down a snack or meal in your diary – but leave it all for a day or two and it’s much harder.

Step 4: Have a Daily “Catch Up”

Finally, if you’re still struggling to stick with a food diary for more than a few days, it’s worth implementing a daily “catch up” when you make sure you’ve written everything down. I usually find that I can remember a day’s worth of meals – but once I’ve gone much beyond 24 hours,  I struggle to keep my food diary accurate.

Try linking this daily time to a particular part of your routine – e.g. you could check your food diary when you brush your teeth in the evening (this is a particularly good time as you won’t be eating anything else that day).

Are you a regular food-diarist, or are you still trying to get into it? It’s one of the best habits you can build, so start today!

Written by Ali Hale

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1. How Keeping A Food Diary Helps You Lose Weight
2. Getting Into Great Dieting Habits
3. What to Look For on Food Labels