From the beginning of my current health improvement and weight reduction journey, one of the key parts of each day has been completing a journal entry.

Initially, the goal of the journal was very simply to understand what I was eating and to get an understanding of the macros (or more accurately, the lack of macro quality). There are many benefits to journaling, but right up front, it is more about being honest with yourself. The details that reach the page include what you eat, how much you each, how often you eat, plus any other information recorded, which may even include why you eat.

I was lucky enough to have at a starting point of a simple one page guide from a metabolic specialist. Listed out were the things I could eat, and a much longer list of foods not to eat. The first week was a detox, the second and third weeks were refinement (adding just a couple items to the list that I could eat), and from there a diet and nutrition pattern to follow.

How Long Does It Take to Form a Habit?

Four weeks isn’t long enough to form a habit, especially if this includes broad lifestyle changes. For me, the journal became an easy, satisfying checkpoint that required acknowledgement several times throughout the day. I began by gathering information about each main diet staple I was consuming. For instance, 6 oz of chicken breast or a 5 oz salmon filet. Even the contents of a dinner salad, especially the dressing. I would add up all the calories to get a daily total. I was use my Fitbit tracker to get a best estimate of daily energy expended. Was I in a caloric deficit or not? I think it took me almost a year to refine the journaling to a point where not only was it simple to do, but it records a wider range of important information. Is one year to make a habit too slow? Not in the big scheme of things, really. After not being completely honest or aware about my lack of nutrition from age 30 to 55, changing in one year is actually pretty fast.

My refined journal tracks the following items on a day basis:

All the foods I eat (simple list)
Vitamins taken (checklist)
Exercise accomplished (Y/N)
Diet correct or not (Y/N)
Hydration tally (in 16 oz increments)

Additionally, I will record a current weight on the 1st & 15th of each month. I also check my weight on Sunday morning in the interim. There is room on the page to also add a few notes, usually positive or negative things that caused an incomplete journal, like travel, or other scores, like BP and an especially good fitness day.

I use the small graph paper journals and a mechanical pencil. I fit 7 days on two pages, so that typically I can fit 4-5 months in one journal book. At the end of each day, week, month, and fully filled in journal, I get an honest assessment of what I accomplished. Or in some weeks, what I messed up. The journal doesn’t lie. Falling away from good habits is easy if you let it happen. The journal pulls me back into alignment. The refinements keep it interesting and a fully completed page feels good.

Note: I’ve saved all the journals from the last several years. I can see the progress, and increase in awareness and nutritional knowledge, and attribute this daily behavior as one of the keys to continuing health success.