Don't get me wrong, journaling works and it works well for me, but sometimes I just get sick of it! Does anyone have any advice for doing this so it doesn't seem like a chore? The thing is, when I do it I stay OP much better, then get a little conceited and think I can do it in my head (which works for 2-3 days) then I go wacko after that and boom! I am out of control. Journaling really gets me back on track, so.........why do I hate it so much?!!!!!!

It makes you crazy because it also makes you accountable to yourself. None of us really want to be adults - we want to remain children (essentially) without responsibility to anyone, least of all ourselves.

I bought the new 12 week journal because it gave me a sense of committment for the full 3 months. So far, so good. I have lost 6.2 pounds in 3 weeks.

I also hate journaling but the new journal is working for me.

Good luck,

Arna

YES, YES, YES, YES!!!! For 3 years I journaled faithfully . I then went on vacation and didn't bring my WW stuff with me so didn't write down anything. (I know, it's not an excuse, I could have used anything to write down what I ate)

I reached lifetime about 3 years ago. Since I stopped journaling, however, I have gained back almost 10 lbs. I have recently rejoined WW and am starting to journal again though I detest it. I doh't know why I don't like it anymore. While I was journalling it sure kept me honest. When you stop, you don't realize how much you are actually eating until you start jouranling again.

Anyone have any ideas on how to make jouranling interesting or how to get back to journaling everything we eat or any alternatives to journaling that will still keep me honest. I really want to lose these 10 lbs that I've gained back but journaling just doesn't thrill me anymore.

Garbanzo

I agree with everyone here. Journaling makes me nuts!! But, I must admit that it keeps me honest. I often look through my other journals and see the weeks I lost weight and what i ate. I am not the biggest fan of it but it works. It only takes a few minutes so I don't mind all the time. If I don't do it, I stray and then I wonder how I could possibly gain weight. So,
to all, if this is the worst we have to face with WW, it isn't so bad!
Fran

I don't mind doing it...but I don't know how well it actually keeps me OP. There are times where I go out to eat and I have no idea how many points I had and I just make them up!! How is THAT helping me? I guess writing it down to begin with is a help. I never go back to my journals either. Do any of you?

LuLu,
Believe me, it is helping you. There was a famous experiment in which factory workers' productivity was measured under different intensities of lighting. Turned out that the control group (same old lighting) improved productivity the same as the treatment group (improved lighting), just as a function of being measured for the study. This is called the "Hawthorne effect"--a phenomenon that says that the minute you are recording/examining/measuring a behavior, the very fact of its being examined changes the behavior. Almost any successful program for behavior change includes a self-monitoring component, taking advantage of the Hawthorne effect.

Now, if you're actually really trying to CHANGE what/how much you eat, along with recording what you eat, then you do even better, of course. But don't stop journaling. One very successful chick, Garfield, has told us she journals right through a binge--60 points or more--she writes it down! That impressed me.

Hi everyone. Hope you dont mind me jumping in here and suggesting something. How about a menu thread? I think it would be nice to share our menu ideas...and of course recipes when something catches our eye. I know I'm new posting with you but I thought this might help. I'm a moderator on another board and guess what thread I moderate.....Daily Food Logs LOL!!! I know it definately helps me to write things down and I love to read what others are up to.

Since the new year I done my journal in a blank journal book I bought that I think will have enough pages for the year. I record food, exercise, thoughts about the day, etc. I'm hoping to have a real diary of the year that I can look back on to see where I've been. I'm actually enjoying the journaling now because it's more than just a food log.

I guess I'm a minority. Because, I Love to journal. All my young life, I faithfully kept a diary - loved doing that too. I think I missed my calling- should have been a writer. But, if you dislike it that much, why not simply check off the boxes on the bottom of the journal and enter points only, don't write complete descriptions of the foods - if that's what's bugging you. Or- invest in the Weight Watcher tracker/calculator/point finder device. I use it just for figuring out points- it's so much
more accurate and user friednly than the point slider. Somehow, You have got to make peace with yourself and the journal habit- as you already learned, you don't do as well when you rely on your "head". If you ate the same things every single day -that would not be a problem. But do you really want your meals to be that boring? I think not.

I like the idea of a menus thread, I know I could always use some suggestions.

I read a message awhile back that someone puts her points in pennies in a baggie. (for 20-25 point range, she puts in 25 pennies). Instead of journalling, she just takes out the number of pennies she just ate. No more pennies, no more food for the day.

I hate journaling! I try to do it ~ but sometimes I just don't. When I don't I use my points calculator ~ that helps me stay within my points.

The only think about using the calc ~ I cannot monitor what kinds of foods I am eating.

I don't mind journalling since it helps me plan ahead. I figure once I've gone to the trouble of planning OP meals and have that food available, I'm not prone to violate the plan without a good reason. I look at it as "the half full glass", the way to tell how many points I have left, not how much I've eatten so far. The penny idea is good... like the RS idea others have talked about, you could use a daily pill box and divide your pennies into food groups if you want to eat my the numbers.

Hi,

What I've learned throughout my lifetime of on and off again weight loss efforts is that everything seems to go in cycles. I get tired of journaling, then I find it fun to write it down and watch the days of being OP add up to weeks and months.

Same with exercise. I walk for a while. Then I do videos. Then I alternate. Our new apartment complex has a pool that's actually large enough to do laps and I'm looking forward to summer when I can swim!

But, I know that when I journal, I do better than when I don't. Probably because when I don't, I'm usually in the "I don't care" mode that hits every once in a while. It goes away eventually, too.

What I am a big fan of is a diary-type journal in which I discuss how I feel about how things are going, plan for upcoming challenges, and so on. That journal, combined with the WW journal, keeps me on track better than either one alone.

One of the most important lessons I've had to learn is that my emotions are often one of my biggest traps. "I don't feel like . . ." "It's too hard today." "I'm bored." "I'm tired." It all sounds so whiny to me writing these excuses out, but I go through phases where they seem to take over.

I had to learn to take the Nike approach. "Just do it". But I don't always "just do it". It's a process and I'm getting better at it as I travel this road.

When I don't feel like journaling, I use stickers to keep me going. I give myself a sticker for each OP day. In order to know if I get a sticker, I have to keep track. I choose the kind of stickers that appeal to five-year-olds, since it's my inner five-year-old who resists making productive changes and wants to be totally spontaneous without any rules, etc.

Have a great day, everyone.

Lin

[This message has been edited by Lin S (edited 02-16-2001).]

Personally, I like to journal. Of course, I have an advantage in that I do my journalling on my electronic day planner (Palm), with a free program I got off the Web. It feels kind of like a game when you're doing it electronically. I've seen some posts on these boards about spreadsheets and other electronic journals--might those make it more fun for you?

I sympathize, though; I remember realizing, some six months into WW, that I'd probably have to journal for much of the rest of my life, and feeling helpless and hopeless about that. But now it's just second nature. Even when I really pig out, I still write it down.

My other suggestion follows Lin's approach: when you try to journal and just don't want to do it, sit down with some paper (whether it's attached to the journal or not) and write a few sentences about what you feel about journalling. Maybe you feel like it's a punishment for needing to lose weight? Maybe you just resent having to count up your points? Maybe you're worried that when you add them up, you'll find that you ate too many points?

Answering these questions might give you a clue about how to make journalling easier. For instance, if you're journalling at the end of the day and worried about having gone over your range, try journalling earlier in the day, even after each meal (that's what I do). If you're journalling in advance and hate having to restrict yourself to exactly what you've already written down, maybe journalling later would help.