The Best Food Journals

Hello New Me: A Daily Food and Exercise Journal

Food for Thought

This daily guide helps keep you on track.

Best Overall

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This journal is the perfect companion for your wellness journey. The straightforward style is super easy to use, making it simple to track your activity and food to see overarching trends. That way, you can more easily change your diet and daily routines to help your reach your fitness and health goals. Just record your daily food consumption, monitor your water intake, track exercise, and check your progress.

Pros:

• The book is small enough to carry in a purse or backpack, so you can always have it handy
• It has enough pages to track food for 90 days
• In addition to food and activity, it also helps you track your measurements, water intake, mood, and cravings

Cons:

• There are only two pages in the book to track your weight — at the beginning and end of the 90-day period
• The cover isn’t super durable and may tear or bend, especially if you’re carrying it with you every day

Clever Fox Food Journal

Small But Mighty

This food journal is a discreet method for daily tracking.

Most Portable

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Get help to hit your weight-loss goals with this comprehensive food tracker. Developed by fitness and nutrition experts, this journal gives you over six months of tracking to help you see long-term results. The un-dated planner even gives you the flexibility to easily skip days or weeks without messing up your program for added flexibility. Simply write in your goals, food, and measurements, and you can even accent the journal with the included stickers for a bright bit of fun to keep you motivated for the long haul.

Pros:

• The journal has space to track food, weight, caffeine intake, energy, and activity levels for a holistic approach to your health
• The journal doesn’t have pre-written dates, so you can add them yourself
• With over six months of space, it helps you look at your goals long-term

Cons:

• There’s no monthly calendar, only a daily view
• Over time, the pages may begin to fall out with frequent use

NewMe Fitness Workout and Fitness Journal

Work It Out

Designed for fitness enthusiasts, this journal helps you get moving.

Best for Active Lifestyles

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This fitness journal was created by professionals to help you better track your progress. With included graphics to help you target specific muscles, it’s a sturdy design made with thick wire binding, durable pages, and a laminated cover to keep it in great condition, even with frequent use. Simple log your exercise, the number of sets and reps, and add any notes you need to help you build muscle and crush your goals.

Pros:

• There is enough space to log many exercises each day so that you can keep a detailed record
• Thanks to the thick paper, pens and markers don’t bleed through the pages
• Along with the fitness tracker, the journal includes exercise suggestions for those who are newer to working out

Cons:

• The font is very small and hard to read from afar
• The wire binding may come unwound over time, especially if the journal is transported often

Dietminder Personal Food & Fitness Journal

That's Good Eatin'

Make losing weight easier with this diet-oriented journal.

Best for Dieting

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No matter what type of diet you’re on, this journal will help you stay on track. Instead of relying on an app or digital tracker, this physical journal helps hold you accountable and gives you plenty of space to work towards goals. Just record your food intake and exercise every day to create a record of your habits and see all of your hard work come to life.

Pros:

• Helps you monitor both your food intake and your physical exercise
• Track everything from calories to grams of fat to carbs, all in one place
• Each meal has multiple lines to give you enough space to track every element

Cons:

• The book doesn’t come with refill pages, so you’ll need to purchase a new journal once it runs out
• If you need to track a specific nutritional value, there’s only one write-in column per day

Life & Apples Meal Planner Notebook

Plan Ahead

This journal is specifically designed to help you plan meals and stick to them.

Best Meal Planner

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Make menu planning easy with this food prep journal. With weekly meal planners included for three meals, 52 weeks per year, it’s a one-stop-shop for compiling your favorite recipes, master shopping lists, and nutritional index. That way, you can ensure that you and your family have healthy and delicious meals every day of the week. Plus, you’ll also get a meal-planning guide, healthy recipes, and a clean-eating shopping list with your purchase to make it all that much easier.

Pros:

• Keep yourself on-track with healthy eating by planning each meal with the 52-week planner
• The planner is undated, so you can adjust or skip weeks as needed
• Includes reference pages with vitamin and seasonal produce information along with snack ideas

Cons:

• The paper is very thin, and dark markers or pens may bleed through
• For recipes with many ingredients, the pages may not have enough lines

Frequently Asked Questions

Are food journals useful?

Food journals can play an important part in helping people lose weight and keep it off. Keeping track of everything you eat can help you see trends in your eating habits. By writing everything down, you can more easily see if you are eating a balanced diet and if you are over-eating in certain areas, like sweets, fruits, or high-fat proteins.

Should you track your food?

If you’re trying to lose weight, tracking what you eat can help you lose weight more quickly. Because you’re paying closer attention to what you consume, it holds you more accountable than not tracking your food. It’s also an excellent way to practice mindfulness in your everyday life by considering each bite of food and getting the most enjoyment and satisfaction out of your meals.