What to write in a food journal: ideas and a sample day

A blank page is the hardest part of a food journal. Do you write everything? Just the meals? How you felt? The good news is that a useful journal is small. A few details per entry, written quickly, will tell you more than a long diary you stop keeping after four days. Here is what to write, what to skip, and a sample day to borrow from.

Quick answer

For each entry, write what you ate, roughly how much, and how it was made. Add the time if it matters to you. Then add a short note to yourself about hunger, mood or context when something stands out. One line per food, plain words, no pressure to be complete.

The basics: what you ate

Start with the food itself. Put each item on its own line, so you can scan the day later.

• 2 eggs scrambled in butter
• toast, 2 slices
• flat white

That alone is a working journal. Everything else on this list is optional.

Amounts, in words you'd really use

You don't need a scale. Write the amount the way you'd say it out loud:

• a big bowl of porridge
• half a burrito
• handful of almonds
• 3 slices of pizza

If you know a number, such as grams or a count, add it. If you don't, a rough amount beats a blank. Over time you'll notice you're quite consistent about what "a big bowl" means for you, which is what makes the journal useful.

How it was cooked, and what was added

This is the detail most people leave out and the one that changes the story most. Chicken can be grilled or fried. Rice can be plain or made with butter. Salad can come with a spoonful of dressing or half the bottle.

Short words do a lot: fried, in butter, with olive oil, creamy, dressing on the side. Add them when you remember.

The time you ate

Time is useful if you're curious about patterns, such as long gaps between meals or late-night snacking. It's less useful if it makes the journal feel like a chore. A simple compromise is to note the time only when it's unusual: 3pm snack, late dinner.

If you log as you eat, the journal keeps the order for you anyway.

Hunger, mood and context

This is where a food journal becomes more than a list. A short note about how you felt, or what was going on, can explain a lot later. Ideas:

• How hungry you were before you ate: starving, peckish, not hungry at all
• How full you felt afterwards
• Your mood, or whether you were stressed, bored or celebrating
• Where you ate: at your desk, in the car, with friends
• What happened: skipped lunch, late meeting, long run

Keep these notes short and honest. You don't need to analyse them as you write. Patterns tend to show up on their own when you read back a couple of weeks.

Notes to self with //

In Ramen, any line that starts with // is a note to yourself. It sits in your journal in the right place but isn't counted as food. That makes it easy to mix feelings and facts without messing up the day's totals:

// hungry by 4, more protein at lunch?
// big dinner out, felt great

If you use a plain notes app, you can copy the idea. Pick a symbol, any symbol, to mark the lines that aren't food.

Things you can skip

A journal doesn't need to be exhaustive. It's fine to leave out:

• Water, black coffee and plain tea, unless you care about them
• Tiny extras like a splash of milk
• Precise times for every meal
• Anything that makes you dread opening the journal

If a detail doesn't help you answer a question you actually have, drop it. You can always add it back.

Food journal ideas for different goals

What to write depends on why you're keeping the journal.

• To learn your habits: focus on time, hunger and mood notes.
• To check protein: write the protein-heavy items clearly, with amounts. Our protein tracker page and the guide on how much protein you need can help with the targets.
• To spot foods that don't sit well: note how you felt a few hours later.
• To count calories: include amounts and cooking details, and use a rough number rather than none. If you're starting out, read calorie counting for beginners.

A journal can do more than one of these. Start with one.

A sample day

Here is a day in a typed food journal. The lines and numbers are illustrative, to show the layout. They aren't real measurements.

2 eggs scrambled in butter           ~240
toast, 2 slices                      ~160
flat white, oat milk                 ~140
// slept badly, really hungry
leftover pad thai, cold              ~560
// 3pm slump, no snack, headache
handful of almonds                   ~170
mum's dal with rice, big bowl        ~480
// full, felt calm after dinner

Notice what's there. Food, in plain words. A couple of amounts. A little cooking detail. Four notes about how the day felt. Total time to write it: perhaps two minutes in all.

Make writing it easy

The best journal is the one you actually open. Some tricks:

• Write right after eating, not at the end of the day.
• Keep it where you already are, like a notes app or your lock screen.
• Reuse what you already wrote for meals you repeat.
• Be kind. A messy entry is a good entry.

For more on writing lines that work, read log food like you write notes. If you'd like to see how a typed log fits into a wider routine, our food journal app page covers it.

Where Ramen fits

Ramen is a food journal where you type what you ate in plain words, and calories and macros appear beside each line, usually in about 2 seconds. It never rewrites your words. When a number is less certain it shows a "~", and every number comes with a plain-language explanation. For meals you repeat, type @ to bring back a saved meal.

You don't need an app to keep a good journal, though. Tomorrow, try writing three lines at breakfast: the food, the amount, and how you felt. That's already a food journal.

When you want the numbers beside it, Ramen is coming soon to iPhone. Join the waitlist and we'll let you know when it's out.