When I asked my OBGYN about losing weight, she gave this simple piece of advice: keep a food journal. "The food journal makes people actually keep track of every little thing that crosses their lips and they have accountability," says Dr. Kim Goodwin, MD, FACOG.

In a food journal, you basically log everything you eat and drink during the day. Your journal will be hard evidence of your food successes and failures written in black and white. It will help you:

-Assess your current eating habits

-Identify your weak areas

-Reveal your calorie intake

-Hold you accountable to your health goals

Keeping a food journal helped me realize what I was eating and how I could improve my diet. I was eating too much bread and not enough greens. And I saw how easy it was to surpass my calorie intake goal of about 1700 calories a day. Recording my snacks kept me from overeating. Plus my accountability partner had full access to my journal so I didn't want to embarrass myself with too many cheats.

You can look up calorie counts for the foods you're eating by Googling "calorie counter" or buying an inexpensive calorie counter book at a drugstore. You can download a sample food journal page from various websites and make copies, or you can take any notebook and just write down everything you eat and drink during the day, and keep an approximate calorie count on each page.

When you take on the daunting task of losing weight, one of your best allies is a food journal. Keep it simple and just do it! Don't get bogged down in all the details, exact calories, and percentages. Just write down what you eat and drink without fail and without omissions and you'll be well on your way to writing your success story!

Today's action step: Make or get a food journal. Begin writing down everything you eat and drink today. Use this food journal daily for the next 2 weeks and then evaluate your eating habits. Continue journaling if you find it helpful (you will!).