Journaling for Weight Loss 


When you are on a weight loss journey, you go through many ups and downs, most of 
which are often not documented. But what if you had a way to not only track your 
progress, but to write about what you are dealing with, how you feel, how your mindset 
is shifting, and what successes and failures you have along the way?

This is where your weight less journal comes in.

A journal is one of the most powerful tools you possess with any life goal or transition 
you are making, but especially if you are trying to lose weight and improve your physical 
health and wellbeing. 

Your journal gives you a snapshot of your entire weight loss journey, from the beginning 
stages of planning how you will start your journey, through the various challenges and 
wins, until the end of your journey when you have reached your weight loss goals. 

It is there with you every step of the day, providing you a resource to look back on 
whenever you want to remember each stage of your weight loss journey. 

If you are struggling to get started with a weight loss journal or are simply curious about 
how it can help you, the following information will show you exactly why we recommend 
using a journal during your weight loss journey.



1. Why You Should Use a Journal During Your Weight Loss Journey

As you begin your weight loss journey, even before you start day one, you will quickly 
realize how much there is to think about. Your brain quickly fills up with a million 
questions like:

What should I eat?
How often should I eat?
Will I cook all my meals at home?
How do I bring healthy lunches to work?
What about exercise?
How will my lifestyle need to change?
What healthy habits should I implement?

The list goes on and on. The more you think about it, the more questions you end up 
having. And this is just during the initial planning stages. When you finally start the 
weight loss journey, even more comes up, from stress and anxiety about doing it “right” 
to trying to figure out how to track your progress. 

This is exactly why using a journal during a weight loss journey is so impactful. It helps 
you find clarity, stay focused, create a plan, write down your goals, track your progress, 
and so much more.

Here are just some of the many ways a journal can help you during your weight loss 
journey.


It Keeps You Accountable

Using a journal during your weight loss journey helps to keep you accountable, even if 
just to yourself. Many people keep their weight loss efforts a secret, at least from the 
public eye. While you might not feel comfortable posting about what you are going 
through on social media, it can still help to feel like you are accountable to yourself. 

With a journal, you are able to write down anything and everything you want to during 
your weight loss journey, and feel like you are “checking in”, but in a much more private 
way.


You Can See Your Progress

This is probably one of the best reasons to use a journal for weight loss, and often one 
that you don’t even consider. You already know the journal helps you to track your 
progress, but you can also see your progress over time. 

Not just the basic progress like how much weight you are losing, but in your mindset, 
the habits you have developed, the changes you have made to your lifestyle to make it 
easier for you to maintain your weight loss. 


Journaling Helps You Express Your Emotions

You will go through a lot throughout your weight loss journey, from the beginning stages 
of excitement and motivation to the struggles when you want to give up, or aren’t seeing 
progress during moments of weight stalls. 

There is so much you go through, so many ups and downs, challenges and 
celebrations, that it can feel really overwhelming. With a journal, you can document all 
of this, and really be honest with how you are feeling.

Use your journal on the good days, the bad days, and all the days in between. Be open 
and transparent, find clarity in the way you feel, and find triggers for certain negative 
thought patterns. This is all beneficial when it comes to any weight loss journey.


You Notice Patterns Over Time

With all the information you write down in your weight loss journal, you will be able to 
see many different patterns. These can be patterns in your thoughts and feelings, when 
you perhaps ate too little and then had more cravings the next day, and what workouts 
you enjoyed the most or least. 

Every detail you write down is important and can prove useful later when you are 
determining the right and wrong steps you took during your weight loss journey.


You Can Log Your Food and Workouts

You can of course use your journal for tracking details of your journey as well, including 
writing down what you eat each day and your exercise routine. While you might also 
use a planner for this, the journal provides more space to write, so not only can you 
write down what you ate and how much, but you also have the space for writing how 
you feel and anything you want to keep note of. 

Maybe you are currently trying to figure out why you feel sick after certain meals, which 
you can figure out by using your journal as a food journal. You can plan out your 
workout plan, write down exercise routines, and track how many calories burned.



2. The Most Effective Ways to Use a Weight Loss Journal

Whether you are a journaling novice or you have been using journals for years, a weight 
loss journal can be a little different. There are many ways to use one during your weight 
loss journey, from just documenting your progress and tracking what you do each day, 
to using it to help change your mindset and inspire you along the way. 

Here are some of our favorite ways to use a journal during your weight loss journey.


Use Your Journal Every Single Day

Our first tip, and perhaps one of the most important, is to use your journal every day 
during your weight loss journey. It’s okay that you haven’t started using it on day one – 
now is a great time to start. The most important thing is that you are consistent with 
writing in your journal. 




Being on a weight loss journey without tracking your progress or writing down how it’s 
going makes it really hard to keep up with. When you write down your goals, create a 
plan, and write your thoughts each day of your journey, you feel more accountable and 
like you can see your progress on paper. You will often see results here in your journal 
before you see them on your body or on the scale.


Be Honest and Keep it Private

In order to encourage full honesty and transparency as you write in your weight loss 
journey, find a way to keep it private and away from other people. This ensures that you 
will be candid without worrying who else will find it and read your private thoughts and 
feelings about your progress on this journey.

You don’t want to shy away from your struggles. Everyone on a weight loss journey 
deals with those days where it feels almost impossible. You might fall behind in 
workouts, have bad days where you eat over your calories, or have weeks with no 
change on the scale. 

This is all normal and should be written down in your journal. It is within these tough 
moments in your weight loss journey where you learn the most important lessons about 
resilience and strength.


Track Your Progress

An effective way to use your weight loss journey for success is to track your progress in 
the journal. This can be as simple as writing down what you eat for each meal of the 
day, any exercise you did, how many ounces of water you drank, and any other notable 
habits that you feel are helping you on your wight loss journey.


Express Gratitude

As with any other type of journal, it is essential that you write down what you are 
grateful for. A gratitude practice helps you in numerous ways, including during a weight 
loss journey. As you write down any details of the day, from habits to your honest 
thoughts, it is really important that you note down a few things you are grateful for.

This can be something as small as having the time to make a fruit smoothie in the 
morning for your breakfast, or really enjoying going for a walk outside. It also doesn’t 
have to include only things related to your weight loss journey. 

Use this as an opportunity to write down anything you are grateful for, like someone 
holding a door open for you, your home or family, a job you love, really anything you 
can think of that you appreciate that day. 


3. Choosing What to Write About in Your Journal

One of the most difficult things about using a journal to help with your weight loss efforts 
is knowing what to write about. There is so much that you go through during the process 
of losing weight, getting fit, and improving your health, that it can seem really 
overwhelming.

But don’t worry, we have you covered. Here are some different things to consider when 
deciding what you want to write about and how you wan to use your weight loss journal.


What Have You Struggled With in the Past?

A good question to ask yourself when it comes to deciding what to write about in your 
journal is to consider what your weight loss struggles have been in the past. These can 
be anything you felt kept you from reaching your weight loss goal, or even prevented 
you from ever fully committing to it. 

This might be:

*	Knowing what to eat or what diet to choose
*	Not having enough time to prepare healthy meals
*	Failing to be consistent with workouts
*	Becoming frustrated with your workout routine
*	Not having outside support
*	Lack of motivation
*	Being urged to give up from others around you
*	Self-sabotage

It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it is something YOU struggled with during your 
past weight loss efforts. This is a good place to start in your journal as it helps you 
understand what you should work on improving this time around.


How Would You Benefit the Most With a Journal?

Now that you know what your personal struggles have been with your weight loss 
journey, you can then consider how the journal would benefit you the most. 

Would the journal give you a place to track your progress?
Do you want to use it for recording your meals and workouts?
Are you looking for a safe lace to talk about how you feel about your weight loss 
journey? 

By focusing on what you hope it helps you with, you will then know the best way to use 
it and what you should write about.


Choose How You Want to Document Your Journey

There are many ways to document a weight loss journey in a journal, from using it more 
as a diary for your thoughts and feelings, to documenting the details of each glass of 
water, each meal, each habit you add to your healthy lifestyle. 

When it comes to WHAT you write about in a journal, it is more about thinking about the 
HOW. How you choose to document this journey is entirely up to you, but the more you 
can write about along the way, the more you have to look back on.


Being Brutally Honest With Every Aspect of Your Weight Loss Journey

As we have mentioned, you are really encouraged to be brutally honest in your journal. 
This is where you gain the most clarity. So many people try to lose weight, but because 
it is all in their head and they don’t get their true, honest thoughts onto paper, they never 
figure out what went wrong, what habits helped them, or where their progress stalled. 

There is so much you can learn just by writing things down in a journal. Every time you 
start a new journal entry, remind yourself this is private and just between you and the 
paper. It is a secret, private conversation that nobody else ever has to read if you don’t 
want them to. 

Be as honest and candid as you can, as it is within those honest feelings that you find 
the path toward weight loss success. You discover what you need the most during this 
journey, and you accept what must be left behind.



4. How to Get Started With Your Weight Loss Journal

There is no better time than the present to start your weight loss journal. Don’t worry 
about waiting until Monday or the first of the Month or New Year’s; start right now. Even 
if you are weeks or months into your journey, you can benefit from a weight loss journal 
on the very first day you start using it.

If you’re feeling lost about how to get started, here are some helpful tips.





Choose Your Supplies

Remember you absolutely do not have to use a fancy, expensive journal if it isn’t in your 
budget. You can use any type of notebook as a weight loss journal, even a stack of 
printer paper if that is what is available to you. 

As you choose your supplies, consider what is in your budget, what is readily available, 
and what you enjoy using. Many people have a very specific type of journal or notebook 
they like writing in, from the type of paper is used, to what the cover looks like. 

You will probably also have an idea of what pens you prefer writing with. Use pencils, 
pens, really anything you want in your journal. If you like to get creative, get some art 
supplies as well.


Set Up Your Journaling Space

It is helpful to have a designated space for writing in your journal, especially if you don’t 
liv alone. You want to feel free to write honestly in your journal, which is hard to do with 
other people around or outside distractions. Choose a space in your home that is at 
least semi-private, even if you sit in bed and write in your journal every evening before 
bed. 

Find a space where you can have the supplies you will use, like your journal, pens, any 
art or craft supplies you need. You might need a calculator for adding up calories or 
macros, a lamp nearby, perhaps a ruler if you plan to create your own templates on 
journal pages. 


Start on ANY Day (it doesn’t have to be day one)

When it comes to write in your weight loss journal on the first day, choose any day. It 
could be day one of your weight loss journey, day 30, or day 100. It might be in the 
middle of a Tuesday or a Sunday evening. 

Stop making arbitrary rules about when the right time is to start a weight loss journey or 
start writing in your journal. It is beneficial at any point in your journey, even if you don’t 
start using it on the very first day.


Log Your Food, Water, and Exercise

It can feel a little intimidating when you write in your weight loss journal the very first 
time, so an easy transition is to just write down what you eat, how much water you 
drink, and how you moved your body on that first day. 

When you know this is all you have to write down, it makes it a lot easier to start. After 
you have recorded this information, you can then decide if you want to write anything 
else, but you definitely don’t have to. 

Throughout the entire process of using a weight loss journal, remember that everything 
is up to you. Some days, you might want to write 3 pages of your thoughts, while other 
days you can’t do much more than writing down what you ate that day and the calories. 

It is a good idea to be more intuitive, and not set so many rules or guidelines. It is meant 
to help you on your journey, not become homework.


Use Journal Prompts

When you have gotten a little more used to using your journal, you can then start 
expanding on the topics you write about. This is where journaling prompts really come 
in handy.

Journal prompts are writing prompts that give you a topic to write about, in the form of a 
question or statement. They allow you to open your mind and write about something 
relevant to your weight loss journey that you might not have considered. 

Some examples include:

What was your turning point when you decided you wanted to lose weight?
What has been one of the more challenging aspects of losing weight?
What form of exercise do you enjoy the most?
Write down a list of 5 healthy habits you want to add to your routine. 

As you can see, they are very easy topics to write about, but often give you a good 
place to start in your journal when you deal with writer’s block.



5. Use Your Journal to Change Your Weight Loss Mindset

An important aspect to using a journal when you are trying to lose weight is managing 
your thoughts and emotions, starting with changing your mindset. If you have the same 
thoughts in your mind as you did the last time you tried and failed to lose weight or get 
fit, why would this time be any different?

This is where limiting beliefs come from. You assume because of past experiences or 
what you hear in the media about how hard it is to lose weight and keep it off, that it is 
impossible to do and therefore not even worth trying. 

But what if you could change your mindset, and shift to a more positive way of looking 
at things? Start looking at weight loss as a journey you are on, that sure has its ups and 
downs, and is not linear, but still has a high chance of success if you are consistent 
throughout the process. 

This is what a journal can do for you. Here are some ways to us your weight loss journal 
to start shifting your mindset.


Challenge Your Limiting Beliefs

A powerful way to change your mindset about weight loss is to challenge your limiting 
beliefs. A limiting belief is a thought that you “can’t” do something for a specific reason. 
It is something ingrained deep in your subconscious that you might not even realize you 
believe. 

In terms of your weight loss and healthy lifestyle, some limiting beliefs might be:

I hate to cook.
I don’t enjoy healthy meals.
I’m not good at losing weight.
I can’t find an exercise I enjoy.
I always give up everything I try. 
I can’t stick to a diet. 

These and many other limiting beliefs are being used against you. They create a 
negative mindset that is making it much harder to stick to your goals. What you need to 
do is challenge them, and find a way to flip each one around. 

Why do you think you’re not a good cook? Have you tried hard enough? Have you 
learned proper cooking skills? How much have you experimented? Do you have any 
cookbooks? There is so much that could be leading to this mindset, most of which is 
easy to remedy.













Use Daily Affirmations

The next way to develop a positive mindset about losing weight is to use affirmations. 
Affirmations are short, positive statements that affirm something for you. For weight 
loss, they can affirm things you want to believe about yourself, your abilities, your body, 
and your weight loss goals. They also happen to be a great way to challenge those 
limiting beliefs. 

Affirmations might look like:

I am full of energy and love working out.
I enjoy making healthy, nutritious meals.
I achieve anything I put my mind to. 
I am worthy of feeling confident in my body.

You can write a daily affirmation in your journal that helps you to shift your positive 
mindset. The more you do this, the more you begin to believe it on a subconscious 
level.

Write Your Weight Loss Goals in Present Tense

The last thing you can do when you want to develop a better mindset for weight loss is 
to write down your goals in present tense. This means you write them down as if you 
have already achieved them, not as if you are still working towards them. 

This technique is often used in scripting for manifesting with the law of attraction, but 
you don’t have to believe in the law of attraction to benefit from it. 

By writing down your goals as if you have achieved them already, you are re-affirming 
what you want, and telling yourself you know how capable you are. Just like with 
affirmations, the more you do this and truly believe it, the more your subconscious starts 
to believe it as well. 


