Journal - Your Best Friend

Journals have recorded time for centuries.  Your personal weight loss journal will walk you through your journey to the triumphant ending you seek to obtain.  Your journal could be a small spiral notebook, a personal locked diary reminiscent of your youth or a laptop computer with various spreadsheet or word processing software.  It might be a scrapbook to journal photographically and in your own writing the steps you attained to win your goal.  There are many online tools you can utilize as well such as a blog right here inside of the South Beach Buddies website.  What it comes down to is that you just have to start somewhere.  Start today and begin writing, even if only a few lines, of what you are experiencing on this journey.

Your journal should contain such items as:

    * Food eaten during the day – everything that you put in your mouth including prescriptions, food, drink, etc.  It all counts.
    * Your water intake – are you getting enough or too much
    * Record Calories, Fat, Carbs and Protein intake if you choose
    * Goal Setting
    * Marking of accomplished goals
    * Inspirational quotes or thoughts you receive by watching others on their journey
    * Your current weight whether you track it daily or weekly
    * Your lost weight
    * Medical Records such as blood pressure, blood sugar levels, etc.
    * Recipes
    * Magazine clippings that inspire you to move forward
    * If you exercise and if so how you exercised and goals obtained or reaching for while exercising
    * Counting of calories burned through exercise against calories consumed
    * Tracking the following of your diet plan
    * Medical/Dental appointments and how they relate to your health and weight-loss goals
    * Your personal thoughts and feelings as you journey

From my personal experience, when recently cleaning out notebooks (mind you I did not throw them out – just moved them to a bookcase), I reviewed my journals from 2007 through early 2008.  It was amazing looking back at what I was doing right and seeing where I veered to the far left of out of control.  Looking back at these journals made me aware of what I did, how I did it and what I need to do to find success once again.

Keeping a journal is important as it usually begins with a goal – take your reason for being here at South Beach Buddies along with your goals for weight loss or maintenance.  Tweak these goals to be realistic and achievable goals and this is YOUR purpose for journal.  Without a goal you will find it hard to keep your journal alive.  I have made it my goal to keep a spiral journal at just the right size it will slip into my purse or carry bag or fit in my hand to carry with me.  I have learned to write everything down….let me repeat everything such as food, water, medicine, exercise, weight measurement, etc.  If you have a goal your journal is worth the effort.  I usually blog about my paper journal each day as I write in it so in a sense I journal twice…but don’t make it hard.  KISS – keep it simple sweetie.  Do what works for you but get busy and track.

Your journal will be your best friend and a great encouragement to your success.  You are a success so write it down as you succeed so when you are feeling at odds you can look back and say to yourself “okay…so this is what worked and now I need to do this” or when you need a pat on your back you’ll say “hey, look how far I’ve come!”

Pull out a pen and notepad or just skip on over to the blog section and begin your journal today!  Don’t wait.