Does a Blog Help You Lose Weight?

March 5, 2011

Pretty regularly, I get an email with this question somewhere in it:

What do you think about weight loss blogging? Does it help you with your weight loss?

I always have to think about it before replying, because the truth is, the answer isn’t simple. The answer is: “it depends.”

 

Papercut word art by Ashley Pahl on Etsy

Pros:

  • You can get support from others who are going through the same journey. Really, you can never have too much support
  • It can help with accountability, making yourself more conscious of your decisions if you’re going to blog about them for the whole world to see
  • The act of writing out your journey can sometimes lead yourself to identify patterns in your behavior and be able to work on remedying them
  • If you really want to share your story and be heard, blogging is a great way to do it.

Cons:

  • You open yourself up for criticism/trolls. I am thankful I haven’t had these (yet), but you have to remember that not everyone who reads is rooting for you
  • Blogging can make you TOO analytical of your actions, progress, etc. For a while, I hated the posts I do of my weigh ins because every week I felt like I was letting people down. Thankfully, I’ve gotten over that, but the tendency to look at yourself under a microscope is always there
  • Depending on your goals, it can be time intensive. I spend about 2 hours per day on my blog after I get home from work, and even more time on the weekends. This means writing new posts, trying to respond to comments, emails, tweets, etc. For me, my goal is to spread my journey as far as possible so others can see that they can do it too, so I do put quite a bit of time into it. If the broadcasting of the message isn’t as important and you’re using it as more of a journal, you don’t have to post as frequently.

The good news is that you can always start blogging about weight loss and then stop, as the lovely Jules at Big Girl Bombshell recently decided to do. Alternatively, you can start out a private journal and see if it’s something that you’re ready to share with the world.

Would love to hear from other fitness/weight loss bloggers. What are your pros and cons?

Tagged as: blogging, tips, weight loss blogging

  • http://www.birdsontheblog.co.uk Sarah Arrow

    I hate to blog or even mention weightloss, every time I do I gain 10lbs :( I did give up Pepsi Max by blogging about it every day for a month. I stayed off of it a year and 2 months then slipped up for a year, now off of it again.

    • http://skinnyemmie.com Skinny Emmie

      hooray for getting off the soda- that’s tough to do. I remember I wanted to pull my hair out when I cut out my diet coke habit!

  • http://www.waistingtimeblog.com/ Karen@WaistingTime

    I agree with all your points. I’d add a pro that my blog has kept me going when I might have wanted to give up. Or maybe it is my readers, rather than my blog itself. But a con is that it means just that much more focus on eating in my life as I write about it too. But I have learned so very much from the whole blogging experience that I can’t imagine stopping. Love it.

    • http://skinnyemmie.com Skinny Emmie

      great point Karen. Isn’t it funny how accountability to others can also turn into over-analyzing for us?

  • Lynne

    When I read the title of today’s post, “Does a Blog Help You Lose Weight” my first instinct was YES! Then I realized it was from the point of view of you as the blogger, not me as the reader. I guess what I’m trying to say is that reading your blog, and a couple others like it, has been so inspiring to me and really keeps me on the right track. I have lost about 70 lbs over the last couple of years (yes, slowly!) and probably have another 70-75 to go. You truly are an inspiration, thank you for all that you do!

    • http://skinnyemmie.com Skinny Emmie

      Wow, 70 pounds is AMAZING! And thank you for your kind words.

  • http://www.prjctskinnyjeans.blogspot.com Lali

    I started my blog weight loss journey at the end of January. I was a bit scared to share with the world. For that reason I have not posted a picture of my face and I use a nickname instead of my real name. This has allowed me to be honest when I write. I like your pro’s and con’s list. As a first time weight loss blogger I have found blogging to be useful in my journey. I find motivation from others, as well as myself. Thanks for the post.

    • http://skinnyemmie.com Skinny Emmie

      I think starting out (or staying) anonymous is a great way to go about it. It is still personal, but not so much that everyone in your “real” life knows EVERYTHING.

  • http://gettinghealthy-myblog.blogspot.com Debbie

    You make excellent points & I agree with them all. I am fairly new to blogging, I was completely unaware of the blogging world before August of 2010. I started my blog more as a journal and as a means of accountability. I still only post once or twice a week. The biggest con that I have found is one you touched on. Wanting to be honest about the journey, failures and all, but also not wanting to let people down & wanting to be liked. It can be a lot of pressure. I have to admit there have been times that I just haven’t posted because I was struggling & afraid to admit it. In times like those, blogging has hurt my weight loss because I just wanted to give up and forget about how far I’ve come, rather than have people see my failure, (humanity). The biggest pro, finding so many others in the blogging community who are going through the same journey. You are one of those people and an amazing inspiration to so many of us.

    • http://skinnyemmie.com Skinny Emmie

      You’re not alone when you say that you don’t want to admit to struggling. Even though we ALL struggle at points, it’s different to just lay it on the line and be so vulnerable. And thank you for your kind words!

  • http://www.emilinasassperina.com Emilina Sassperina

    I completely agree with what you posted. I’ve never dealt with any trolls, either, but I definitely know some people (mostly plus-size fashion bloggers) who have. I don’t think that’s right, but like you said– not everyone is cheering for you.

    That said, my blog has almost always been helpful. I stopped posting my weekly weigh-in results because I felt like it was too much pressure and like you, I felt like I was letting people down when I had several bad weeks in a row. Other than that, however, I think it has often held me accountable.

    • http://skinnyemmie.com Skinny Emmie

      ooh yes, plus size fashion bloggers get REAMED sometimes. It’s so ugly.

  • http://weightlossandportioncontrol.blogspot.com/ Heather

    “Not everyone is cheering for you” Love that! I have recently dealt with that in my personal life and it is such an eye opener.

    I think blogging helps me tremendously. When ever I feel discouraged I go back and re-read over my blog. I don’t think its the same effect as having a physical dairy. I can look back over the time and date I posted my successes and struggles in a blog much better than in a traditional journal. Its a better gauge, for me, to see how far I’ve come, IMO.

    • http://skinnyemmie.com Skinny Emmie

      I’m sorry that you’ve dealt with someone not cheering for you in your personal life. While it’s easy to say “cut your losses and move on,” it’s so much more complicated.

  • http://kclanderson.com/before-and-after KCLAnderson (Karen)

    To me there’s an important distinction: a weight loss blog is a blog that includes specifics like points/calories/exercise/recipes/how-to’s/menus/pounds lost or gained and so on. I don’t think keeping a blog like that would help me lose weight…in fact, it would have me running in the opposite direction, but I am weird :-)

    I created my blog as a place for me to get at the emotional stuff…to figure stuff out. It’s been very healing and in the process, I have lost weight. That said, I don’t consider my blog to be a “weight loss” blog.

    • http://skinnyemmie.com Skinny Emmie

      Yes, that is an important distinction! I don’t see your blog as a “weight loss blog” either. You delve into so much emotion and I really think that’s often a piece of everyones lives that we seem to overlook the importance of.

  • http://www.lessbrittmorelife.com Brittany

    Great points! Blogging about my life and successes and not so great successes has been amazing! I’ve met some amazing people who have helped me along this journey! I lose sharing all parts of my life :)

    I recently found out that my family reads my blog, not so incredibly excited about that!

    • http://skinnyemmie.com Skinny Emmie

      haha, yeah, the family thing is tough! co-workers also!

  • http://www.poundsoffplayoff.com Alan (Pounds Off Playoff)

    Great topic. I know blogging has helped me. I went years flitting from diet to diet with no accountability or sticktoitiveness. I’ve now executed a plan for more than a year. I’m reluctant to let people down, which is a good thing.

    • http://skinnyemmie.com Skinny Emmie

      Glad you’ve found it to be a good thing for you. And I’m totally stealing “sticktoitiveness.” Genius.

  • http://abetterlesserme.blogspot.com/ D…

    Personally I think it helps me process things, helps me as I get to know myself a better. Also discovering there are so many like minded people out there who seem to relate to things I’m struggling with that most people cannot understand is very comforting and helps when I’m feeling silly about something. My blog reminds me that there is somewhere I can go where I can be completely self-involved and that’s ok as opposed to always putting other people and things first as I tend to do elsewhere in my life.

    • http://skinnyemmie.com Skinny Emmie

      You hit on 2 great points: there ARE like-minded people out there and it does make you feel less alone at times. And also, the point about being self-involved. It’s 100% fine for your blog to be completely self-involved, while in real life it wouldn’t be accepted.

  • http://fortyisthenewfabulous.blogspot.com/ auntiekim

    Emmie, I so agree. My blog is not strictly about weight loss though lately it has definitely focused more on my weight loss journey. It took awhile to start getting readers, but I didn’t care. I was writing for me and using it as a way to keep myself honest and write about revelations and little successes. In time the readers came and I seem to have a lot of them. But nobody ever comments, which is kinda starting to drive me batty actually. I guess no comments is better than trolls who are wishing you evil! LOL

    Because my weight deals with things other than weight, especially my posts from a few months ago, I do not have my full name or picture. If I do decide to post a pic, I’ll need to delete those posts in order to protect other people’s privacy. I struggle with the direction I want to go in, and realistically how much time I have to devote to it. Still, I keep plugging along as if nobody is reading and think of it as a way to document my journey ‘just for me’.

    I do think think that writing about my journey, and reading other weight focused blogs, has kept me focused and motivated overall. I am happy with my weight loss progress but I am having one hell of a time with the exercise part. That’s one reason I love your blog. It really does help to read about someone going through the same thing as me, yet having success in an area that I’m currently failing in. I hope your feet stop giving you grief soon :) All the best.

    • http://skinnyemmie.com Skinny Emmie

      I know I used to be batty if people didn’t comment, but in the end, it should be more important to just write what you want to, and not worry about who is going to respond to that. Easier said than done ;)

  • http://www.110pounds.com Lisa

    This is an interesting topic. I think it CAN help you become more accountable–especially if you’re posting food pictures. You are right that it opens you up to trolls and negative comments. This can help in some ways…maybe you’re getting lazy and eating more than a portion and you don’t realize it until you see the photo on the blog, or someone comments on it.

    I’ve had a troll posting negative and hurtful comments. It’s the first time it’s happened. When it first happened I took it personally and suddenly was over-critical about the issue she criticized me on. Then I realized that it’s MY blog. I lost the weight and kept it off so guess what Troll? I’m doing SOMETHING right! Don’t let the haters bother you.

  • http://www.katdoesdiets.com Kerri O

    Another thing I can fall into is a peer pressure of sorts. I’ve tried to write about it a couple times, but it doesn’t come out right. Being among this awesome information filled community sometimes it can be tough to not feel like I should be doing what someone else is doing.

  • @ms_jones74

    Blogging made me self conscious, all the way around. And as readership grew, the less I wanted to share. I couldn’t handle it, let myself get off the program, and then couldn’t handle reporting my failure. I eventually just dumped the blog altogether.

  • http://amerrylife.com Mary (A Merry Life)

    For me? No. It hasn’t. It has made me a healthier fat person though. ;)

  • http://www.lucilleroberts.com/ Gym

    For me personally, if I was trying to make such a dramatic change in my life: blogging would be perfect. I’m one of those people who just perform better when I have higher-expectations on myself. Not that I would be disappointed if you had a bad stretch, but whenever I see a weight-loss update from you I EXPECT to see a negative number. You’re doing such a great job with it… but I’ve grown to anticipate it. If I had a blog about a life change, I would expect it of me too.

    Just my .02, keep up the great work!

  • http://mavenity.org clarely

    I agree that it can help, especially in terms of working through things, and also recognizing patterns. I’ve also found it helped me connect with some friends in a completely new way — I had no idea they struggled with food & body issues until I posted and they confided in me. Specifically, the two friends who confided in me are actually quite thin, so it gave me a fresh perspective on food/body & weight loss issues not just affecting overweight people.

    Accountability is huge, too, especially when you — gulp — actually blog real numbers. I still can’t quite bring myself to blog my current/start weight, but I do blog the weight loss numbers, so I feel some pressure to put my money where my mouth is and not have gains. It’s not a magic bullet, though. When I started blogging about weight, I didn’t stick to my guns at all and actually gained weight. This time around, I’m sticking to it and the blogging helps… but I know it’s not a magical solution to keeping me motivated.

  • http://Becoming.WillPhillips.org Will Phillips

    A bit late to this, but that’s how it goes when you find a new blog, right?

    I lost 140 pounds over the course of about 18 months starting in 2009, and I think my blog was a big factor for me. I also think that not blogging (and being caught up in it’s design and user experience, being a web design guy professionally) played a role in my massive weight gain since then.

    As other’s have said, I think it’s because of the accountability you get when going public, not to mention the fact that I’m an extrovert and vain, so I want to make sure those numbers are going the right direction and I’m writing meaningful stuff.

    So, ultimately I suppose it depends on the personality type, but if you commit to it and get folks committed in turn to what you’re writing, it can be a huge benefit.

    • http://skinnyemmie.com Skinny Emmie

      congratulations on 140 pounds – that’s amazing!

  • http://www.zedpower.net Zedpower

    Novel idea.  It is said that if you hold yourself accountable to others then you are more likely to do as you should.

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