Struggling with Your Weight Loss? Start Writing!

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If you’re a business owner, you know that we business owners keep all kinds of records so that we can look back at various collected stats or data for evaluation: How did we do? What do we want to do differently? What worked that we want to continue? What didn’t that we want to stop putting resources into. We can not become successful or maintain that momentum if we do not occasionally look back, assess data and react accordingly.

And even if you’re not a business owner — you’re an employee managing the business of running a department; or you’re a homemaker managing the business of running your household — the same applies: You keep the records that give you the data you need to assess, evaluate and move forward so that your home or department continues to run smoothly and efficiently.

In reality, folks, regardless of who we are or what we do, and as I’ve previously written about, we are all business owners because our bodies are our businesses.  For those who struggle with weight loss, how can you really evaluate the ‘why’ of having a bad day or the ‘what’ were the triggers or the ‘how’ to possibly prevent them if you don’t collect the data?

One of the tools I will use with a client struggling with their weight loss is to have them commit for just 30 days to keeping a Daily Diet Diary, a small notebook or pad to have with them all day for easy access.  (This is different from a menu planner/food diary.  This is not about food, it’s about feelings.)  I ask them to:

1. Date each page as they go along and every time they feel like they want to go off their menu/food plan for the day to write down exactly how they feel at that time (holding nothing back; they don’t have to share their private thoughts with me; this is for them), what are the circumstances at that time, and where they are at that time.  So, in other words, before they actually pull into the fast-food drive-through, before they give in to the potato chips in the pantry, and so on . . . I want them to write.  Even if they end up going ‘off’ after that . . . the drive through and the chips in the pantry will still be there in a few minutes . . . I want them to write first.
2. Look back at the end of the day and record how they feel at that moment—either about having given in to those momentary urges or, and especially, to record how great they feel about having had a perfect day.

At the end of 30 days these clients have collected the data that shows patterns of cause and effect, stimulus and reaction. Needless to say, this experience is always an eye-opener for them.  I’ve never had a client who participated in this exercise tell me they didn’t learn something from it.  Additionally, and importantly, since they are willing to share all or part of their notes with me, it provides a great learning opportunity for me as well in helping them prevent and prepare for certain situations in advance.

I am also pleasantly surprised by how many of these clients go on to continue daily diaries . . . how, when they have an urge to eat something they know they shouldn’t, they feed their diaries instead of their faces!  They’re encouraged to do so not only to have something to look back on to recall how badly they felt after an “off” episode, but to be empowered by recording how fabulous they felt at the end of a day that went exactly as they planned, which is a reminder that they can do it.

The pen can be mightier than the urge. Share on X

When you’re struggling with weight (or trying to stop smoking or drinking, or with any bad habit you’re trying to change) a daily diary is a great tool to help you achieve one great day at a time.  As I say to my clients:

When you have an urge in your head, fight it with the pen in your hand.

When you have an urge in your head, fight it with a pen in your hand. Share on X