Journaling food is a lifelong weight management skill that must be mastered. Simply writing down what we eat helps us stay more conscious of our caloric intake. Journaling food helps us keep an eye on the quality and quantity of the calories we eat. Journaling also helps us set goals and stick to them in the kitchen. So if journaling is so helpful, why in the world do people have so much trouble sticking to it? Here are 3 reasons you are not food journaling consistently.
1. Eating Out
If you are eating out all the time you are likely used to taking the convenient route around food intake. While journaling is simple and easy, it is not convenient. It takes time and effort to write down food decisions. It is much harder to do this when there is a 3rd party kitchen in charge of the recipe. While chain restaurants work with the iLiveMindful, and My Fitness Pal apps, many smaller restaurants do not. This means the more an individual eats out, the less accurate their respective food journal is.
2. Distractions
If you use a mobile app to track your food intake, there are numerous other apps and websites that can distract you from using the food journaling app. For example Instagram notifications can distract a person from completing a successful food journal entry. If you use an old fashion pen and paper to journal, friends and social events can act as the same kind of distractions. They can invite you to get functions where you may not know the make up of every entree. During phase one of the Mindful Living weight-loss plan, if you do not know the recipe to a dish, you should not be eating it. Distractions both in the virtual world and the real world can get in the why of journaling.
3. Lack of a "Why"
If you don't have a purpose behind your goal than it is less likely to be fulfilled. Meaning if your goal is to lose 40 lbs, you should consider why you want this to happen. How would your life get better if you lost 40 lbs? Would you be living a healthier more active life? Without a purpose or "why" it is unlikely people will stick to journaling. Journaling is not a natural behavior. It takes effort and purpose. A powerful "why" is the only thing that can sustain such effort.