Journaling can take many forms, from letter writing or poetry to long term goal planning – or even a blog like this one. We can use journaling to express our thoughts and feelings and create a lasting record of our journey. Getting in touch with this side of ourselves can be a healthy exercise and even aid in weight loss or maintenance.
In this post, we will look at journaling, as opposed to tracking. For more on tracking, see this post: https://lindawbrowning.com/2023/02/09/tracking/
In The Complete Guide to Self-Care, Kiki Eli writes about several kinds of journaling techniques. The first is a daily morning exercise that can be done in as little as 5 minutes. By expressing your thoughts, daily goals, intentions, thankfulness, and dreams, Ms. Eli believes we can start our day with less anxiety and more joy. She also describes a gratitude journal, journal prompts, and how to manifest goals. Perhaps most interesting are her instructions for writing letters to yourself. This includes your past self, your future self, and a love letter to your present self (1). What kinds of things would you put into a letter to yourself? How can they help you reach your goals?
If you’d like to apply your journal more closely to your health plans, you could also try bullet journaling. Perhaps you could keep a record of trends, like common situations when you are more likely to overeat and how you feel at those times. You could include handy lists of your cravings with ideas for healthier substitutes along side (2). In this way, your journaling can help you make better decisions in the future.
If you’re looking for a journaling success story, look no further than Charmaine Jackson, who calls herself an emotional eater. Ms. Jackson has lost 130 pounds and she gives journaling the credit. CNN wrote a report on her remarkable story:
“(Journaling has) really helped me get an idea of what my behaviors are, what my patterns are, how I can make change for myself for good,” she said. “You wouldn’t see it unless you look at it over time and you really get a chance to see this worked and why.” She was able to identify when she was mad or sad, and wanting to eat more. “It was my truth serum,” Jackson said. “It made me be honest with myself” (4).
If you have been reading my blog, you may have realized that my website has become my way of journaling. This is where I put my thoughts about weight maintenance into words. I do think it’s a huge help to me.
- It keeps my mind on the issues surrounding health and weight.
- It helps me to live up to the standards that I’m writing about.
- It encourages me to try new things, like an exercise class I would have never taken if I had not wanted to write about it.
- It pushes me to learn more so that I can write about important topics.
- It makes me feel positive about the possibility of helping others who are reading my posts.
Blogging might not be for you, but there are many other options for journaling. You can buy a beautiful notebook, download a convenient app, use a word processing program, or even jot notes on slips of paper. It’s up to each individual to express their feelings in the form that suits them.
Have you tried journaling your road to better health? If you have any ideas to share, please comment below. I hope that this practice can become yet another tool to help us maintain our healthy weight.
(1). The Complete Guide to Self Care by Kiki Ely (c) 2020.
(3). https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bullet-Journal-by-Matt-Ragland.jpg#mw-jump-to-license
(4). https://www.cnn.com/2013/03/01/health/journaling-weight-loss/index.html
Maintain Weight Loss 
