Do you keep a food journal? If you are trying to lose weight, your answer should be yes. According to a small Seattle based study, food journals was one of the tools and techniques determined to be the most effective in successful weight efforts. That same study found some other, well known and long standing tips to be the most beneficial as well.

The study, published in the Journal of Academy of Nutrition and Dieting used a small group of women all from the local, Seattle, Washington area. The women, all ages fifty to seventy five were recruited for the year long study because they shared several of the same qualities. Those include living a sedentary lifestyle and being either overweight or obese. Each of the women were assigned either a diet only or a diet and exercise weight loss program and asked to keep careful journals of not only all food intake but their activities each day as well. In addition to the self monitoring food journals, the women were asked to fill out several questionnaires and other informational gathering papers. Several of the participants managed to lose roughly ten percent of their total body weight from both of the programs. Researchers, looking back at all of the data found that no matter how the women managed to lose the weight, they were more successful and managed to continue their success if they found a behavior that helped them to not only lower their portion sizes and their calorie intakes but to also become more in control of their choices.

In the study, researchers found that the women who were most vigilant about their journals lost an average of six pounds more than those who were a little more erratic in their journaling efforts. The successful women were very detailed and very honest in their food journals, even if there were negative entries to include.Another key, was not skipping meals. Many women are convinced that they can lose weight if they skip a meal here or there but research has proven that to be wrong many times over. In this study, women who did skip meals lost eight pounds less than those who continued to eat every meal as scheduled.

Eating in a restaurant or other places outside of the house also contributed to slower weight loss progress. Women in the study lost an average of six pounds less when they ate lunch or dinner outside of their home versus those who cooked their own meals.