What are you thoughts on paper food diaries?

Lianna

Silver Member
The thing is i like doing one i keep it with me at all times and it keeps me on track, my consultant was a bt funny about this and said i shouldnt do one all the time as its a new way of life not jsut a diet, but it actually keeps me on track doing one and when i dont i fall off the wagon!! is it such a bad thing i do one everyday? lol
 
If it works for you then I can't see a problem with it. I still do a paper diary on occasion, and I expect there are others that do too.
 
I can't be bothered with them, but there's folk at my group who swear by them. I can see your C's point, and that kinda how I feel about them, but they ARE a SW tool, and there to be used, so I can't understand her being off about it.
 
I have a word document which i update everyday with free foods, hex's & syns. I use this to compare with my excel spreadsheet which has my weekly WI.

I used both together just this week acutally. I've found just the past few weeks I've gained 2lb, lost 1.5lb & gained 1lb, what's that all about especially when I think I've stuck to plan! Anyway I had a look at my diary & followed the eating plan for when I last lost weight (following???????). Hopefully I'll have a loss this week.

But I'm still no closer to finding out what caused the gains:cool:
 
I still keep a food diary each week, I don't always hand them in but I find if I don't then I do lose track of what syns I have had throughout the day
 
i love completing them, but after the 4 weeks are over i will get a pretty little note book and just right things down. once i know what i am doing inside out and am competant then i will cease writing everything down. But i have found when i have done SW and WW before that once i stop writing it down i dont keep a grip on it properly.
 
I don't write all my food down each day but I do record syns and HEXs as it is easy to lose track of them especially if you split them over the day.

If it works for you, then keep doing it. Different things works for different people. x
 
If im not writing it down i have things i shouldnt be having and think well no one will ever know lol!! so much easier for me to stick to plan when i do the diary, plus weird as it sounds makes it a bit more fun for me lol! x
 
I filled one in just last week & found I did well - I had a 2lb loss :)

I think i understand where your C is coming from, but if thats what you do & your happy doing it then thats fine, Just don't tell her!! lol
 
I think you have to do what works for you! And yes, over time you may feel that you longer want or need to keep a food diary, in which case fair enough. I've been doing SW for some long that it is second nature and I don't keep a diary any more unless I'm concerned about perhaps getting too far away from target. In that instance it helps focus my attention back to the detail of the plan that you can sometimes get a bit complacent about.
 
If I don't write things down, I forget what I have eaten!

I made up my own food diary layout which I print off myself - I don't show it to anyone else but it keeps me on track.

Some of us are list makers and some are not. We are all different. Go on doing what suits you. You don't have to mention it to your consultant if she disapproves.
 
I fill in a food diary everyday, i've only been doing this 8 weeks so still feel new to it all, but i also think i'd eat too many syns if i didn't keep check.
 
I have a notebook to write down everything. I think it helps keep on track if you see it there in black and white.

I know it is supposed to be a long term change for a life, but I don't see the harm in taking notes.

I write down everything I pack for work and then tick it off if I've eaten it (cross it off in the evening if I didn't). It saves me having to remember what I ate in the day, and it's easier at work than sitting there writing!
 
I don't keep a paper diary but do sometimes use the online one.
What I tend to do is just write record my syns though as it can be a struggle to remember how many you've had. I either do this online or in my normal diary.
 
I don't use the SW paper diaries (I always ran out of space!!!!) ;). Instead, I have a notebook in which I write down EVERYTHING that I either eat or drink. I don't hand it in to my C.

It keeps me focused, helps me to remember what day I'm doing :)rolleyes:) and stops me having too many HEX's if I do a rare EE day. It also makes sure that I'm not eating the same thing too often.

Actually, I'm on my second notebook!! :eek: I also make a note of how long I've been doing SW (I can tell you that I'm on Day 238!!! :p). I use what day I'm up to as an incentive, I use it as another mini target!!!!

For me personally, I think that SW is so easy to follow that if I didn't have my notebook it would be easy to forget that I'm 'dieting'. Now you may not think that would be a bad thing, but I'm scared that without the 'restriction' of writing everything down, I could very easily start to go astray. Also the 'Mrs Ivy Been So Good' story rings in my ears if I think about not writing things down!!! :D
 
I don't do one cause i'm lazy I should really but I would do it on here cause I hate the paper diaries try don't have enough space and are wrong layout I think.
 
I like filling them in as well, seems more offical than a notebook (which I did try] my consultant was snitty about me asking for them as well so I've just got one now and photo copy it when I need to, I figure if I'm paying a fiver a week I might as well get something from the meetings.
 
i do a food diary on here EVERY day - and plan beforehand too - if i didnt i wouldnt be able to justify a gain or a loss, as i would never remember what i had eaten!!! x
 
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