Yet another study says to keep a journal to increase weight loss

At the risk of sounding repetitious, here's another study that shows that keeping a journal is a key factor in successful weight loss. In fact, this study says it's one of the three main habits that will help you lose weight.

The other two are "not skipping meals" (so that you don't overeat at the next meal) and "not eating out" (which tends to result in calories running amok.)

The article originally ran in July of 2012, but is showing up again on the news sites most likely because this is the time of year when people really start thinking about making the changes that will help them lose weight.

I thought it was particularly interesting that this study was based on post-menopausal women between the ages of 50 and 75, a very challenging time of life for weight loss, if you ask me, since your metabolism tends to slow down. Mine is at a crawl.

Other researchers cited in the article point out that the study is probably applicable to the wider population as well.

Of our three ColorCode Mode journals, the daily Lean Mode Food Diary is probably your best choice for developing the healthy habits cited in this article.

First of all, it's already set up with a column to track daily calories.

And because it's "Not Your Usual Food Diary" you can have the additional fun (and motivating effect) of coloring it in when you make the other two healthy choices cited in the study.

You can color in the FoodDot next to each item you enter if it was eaten (or drunk) at home. Your goal would be to "connect the FoodDots" each day by not eating out. (I'm guessing that pizza delivery would count as eating out.) If you don't see much color, you're eating out way too much.

If you didn't skip any meals that day, at the bottom of each page there's a PowerCircle you can color in to show a "skip-free day." (Write in "skip" instead of "french-fry" as seen in the example below.)

Lean Mode PowerCircles

And there's a special PowerCircle at the bottom of each page to color in and track your consecutive days of journaling, because we kind of already knew that making a daily habit of journaling is a big deal.

As the article notes, you need to make a daily habit of all three of those behaviors. Which makes our "healthy habit-forming" food diary a trifecta for tracking the weight loss strategies cited in this study.

"Our study was unique in that it looked at a large array of weight-loss behaviors to see what worked and what didn't," said study researcher Dr. Anne McTiernan, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. "We were surprised at how much of a difference using food journals and eating at home made," McTiernan said.

So there you have it. Basically, we need to be mindful of what we eat, and that means tracking our food consumption in a journal and avoiding situations where we tend to consume too many calories -- which is after we've skipped a meal, and when eating out.

Of course the article doesn't entirely let us off the hook regarding what we eat, as it goes on to cite a low-carb calories strategy over low-fat, which you can also track in our food diary.

Rounding out the news story is the familiar advice to "eat less and exercise more." And of course, our Lean Mode Food Diary has a special area where you can record your exercise, with another circle to color in.

If it all seems too daunting to you, remember that habits are behaviors you repeat without much thought, like brushing your teeth or taking a shower in the morning. They come quite naturally to you. After time (a month at least, but we think it's longer for eating habits) you'll be so in the habit of journaling and controlling your calories, it will come much more easily to you. It will just be a natural part of your healthier lifestyle.

Kudos and good luck to you if you are taking advantage of the New Year to rethink your habits and lifestyle, and then taking action!  Studies are great, but it's what you actually do that counts.