4 Reasons You Should Be Writing a Weight Loss Blog

December 19, 2007 · 40 comments

Whether you are looking to lose that “Freshman Fifteen” or are in the 100+ Pounds-to-Go Club you should be writing a weight loss blog as a critical component of your weight loss plan.

A weight loss blog is not a food journal or a food diary. Keeping a food journal can also be important and in fact will most likely be suggested to you by your doctor or dietician. A food journal is where you log your daily meals and snacks. It is where you account for all the calories you ingest. It can be important, especially at the start of a diet, because most people underestimate the amount of food they actually eat in a day. A well kept food journal will help the dieter properly plan their intake so as to lose weight.

A weight loss blog is much more than a food journal. A good weight loss blog deals much more with the emotional aspects of eating, exercising and getting fit.  It is the human interest side of the story.

These are the 4 reasons you should be writing a weight loss blog:

  1. Building a Support Network.  There are a lot of great weight loss blogs out there.  Some of the authors have been blogging for a long time and have great inspirational stories of success to share.  Others are just starting out and are struggling with the same issues you may be struggling with.  When you write a weight loss blog you are joining a community of like souls who support each other through comments, emails, and links.  A good weight loss blog tells a story that interests people; a story they want to see through to completion.  The story of your success.  Most dieters have a support network that rarely extends beyond the four walls of their abode.  The size of a weight loss blogger’s support network is only limited by the effort they are willing to put in to build it.
  2. Gaining Accountability.  Let’s be honest, the hardest part about writing a weight loss blog is, well, being honest.  It’s also the most important part.  Force yourself to write about your weight gain, even though nobody would know if you fibbed and wrote that you lost weight this week.  Tell the world how you felt when someone snickered at you for your size. Get out there and write about how you slipped up and ate the entire bag of cookies.  Take accountability for your decisions and their impact on your weight loss plans.  And then take action to make better decisions.  Going through this thought process is very difficult if you aren’t documenting it.  Writing a weight loss blog gives you the vehicle for documenting and improving upon the daily decisions that are the difference between success and failure.
  3. Recording History.  As you lose weight and become healthier you will take certain things for granted such as climbing stairs without being winded, being able to easily say “no” to seconds, or to being satisfied with just that one small piece of pizza.  You will forget that only a year ago you couldn’t do 100 crunches at a time.  You will forget that you used to need two Big Macs to get through lunch.  And then one day you’ll have a bad day, or a bad week, or maybe even a bad month.  And it may be bad enough to cause you to get discouraged and quit.  As the story of your weight loss journey unfolds in your weight loss blog, however, you’ll have continual reminders of how far you have come.  How by looking at the long term view you can still see your success, even through all of the ups and downs along the way.  It’s easy to forget if you haven’t recorded it.  A weight loss blog gives you the means to record and review that history when you need it the most.
  4. Ensuring Success.  All other things being equal, the dieter who blogs openly and honestly about her weight loss journey will be more successful than the dieter who goes it alone.  The support network you will build will motivate you to be successful as you won’t want to let others down.  The accountability you will gain from being open and honest will keep you on track.  The story you are recording will be the reminder of how good you really have it now.  All of this will add up to the success you are looking to achieve.

Has your weight loss blog helped you?  Please share your story in the comments; I love to read about success!

P.S. Has anyone looked at NextAdvisor? They provide unbiased first-hand reviews of all kinds of consumer services and they recently conducted a taste test, using real-life ordinary subjects, of popular diet program foods like Maximuscle. Their goal is to provide honest information about diet programs to dieters before they sign up for them, which sounds like a pretty cool idea to me.

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{ 31 comments }

diamond December 19, 2007 at 6:25 am

What a great post!! Support is key and you have mine!!

John December 19, 2007 at 7:12 am

“A food journal is where you log your daily meals and snacks. ”

I never could keep up with one of those things. The closest I’ve ever come to maintaining one was my diet for blockheads. But that was so simple I didn’t need the sheet after a day or two.

http://totaltransformation.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/complete-blockheads-guide-to-eating-or-the-simplest-diet-ever/

Sara Lynn December 19, 2007 at 9:33 am

What a thoughtful post and congratulations on taking the steps of substituting your old habits with new and improved ones that will help make your weightloss journey both successful and enlightening. Always, Sara

Steve v4.6 December 19, 2007 at 9:18 pm

Great post, John. If the goal is worthwhile, the experience should be recorded- lest it be repeated.

Michelle December 19, 2007 at 9:21 pm

When I blog, it holds me accountable in every aspect of my weight loss journal, including me being completely honest with myself. I do so much better on this journey when I blog than when I don’t, sooooooo…I will continue to blog, learn, and share…and hopefully inspire some day.

TB-Milwaukee December 19, 2007 at 11:31 pm

Good thoughts. I agree with them all. It is definitely a good way to stay accountable. Tonight, I was mad at myself to have to report a BIG gain.

GroovyBabe December 20, 2007 at 7:02 am

A really great post, John. I couldnt have put it better myself. My blog has been sooo important to my success and more recently in acknowledging when I am struggling. I have just signed up to wwonline so it will be interesting to see how my blog manifests itself in this new era.

john - from fat to fit December 20, 2007 at 8:11 am

Thanks all.

Steve - great point - and unfortunetly I’ve lived it before. Not this time though.

Michelle - Great attitude Michelle! But are you kidding me? You are already an inspiration - blogging about such a personal topic while putting your picture out there for all to see? Not easy to do. Losing 66 pounds? Damn girl, that’s awesome.

TB - 2 pounds is a blip, especially this time of year. You’ve got the right focus to get back on track.

Groovy - looking forward to watching your continued success!

Yin Teing December 20, 2007 at 8:40 am

Hi John, well said! Especially point # 2 on gaining accountability. Lots of my friends know about my blog. They seen me everyday, and I feel obligated to ‘practice what I preach’, so to speak. There’s no way I can lie about an achievement that isn’t there. And it has been a great motivation keeping my blog because since I started it (in Apr 07), I have been quite consistent with my effort.

Fat Man December 20, 2007 at 10:11 am

Perfectly said. I agree with everything. Until I started blogging about my being fat, and reading everyone else stories about it, I was not able to face my fears. gonna digg this bad boy for you!

Fat Man December 20, 2007 at 10:19 am

Guy’s here’s John’s Dugg article, digg it and let’s try and get him to page one:

http://digg.com/health/4_Reasons_you_should_be_writing_a_weight_loss_blog

Skinny Guy December 20, 2007 at 11:33 am

I didn’t begin my blog until after I got to my goal weight, but as the title implies it’s helping me to keep my focus on keeping the weight off.

But support is definitely an important aspect of successful weight loss. While losing I was active on the Weight Watchers message boards and the support there was a key component of my success.

Chris December 20, 2007 at 11:49 am

I started keeping a weight-loss blog last May, but stopped updating it after about six weeks when I fell off the track. I started posting in it again in October, and it’s been really helpful to keep me motivated, even if I’m the only person who reads it.

Vilma December 20, 2007 at 12:47 pm

Awesome post John! I completely agree. My little space on the net has helped me through many many things. I have everything I could ever use there to become a success story. But like Chris, I too have “fallen off” the wagon as they say and haven’t been as active since September. I’m starting to post more often now & have also been reading back through old post’s that have helped and motivated me a lot.

diana the scale junkie December 20, 2007 at 10:26 pm

Excellent post John, these are the reasons why I blog. When you put it out there for the world to see, it gives you an extra push to stay the course.

I find blogging and reading blogs to be very therapeutic. Sometimes someone will mention something and it will open a door in my mind and help me work through an issue. Seeing the success of others pushes me to work harder and keep going even when I want to give up.

I’ve “met” a lot of wonderful people by blogging and I want to cheer them all on, not only to victory on the scale but to the true reward of better health.

Steve December 20, 2007 at 11:50 pm

Hey John,

Those are some great reasons to start a weight loss blog. As everyone can see from your progress they obviously work.

One the food journal thing, I know that many people are against them. But I for one am a big supporter of it (at least in the beginning). Too many people under estimate the amount of food and calories they eat. Then they’re disappointed when they don’t lose the amount of weight they expected to.

Once you grasp the concept of portion sizes and can gauge a little more accurately the calories in what you are eating just by eyeballing it. Then it’s time to drop the food journals. That’s my experience anyway.

I’ve also dugg and stumbled your post. I’d like to see more people support you. Great job.

Mary December 26, 2007 at 5:52 am

[ed. "Mary" later tried responding to her own question as "Liz" who happened to know a great Herbalife distributor and pumped his website. Nice try, spammer! ]

Hello, This is Mary

I am 36 years old with 2 toddlers. My youngest just started day care last week- which still feels a little strange. I haven’t had this much time to myself in years. First thing I want to do is lose the extra pounds I put on during the last pregnancy. One of the girls next door has suggested I join her walking group two days a week. After my first pregnancy I lost around 35 pounds using the Herbalife products, but when I called the man that sold them to me three years ago he told me this week he doesn’t sell them anymore. He told me to look on the internet. It’s disappointing because he was really nice and he called me regularly to make sure I was using their products correctly. It was nice to have someone checking in with me every week to see how I was and it kept me motivated.

I searched on the internet for someone that sells Herbalife in New Jersey. I found many websites but I don’t want
just to buy the products, I want to find someone trustworthy that sells the products so I can also meet them and get started again.

Could anybody here recommend someone in New Brunswick?

Thanks, Mary

john - from fat to fit December 26, 2007 at 5:59 am

Sorry Mary, I don’t know anything about Herbalife. But the walking group sounds like a good idea!

Saphrym December 28, 2007 at 10:57 pm

Wow! Same reasons I started one. And I completely agree!

Kaxxina December 31, 2007 at 4:34 pm

Great article!

What do you write about on the days you feel you haven’t done anything worth writing about-good or bad?

john - from fat to fit January 1, 2008 at 11:54 am

Kaxxina - I could easily write every day on what I ate and/or exercised and the decisions I made. That probably would be boring though in the long run. So I try to write every day (which I have not being doing a good job of lately) and sometimes I write about other weight loss bloggers, products, etc. Doesn’t all have to be about you. Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you again and even better - when you have a new blog!

Bendever Gerona January 21, 2008 at 8:20 pm

urghh.. maybe I should start writing it now.

Andrew January 22, 2008 at 12:39 pm

Great article John. I’ve found reading everyone else’s stories so inspiring. It really helps to motivate me to keep up my exercise and healthy lifestyle.

Cynthia February 7, 2008 at 6:11 pm

Hey, great article! It’s funny I found it right AFTER I decided to start my own weight loss blog. I started mine for accountability, but I didn’t even think about it helping record the history of my journey or the support network.

I put a link to your article on my page, if I’d read this sooner, I might’ve been blogging sooner.

I had to download an RSS reader just yesterday, so I can keep up with other folk’s journeys. LOL!

nomorefatdad March 12, 2008 at 3:45 pm

Great article, I agree with everything. It wasn’t until I started blogging about my weight loss that I really became successful. The support and accountability the blog provides are huge factors in helping me stay on track.

I really wish more people would hear this message and start their own blogs. I really think it’s one of the best kept “secrets” of any weight loss program.

Take care,
NMFD

Will @ 4XLT August 18, 2008 at 10:07 pm

Hey John,

I may be a few months late to the party, but I wanted to say thanks for blogging and pointing out the benefits to blogging through your weight loss here at this post.

I know my own weight loss blog (http://4xlt.willphillips.org) has been absolutely key to my own success so far - as you mentioned, it’s the community of bloggers I stumbled into that’s been even better.

Keep going strong!

Glad to have you on board Will! Adding you to my blogroll.

Mr. Meltdown November 8, 2008 at 2:41 am

I know this post is late but I just had to add my 2 cents. I have to admit I needed the support that is why I made my blog. I think blogging is helping me so much more than if I just tried to do it without documenting my efforts. This is a life saver for me and only regret is I wish I would have started sooner.

I know how you feel - but no time like the present! Just make sure you keep it going even when the times get tough. We are here for each other.

Fit dude now December 2, 2008 at 9:02 pm

One of the most important things I did, was tell everyone about my targets and when I hoped to achieve them. I could not face failing then, this is similar, and a very good idea.

Shrinkingdad January 17, 2009 at 7:46 pm

I first read this post a week ago, and it convinced me to start my own blog. I’m enjoying it (even though I have no readers to speak of yet) and plan to stick at it. Just wanted to say thanks for a great & thought-provoking post John.

That’s awesome! I added you to my new weight loss bloggers blogroll. Good luck on your journey!

Sophia March 1, 2009 at 5:49 pm

I started my own weight loss blog a few weeks ago for those reasons but without realizing all of them.

Not sure how I can get followers and support, but reading other blogs like yours is helpful!!

I tried the whole “buddy program” as recommended by Dr. Oz and using the message boards, but in the end I did not find them as helpful. I like writing my blog because I can be completely honest and it forces me to be accountable to the people who “read”.

Keep doing what you are doing!!!!!

DJ March 15, 2009 at 10:32 pm

Absolutely agree! I find that I am so much more on track when I blog every day about my struggles.

I lost 52 pounds in a year and had/have a few more to lose. I then regained 10 and kick-started my blog. I’m now down 3.5 and well on my way.

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