Free printable
A food journal without calories
One page a day: when you ate, how hungry you were, how full you felt after, and how it felt. A second page to look back on the week. Nothing to count, nothing to hit.
Free. No sign-up, no email.
How It Felt · food journal
Today, and how it felt
Date
Hunger and fullness, 1–10. 1–2 painfully empty · 3–4 hungry · 5–6 neutral or just satisfied · 7–8 full · 9–10 past full. There are no right numbers, only what you noticed.
How It Felt · food journal
The week, looking back
Week of
| Day | Meals noted | Words that came up | Anything that stood out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | |||
| Tue | |||
| Wed | |||
| Thu | |||
| Fri | |||
| Sat | |||
| Sun |
Which meal felt best this week? What was different about it?
When did I eat without really noticing?
Did one feeling keep showing up around food? When?
One small, kind thing to try next week:
Look for patterns, not grades. A week that felt hard is still information. Prefer your phone? The How It Felt app keeps this journal for you — howitfelt.app
How to use it
- Before you eat, circle a hunger number. A guess is fine — the point is to pause long enough to ask.
- Afterwards, circle how full you feel, and any words that fit how the meal felt.
- Leave "what I had" blank if writing food down feels heavy. The journal works without it.
- At the end of the week, fill in the look-back page. You are looking for patterns, not a score.
Why there's no calorie column
Most food journal templates are built for counting: calories, macros, portions. This one is built for noticing. The questions are about your body and your day — how hungry you were, how full you got, what was going on — because those are the things a number can't tell you. If you want the longer case, we wrote about keeping a food diary without counting calories.
The feeling words are the same 21 the How It Felt app uses, grouped the same way: seven that tend to feel good, seven in between, seven that are harder. Circle as many as fit. "Neutral" is a perfectly good answer.
Reading the numbers
The 1–10 scale is the hunger–fullness scale used in mindful and intuitive eating. It describes, it doesn't prescribe: there is no number you are supposed to stop at. The hunger–fullness scale explainer goes through each level, and there is a one-page printable of the scale to keep next to this journal.
Questions
Is it really free?
Yes. Print it or download the PDF as often as you like. There is no sign-up and no email.
Can I bring it to a dietitian or therapist?
Yes — many people find a written record easier to talk through than memory. It is a self-reflection tool, not a clinical one, and it has no column for calories, portions or weight on purpose.
What size paper does it print on?
Both A4 and US Letter. The Print button uses your printer's paper; the PDFs come in both sizes.
Do I have to write down what I ate?
No. That line is optional. Hunger, fullness and how the meal felt are the useful part, and some people find the journal kinder without a food list.
Is there an app version?
How It Felt is the same journal on your phone: a photo, a hunger and fullness check, and a feeling for each meal. No calories, no account.
Prefer your phone?
How It Felt is this journal as an app: snap the meal, check in with hunger and fullness, pick a feeling. It's free to start, and there's no account.
This journal is for self-reflection. It isn't medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. If eating feels distressing or out of your control, please talk with a doctor or an eating-disorder-informed clinician. For support options: nationaleatingdisorders.org (US), beateatingdisorders.org.uk (UK), or findahelpline.com.