question about food journalling
 

I've struggled for years with disordered eating, so I try to avoid doing diets that require restrictive eating and calorie counting since these habits can trigger my own issues.

Unfortunately all I hear these days is how helpful food logs are and how much more weight you can lose using them. It makes me wonder if I should try myself. I'm sure that I am eating more then I think I am since I've been gaining weight but I'm unsure of logging my food :?:.

So my question to the group(:gossip:) is: do you log your food?

If you don't: Why don't you?

If you do: Has it helped with weightloss?

Do you ever feel like you're experiencing negative feelings from journalling?

Do you recommend it to others?

Any advice anyone has would be great.

thanks...

I do and find nothing negative about it. It is when I don't that I see problems. If I don't have some accountability I always eat much more than I
think I have.

Food journals help keep me accountable. I also have eating disorder tendencies, but it hasn't been a problem for me. What plan are you on? I find calorie counting almost impossible without a journal. If you're calorie counting, just don't get too obsessed. Lately I've been aiming for a range of 12-1600. Most days I'm on the lower end of the range, but I found that if i aim for 1200 precisely I get obsessed if I go 25 calories over.

Try it for a week or two, if it gives your issues, you can always stop ;).

May I suggest mypyramidtracker.gov? You log your food and it tells you how you did toward servings of the food groups and if you're meeting dietary guidelines such as limits for saturated fat and sodium. It does this by awarding smiley faces. You don't even see calorie count unless you go looking for it. I was logging just to encourage myself to get more fruit, veg, and dairy. If you work on getting smileys in those 3 categories I really don't think you can overeat!

I definitely journal - when I don't, I gain. I've been doing it since the 1970s.

Yes I log what I eat everyday- no matter what, even if I write it down on a piece of paper then write in the tracking later (I use sparkpeople.com).

Yes it definitely has- I can see what I've done "wrong" and how to improve.

Nope- in fact sometimes I find I am too hard of myself then when I put in my data I see that I did just fine.

I definitely do! It really shows you how you are eating (unless you are cheating and not writing everything down).

I don't journal. If I think about food on that level I overeat every time. Ijust surround myself with whole, nutritious foods, and I try and have a plan. I keep fresh veggies and fruit on hand at work. Along with laughing cow, kashi whole grain crackers and oven baked turkey slices. That way I eat when I am hungry but I am not obsessing over each bite. I do check my calories here and there by using FitDay just to make sure my body is not misleading me. Best of luck.

I journaled in the beginning but I've gotten to a point where I just make sure my meals meet a certain calorie limit. I can have 2 300 calorie meals (usually breakfast and lunch) 2 100 calorie snacks and 1 400-500 calorie meal. Keeps me at about 1200-1300 calories and for me, it's easy to keep track of.

I plan. Which is kind of journaling in advance. And I've been astounded at how much it helps. It reduces the number of decisions that I make during the day and therefore the temptations. Also, surprisingly, it's reduced my stress because I'm not constantly having a fight with myself about what I should eat.

For the most part, I eat what I planned so my "journaling" is just a check mark next to the plan. Sometimes, I'll swap something similar and then I cross out what I planned and write in what I ate.

Planning sounds like it would take a long time, but really it's only a minute or two. Generally, I start by thinking about what's in the refrigerator and figuring out how to eat that. I plan three meals, two snacks, and a light dessert after supper. I think that's one of the secrets for me. With two distinct pre-planned snacks, I don't end up snacking the day away (something I did frequently in the past).

I don't measure or count calories. But, if I stopped losing, I could easily incorporate those into the process. When I plan, I write down healthy choices and, so far, that's been enough to keep the scale going down.

For me, it's stopped my disordered eating because I eat what I planned, not what I might want to binge on in any given moment. If I want a special treat, I remind myself that I can plan that tomorrow. Of course, by the time I'm planning that evening, I've usually forgotten it.

I got this idea, by the way, from The Complete Beck Diet for Life by Judith Beck which also has other good ideas for moving away from disordered eating.

Good for you for coming here to ask questions and for working your way through this to figure out what's going to work for you.

Writing down everything really has helped me see what I'm eating and how much I eat. I get kind of obsessive with it but its only after I've had all my calories in for the day. I usually dnt get enough calories and have to eat more lol funny how im tryn to lose and I have to eat more!

If you do: Has it helped with weightloss?
I do, and yes, it helps me.

Do you ever feel like you're experiencing negative feelings from journalling?
No, I don't go nuts over it, I write down what I eat and how many calories I consume. Takes less than 5 minutes per day.

Do you recommend it to others?[/I]
Yes. If only for the simple fact that every time I have successfully lost weight I've kept a food journal. Every single time I quit doing it, I put all the weight back on plus a dozen or more pounds. I will probably journal my food for at least another year, and reevaluate then. I've been counting calories for a LONG time and by now basically know the calorie count of every food I eat regularly, so like I said previously, it takes only a few minutes a day...less time than it takes to eat a candy bar!

Any advice anyone has would be great.
Try it for a couple weeks. If you find yourself binging because of it or feel other eating disorders coming on...stop doing it and talk to your doctor.

I log my food. I resisted for many years and could not lose weight. I think that keeping a food journal is one of the key changes that made me successful. Now I wonder why I resisted it all this time. I definitely recommend doing this.

I'm sporadic with my journaling - and with my weight loss, and the two are very connected. When I journal, I stick closer to my food plan and lose weight more consistently. However, I have a very counterproductive tendency to neglect journaling, especially when I'm stressed, rationalizing myself that I'm "too busy," or some other nonsense. I also tend to drop my journal if I eat off plan. It's a throwback to the days of "I've blown it, so I might as well eat everything in sight and start fresh tomorrow."

While I don't binge anymore, I still tend to give up journaling for the day if I go too far afield from my plan. It's a bad habit, that I need to break.


I love my journaling. I feel like I'm doing something smart and responsible when I journal. I don't only journal my food, I also keep a more generic health journal, I patterned after my first health journal that I purchased - HEALTHMINDER Personal Wellness Journal by F.E. Wilkins. It included space for a food journaling, but the place was too tiny - so I created my own journal pages. My health journal has helped me discover potential food allergies/sensitivities. It's where I first discovered that I have less pain when eating low-carb (I haven't figured out whether it's carb levels in general, or something more specific like sugars or grains).

I do recommend it, and not only for food. Writing down feelings, goals, decisions, plans, etc. helps me accomplish the things I want to do - because I see them in black and white, and writing them makes me think about them.

My advice would be to start simple. Write everything you eat or are going to eat immediately before or after eating. I've usually been a write afterward journaler, but I'm finding that if I vow to "write before I bite," I find it easier to stay on track. Having to get the journal out first, is often reminder enough not to eat off-plan.

There are many journal pages available online that you can print out and use to write manually, or you can journal on sites such as Fitday, The Daily Plate and Spark People. I found online journaling a bit awkward, and have never gotten into using one consistently, but I do like that they calculating the calories and other nutrients for you.

Its interesting to me how many people associate food journaling with being "obsessive". I hear that all the time, especially when someone sees me measuring out my breakfast cereal or something. The simple fact is that I have learned from experience that if I don't measure, I don't have a good eye for what a healthy "serving" is. Measuring might be "obsessive" but it takes about 2 seconds and probably saves me 300 calories.

Journals aren't for everyone I'm sure. Another poster mentioned "planning". This is something that doesnt work for me. I need to be able to eat whatever I feel like eating when I'm hungry. If I try to plan meals out ahead I feel restricted and it makes me nuts. Some people do better with a plan, and some work better with a journal, some need nothing.

Most overweight people have no concept of how many calories are in things, I still get shocked almost daily by how many calories are in something, or how much a "serving" is, usually MUCH smaller than I expected. I think journaling can be a good way to learn about your eating habits and to learn about calories and portions.

If you do: Has it helped with weightloss? Yes, I do not lose weight if I do not track my food.

Do you ever feel like you're experiencing negative feelings from journalling? Yes. I do not want to face what I've done some times.

Do you recommend it to others? Yes.

It's interesting that you haven't asked if any of us find tracking to be empowering.
Since I've begun calorie counting, I've learned so much about the quality of foods that I eat. I've also learned about quantity. It's lead me to study nutrition in a new way ... food as fuel and building blocks for my body ... rather than something to stuff in my face to appease the munchies or hunger.

I have obsessive tendencies. No matter what I start (knitting, reading, beading, canning ...) I jump in with both feet and do almost nothing else for a while. So I understand the notion that one may become immersed in the world of dieting to extremes. However ....
We must eat every day. We must move every day. No matter what we are doing with food, a certain amount of planning has to go into it. Mothers know that we have to know what we are feeding our families later today, later this week ... a lot of us make lists of some sort. Even if we go to a drive-thru ... at some point, we planned to stop there.
And ... most of us have a hobby. Probably about two hours a week, I read. I probably watch TV more than that and hardly a day goes by that I don't check the internet for emails, facebook etc.
Journalling can be a hobby as well. One that encompassing health and can potentiate health.

There are resources out there if it becomes detrimental. You already know that. And if you do seek guidance with this matter, you'll have concrete evidence of your increasing trouble with it.

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.

food journaling: a good tool
 

Take Lori Bell's advise... try it for a few weeks and see how you do. If you start to feel triggered, stop. :no:

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!:hug:

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.