I just returned from my first session with the dietitian. She requires that I keep a food journal for the next two weeks. What do you find most convenient for journaling? A diary that you carry around with you? Do you just post online at night? What keeps you honest?

I also use a regular note book, and I write the previous day's foods down first thing every morning. I also write my weight, and writing the foods down at the same time helps me draw correlations. For example, drinking too much diet coke causes me to retain water, etc. And if I had a late nite dinner vs. a normal time dinner, a gain is to be expected, etc.

Good for you for going to the dietician! You are proving to yourself that you really want this. Yeah!

I use fitday.com for my food journaling.

I use a regular note book, and then make colums for my foods and their points. I journal my exercise and my feelings on things that are going good and not so hot. If there are special recipes I used, I will put those in for future reference, good or horrible. I also, will go back to a week that was particularly good for me, and reuse those to get back on track. If I didn't journal or plan, I'd loose the game.

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Originally posted by windycityattorney:
She was unable to answer any of my questions...butter v. margarine

My RD didn't really like either... butter has saturated fat and traditional margarine has trans fat... She was OK with a Smart Balance (no hydrogenated oils) kind of thing...

The appointment went well, though her information was a little more basic than I had hoped. She was unable to answer any of my questions...butter v. margarine, organic v. inorganic, etc. For lunch and dinner, she proscribed the "plate method" wherby I buy those little divided paper plates. The large section is vegetables, the two smaller sections are protein and whole grains. She also recommended purchasing a food scale. I think they still have one at costco, which I will pick up today. We have another appointment in 2 weeks. I will give another little update then.

It wouldn't be cost-effective for just 2 weeks, but if you think you might be continuing to journal on your own (recommended), I recommend the "Thin For Life Daybook." It is a journal based on the fantastic book by Anne Fletcher "Thin for Life." It has a place for both food journalling and exercise planning and a little (though not enough for my taste) room for feelings journalling too.

I got mine from amazon.com and it's around $10-15.

My PDA, but since I have my entire life in there it's no real wonder.

I use a plain old spiral bound notebook with 70 sheets.

Weight Watchers has a nice journal notebook. It is about 4" x 7". It has 5 little boxes marked "fruits and vegs" and 3 little boxes marked "dairy". I just draw boxes on my binder paper notebook.

I want to know how the appt went, too...

I think that 2 weeks is a good amount of time... my dietician had me pick out a really good day... and a bad day... and an average weekday... and an average weekend day...

Gave her a pretty good representation of who I am... assuming that you are what you eat.

I kept a paper and pen journal right on the kitchen counter. If something went into my mouth, it got written down. If I was eating out, I'd write it down as soon as I got home (or you could take your journal with you).

There is no point in "cheating" since the dietician will be best able to do her job if you are honest ; )

How was the first session?