If you’re like me you’ve probably asked yourself that question more than once.

You finally get up enough courage to step on the scales and then…YIKES! It’s even worse than you thought. The first thing most of us will do is check to see if the scales are off. After all, we knew we might have put on an extra pound or two since the last time we weighed ourselves but it couldn’t be that much. Could it? Where did those pounds come from?

Someone who was so baffled by her weight increase once told me she was gaining weight merely from smelling food. I laughed, but the person was serious. She put up such a convincing argument that I actually wondered for a second or two if maybe the air was fattening. Thank goodness that’s not the case because then we’d all have to stop breathing to loose weight.

Here’s a better solution I’ve discovered that can help solve the mystery of the thickening waistline.

-- Keep a food journal. It’s what we’re eating, not what we’re breathing that’s stacking up the pounds, so it’s a good idea to know exactly what we’re putting into our mouths. I’ve found it helpful to keep track of three things: the time, the food or beverage, and the calorie content. (Serving size and calorie count can easily be found on packaging labels).

-- No cheating. Everything consumed gets logged into the journal daily. It only takes a couple of minutes and can be a real eye-opener. From it we might see ways to make just a few simple changes that could be beneficial in healthy weight loss. It also works a lot better than holding your breath to steer clear of the fat in the air.