I'm not an overweight person but every once in a while I need to drop 10 or 20 lbs. So I can feel more comfortable in my clothes. The best way to do this of course is a proper diet and more exercise. This is common knowledge to most people but the thing that is not so obvious is how you keep track of your progress and stay focused on your goals.

The night before I start my new routine to lose weight I buy a notebook. In this book I use each page to represent a day and write the date on the top of all of them. Every seventh day I write in a realistic weight that I would like to be time I get there. For me it was usually 2 lbs. less every week. I also write in a waist size that I would like to reach. Every day I write in what I ate, the exercises I did, and what ever I would like to include such as feelings or new ideas about the diet.

So how do this work you are saying? Well think of your exercise journal as a personal trainer coaching you on. If you cheat on your diet or don't exercise then you have to write it in. If you can go a day or week and look back on how you did, then seeing how many times you cheated will now become more 'real' to you and you can strive to have a clean slate next week. You can also check up on your progress by comparing your weight and waist size to what you wrote in as your goals for each week. I'm not saying that this is the answer to all you diet problems, but it is a great help if you stick with it and are dedicated to losing weight.

-- Lestat