Weight Wise Re: Journalling

I'm having so much trouble with keeping a daily journal of what I eat, exercise and moods.  I have wrote everything I eat even when I overeat.  I have been forth coming to the WW team about my issues in regards to keeping a consistant journal.  I'm just not one to write journals and I know and have read that keeping a journal shows that one does much better with their weight control.

Also, I have a eating disorder "Complusive eating" and currently I'm taking a 12 week support group program and I have found it helping me. But when I journal I become more obessed with food. It seems to have a negative affect on me.  I have an appointment to see my counsellor next week to discuss this issue. 

If you have any suggestions/comments. Please post them here.

Thanks for listening

Linda

Hi Linda...I'm not too sure. I am not a big journalier either but I know that it is something the clinic wants so it is something that I do. I keep my food journal beside my bed and write in it right before bed. I also have little sticky notes that I write on during the day about what I eat and then transfer that to my journal in the evening. after I write it down, it is done. I can't stress what I did or did not put in my mouth. I write it down and move on...I have to or I would go crazy.

Hi Linda,

I'm not a natural journaller either.  But like Adrianna I do the food journalling at night - kind of made a habit of it so I would get it done.

I don't go into great detail, not even portion sizes on most days.  (Example: Meal 2 - chicken breast, mushrooms, roasted cauliflower.)  But every couple of months I'll put my meals through an online food tracker (like Fitday.com) to make sure my sodium is staying low and everything else is close enough to what I expect, and I write that info in the journal.  There's just no way I could manage to input it every day, but it sure is handy.

Maybe if it becomes a habit - brush teeth, write in journal - and it's not so detailed it takes too long, it won't be so worrisome?

I hope you find an answer!

Hi Linda,
The journalling I would have to say was probably the hardest part for me in the whole program.
When I was a kid I was in weigh****chers etc. and went to nutritionists, and I quickly learned to fake what was in the journal in order to please whatever authority (nurse, doctor etc) that was analyzing my food intake journal.

I hated doing the journalling again at WW clinic because it made me feel like a kid to hand them over to be analyzed. It took me months and months to be okay with writing down what ACTUALLY went in my mouth, and months to trust my team that the purpose was to benefit me, not them. Sometimes I have to skip a day or too just can't or don't feel like it.

About 7 months before surgery it got easier, after I took the WW course on emotional eating. It helped me feel okay about it and that these were MY tools. Now the journalling is really important to me because I can see, post surgery, how to take care of my body and what days intake has in terms of direct impact on my body.

I write at the top of each little day first how I am feeling - to destress a bit (I write before bed usually) and then just quick notes on intake, vitamins, water, etc. in a little daytimer I keep on the bedside table.

I hear ya! It does get better, that dreaded journalling! It is so interesting to read them now post surgery. Also I can now see direct patterns with my life events (boy drama, work, family things etc. showing up in my food choices).
Hang in there!

~mtrai

Yup me too.  Journalling sucks!  My therapist told me to do it in the bathroom.  I keep my journal in the bathroom & every time I go I make some notes.  I am not specific mostly just generalization.  You don't have to be perfect.  If you miss a meal here or there or even a day or two no one at the clinic is going to care.  Try to relax & stop thinking you are being judged & stop judging yourself.