Fitness and health experts from all around the world tout the benefit of tracking. At first glance you may wonder what all the fuss is about. The truth is there is good reason for keeping a log. Here’s how you can lose weight with the help of a fitness and diet log.

Know Where You Are Right Now

Most people think they’re pretty aware of how much they eat each day. The honest truth is that unless you actually track your calories, you really have no idea. Even people that think they’re eating really healthily will be surprised how much they eat. The same holds true for calories burned. You can exercise each day and think you’re burning hundreds of calories, but do you really know?

It may sound tedious but there is tremendous value to knowing where you are right now. When you know exactly how much you eat and how much you burn, you can make changes to your life that will have results.

Know Where You Are Going

When you’re able to consistently track how much you consume and burn each day, you can make adjustments to your lifestyle to support your goals. If you don’t know the information then the changes you’re making may not have the impact you desire. Even something as small as 100 extra calories a day can affect your success.

Tracking your diet and fitness information daily also helps support you to make healthy choices. For example, if you’re out with friends at happy hour, you can look at your journal and know how many appetizers and drinks you can have to still stay on track. You’re armed with information to make intelligent decisions about your health and fitness.

Tracking Made Easy

Today there are more tracking applications and tools than you can imagine. There is the easy but perhaps cumbersome book journal. With this type of system you simply write down what you’ve eaten and drunk, and your exercise, and calculate the calories.

Technology has made it easier. There are fantastic applications for smartphones. You can also find good programs for your computer. There are even applications where you can find the calorie content for most menu items at major restaurants.

Couple these often free and definitely easy-to-use applications with tools like pedometers and other fitness tracking devices. You have access to all of the health and lifestyle information you need to know to lose weight.

If you’re presently not using any journaling or tracking system, find one that works for you. Spend a week or two simply tracking the information. Then, armed with information, you can begin to make changes to lose weight and get healthy.

This article was reviewed and approved by Dr. Fisher. Dr. Jon Fisher is a Board Certified Family Physician and a recognized authority on How to Lose Weight, lower cholesterol and body contouring in a medically supervised environment. Read his full bio