I journal every day and it keeps me on track. It basically keeps me feeling accountable. And I don't plan my meals either. I just try to eat healthy foods and the journal helps me to track those healthy foods and know where I'm at. I usually work very long days and don't have a lot of time for planning or fiddling about with calories counters so jotting things down quickly is perfect for my lifestyle.

There's no negativity associated with journalling for me. Some people find it obsessive but it takes me all of 1 minute to write down a meal so I spend a total of maybe 5 minutes each day on the journal.

I haven't recommended it to others but I would if they asked.

If you bite it...you must write it!

Food journalling is the only way I can keep myself accountable for everything I'm eating. If I have a bad week, I can look back to my FJ and see Did I eat too many calories/pts?, Did I eat enough fiber?, Did my calories count (fruit/veg/protein) or were they empty calories (cookies/chips/snacks)?

I usually plan out my whole day during breakfast. I start by writing breakfast, then lunch, then dinner, then figure out my snacks throughout the day based on how many calories/points I have left. If I do this it is sooooo MUCH EASIER not to be tempted to eat off of my plan.

Hello to you C_laura, I recognize my old self in you. I don't think your question is about the effectiveness of food logs because as you stated, all you hear nowadays is about the effectiveness of food logs and counting calories. I think what you're really getting at here is that you're scared of these things and I understand that feeling more than you can know.

I'm a dysfunctional eater, and yes, I have an eating disorder. Right around the point where you are now emotionally I decided to get some therapy for my eating issues because I knew that there were some psychological triggers standing in my way of becoming physically healthy. I'm quite a successful person in my life and it always bothered me that I was a miserable failure at health and nutrition. So I sought help.

The honest truth? I gained weight when I began my nutrition therapy, much to my horror. Why? Because I rebeled against it. Like you, I was afraid to face my fears, I was afraid to count my calories, I was too afraid to write down what I ate on a little piece of paper. I was terrified at what the total sum of food would be and I was not ready to face it. So I ate more and rebeled against the idea of getting my eating under control eventhough that's what I was in therapy for. I know it sounds strange but it was my emotional self's last ditch effort to hold on to this dysfunctional lifestyle - it was all I knew how to do and it was my security blanket. Slowly over time I started to accept the fact that I could do this but it was a process. At first writing everything down was hard, then writing down the calories was torture. But eventually I started to feel..... in control. Now I have bad days and good days but I am still in control. Time-wise I started therapy in January 2009 and gained 20lbs by April, yea for real!! And then in May I started exercising. And in June I started writing down what I ate. Since June I've lost 36lbs and have been going strong since. Don't get me wrong, I still have lots of issues I have to deal with but they're not holding me back from my success in this.

So yeah, journaling is good for you. Don't sabotage yourself like I did any longer than you have to. Writing down calories is going to do exactly what you fear - it's going to trigger all those things you don't want to trigger. But this is what this journey is about. You are not alone in feeling this way, visit us in the Chicks in Control section where we discuss these issues. You CAN do this no matter how hard you think it is. It sounds cliche but if i can do this anyone can.

"If you bite it.. you must write it" made me LOL

I started writing down everything in the beginning until I was able to recognize what I couldn't eat considering I ate a lot of the same things. I also use it when I have fallen off the wagon and need to get back on but I always end up stopping it after a couple weeks and just going off the calculator in my head.

Yes I keep a food log. I didn't lose weight with one, I started when in maintenance, because that's where I had always failed before. I needed to know how many calories I could eat and still maintain, and the only way to know that was to measure over time and watch the scale.

Now I do know what my calorie "budget" is, and my log helps me stay within it. If I don't write it down, I lose track or (worse) somehow feel like it doesn't count somehow. (And who am I kidding? Through the lips, forever on the hips!) Keeping the log helps to keep me accountable with MYSELF. And makes me conscious of what I'm doing. Eating right is simply not automatic for me. I have to be conscious about it, and the food log is my best tool.

Take Lori Bell's advise... try it for a few weeks and see how you do. If you start to feel triggered, stop.

I too have an eating disorder history and was scared that tracking calories may wake a sleeping giant. I figured if so many people keep a food journal here, it can't be all bad! I tried it for 2 days, it was too scary so I stopped. I tried again a few weeks later for a few more days, then stopped. Slowly I'm building a tolerance for what used to be scary. If I start to feel vulnerable, I take a little time off. I know now it's a GREAT tool, and glad it's in my toolbox along with many others!

Find your comfort zone. It doesn't have to be all or nothing, now or never. Good luck, you're doing great!

I journal and it absolutely helps me with weight loss. When I don't journal, I gain. I sometimes feel resentful about having to keep a log forever, but it's a small price to pay for success.

As for the term obsessive, I think I lot of us use when a better word might do. Obsessions refer to unhealthy mental thoughts or fixations that result in anxiety. When people talk about obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), obsessions refer to these repetitive thoughts and compulsions refer to compulsive behaviors -- behaviors that help reduce anxiety. So obsessive refers to disordered thinking.

I think that's not what we mean when we refer to people journalling their foods to be healthier and fitter. I don't think this is disordered.

i do not journal.



i keep track of each meal when i am preparing it. i eat healthy foods in small portions. i can't and don't have fattening foods in the house.

thanks to everyone for their input. I've tried to journal in the past but I tend to get into the mind set of "you're eating too much" even if the calories are LESS ten what I'm supposed to be eating after I spent years in a spiral of restrict and binge. I haven't tried it in years though and I am in a much better place now then I have ever been before, so maybe it's time to keep track again, at least to see if I'm being realistic about what I think I'm eating.

so once again thanks...

Hi Laura,

I do log my food, and find it very helpful.

Another poster mentioned using a range rather than a single number calorie goal. Maybe this could be a good way for you to both use journaling and not get too obsessed with counting? This is actually how I view my goal, both in terms of calories per day, and in terms of loss of weight per week. As long as I fall somewhere within my goal range, I'm fine with it.

I to journal, breakfast and lunch, by dinner i forget to log it.
So I start over the next day and the same thing happens, breakfast and lunch written down, by dinner nothing, funny its sitting right on the dining room table.