There are many overweight people that can't figure out how they put the weight on and kept it on. Some can pinpoint certain events such as post-maternity, menopause, high stress periods in their life, or it just stuck on. Whatever the situation may be, weight loss experts are now saying that by keeping a diet and weight loss journal, many people are losing weight.

It is a simple psychological explanation. In an average day, some people maybe have one cookie offered by a co-worker, drank two cups of coffee with cream and sugar, a bag of chips from the vending machine for an afternoon snack, drank three sodas, and a salad from McDonalds with a chocolate shake. That's over a thousand calories of non-nutritious eating that went straight to fat cells, except a portion of the salad. That doesn't count breakfast, dinner, or evening snacking, drinking, etc.

Looking in the diet and weight loss journal for empty calories to cut:

It's empty calories and snacking that adds the extra weight. A Fruit and Walnut Salad from McDonalds has around 300 calories, and by itself with water or unsweetened tea, and celery sticks for a snack cuts the calorie count in half, and it's nutritious. By keeping a diet and weight loss journal, you can analyze what needs to be cut, and become conscious of your eating. You almost forgot about the chocolate chunk cookie your co-worker brought, well you almost forgot over a hundred calories. You ate more than one, maybe three, four or five? Well, you get the picture.

Tips for keeping a diet and weight loss journal:

Keep it portable and with you, write down everything BEFORE you put it into your mouth. Not after you ate it and say you'll write it down later, when you get home. The reason for this is two-fold. Number one, just by having to write it down in your diet and weight loss journal, and better yet, look up the approximate calorie count, you are keeping a running total. Number two, many people aren't hungry at the time or for what it is they are about to eat, it's there and, as they say, you eat with your eyes or by smell, you see it, you eat it and forget about it.

Raising your awareness:

By writing it down in your weight loss journal, having to take the effort to look up the calorie count, you may realize you eat impulsively with your eyes and not because you are hungry. As you go, you will know certain calorie counts. Cut back to one regular soda a day instead of three, because they have over 100 calories each, or better yet, switch to unsweetened tea, or diet soda, with no calories.

How to start a diet and weight loss journal:

Be sure you write down everything. Don't cheat, and you will start to see patterns in your eating, and start eliminating the excessive ones. Write it down on anything, even scratch paper and total the calories at the end of the day. Just wake up in the morning, grab a piece of paper and a pencil and start writing.