Daily Food Diary – A tool for weight loss success
If losing weight is a health goal that you’re struggling to accomplish, give dietary self-monitoring a try.
What is dietary self-monitoring?
Dietary self-monitoring is a commonly used strategy in weight loss programs and involves daily tracking (logging) everything you eat and drink. Studies have shown that frequent dietary self-monitoring is consistently and significantly associated with both short- and long-term weight loss.(2),(3)
Why is it effective?(4)
The steady rise in obesity that has occurred over the last three decades has been accompanied by decreased family mealtime eating and increased mindless eating throughout the day. Mindless eating means eating while doing something else, where eating is not the primary focus. Examples: eating while working on the computer, watching TV, talking on the phone, cooking, playing a group game, attending a social event.
In order to change our eating habits, we need to pay attention to what we are eating and drinking. The reason consistent dietary self-monitoring is effective is because the very act of logging what we eat and drink causes us to pay attention to what we’re actually doing, increasing our levels of self-awareness and accountability that can help us form healthy new eating habits.
Recommendations
In order to help you achieve your weight loss goals, try tracking everything you eat and drink for a period of time. If you’re not sure how long to self-monitor, your doctor will be able to give you some helpful suggestions.
Besides the traditional paper food diary, there are now many electronic self-monitoring programs available as smartphone apps which make food tracking much easier and convenient. Check out this link for an evaluation of the 9 most popular diet and nutrition apps in 2020 for Android or iPhone (iOS).
Don’t be overly concerned about the accuracy and completeness of the information you enter because research suggests frequency is more important than accuracy. Logging 2-3 times a day is associated with greater weight loss than once a day or less.(5) The more often you log, the less time it takes and the more you lose weight.(5),(6)
References
Varkevisser RDM, van Stralen MM, Kroeze W, Ket JCF, Steenhuis IHM. Determinants of weight loss maintenance: a systematic review. Obes Rev. 2019;20(2):171-211. doi:10.1111/obr.12772
Burke LE, Wang J, Sevick MA. Self-monitoring in weight loss: a systematic review of the literature. J Am Diet Assoc. 2011 Jan;111(1):92-102. doi: 10.1016/j.jada.2010.10.008. PMID: 21185970; PMCID: PMC3268700.
Painter SL, Ahmed R, Hill JO, et al. What Matters in Weight Loss? An In-Depth Analysis of Self-Monitoring. J Med Internet Res. 2017;19(5):e160. Published 2017 May 12. doi:10.2196/jmir.7457
Bittman M, Cleary E, Wilkinson-Bibicos C, Gershuny J. The social disorganization of eating: a neglected determinant of the Australian epidemic of overweight/obesity. BMC Public Health. 2019;19(Suppl 2):454. Published 2019 Jun 3. doi:10.1186/s12889-019-6768-3
Harvey J, Krukowski R, Priest J, West D. Log Often, Lose More: Electronic Dietary Self-Monitoring for Weight Loss. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2019;27(3):380-384. doi:10.1002/oby.22382
https://www.drweil.com/blog/bulletins/the-diet-strategy-that-really-works/
