Keeping a Daily Food Log Could be Your Secret Weapon To Weight Loss Success
If you’re joining the millions of Americans whose New Year’s Resolution revolves around losing extra pounds after the Holidays, keeping a daily food log could be your secret weapon to losing weight and keeping it off.
Research findings of a study conducted by the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research that followed more than 2,000 dieters for six months and encouraged healthy eating and regular exercise, found that the single best indicator for dropping weight came down to keeping a food log.
Tracy Daly, a registered dietician and assistant professor at the San Diego State University in San Diego, agreed that keeping a daily food log mirrors nutritional life.
“There is so much in our daily activities that we don’t observe consciously,” Daly said. She added, “When people see me and say they’re eating perfectly, I tell them we need to track their behaviors.”
Researchers have found that Americans typically underestimate their food intake by about 25 percent while overestimating their daily physical activity levels.
Many people overlook the bites, licks, and tastes, or BLTs as food experts call them. Especially in an office environment, it’s easy to forget about that piece of chocolate a co-worker supplied or the trip to the vending machine. These little indiscretions, however, quickly add up to big calories.
Writing everything down will help you make smarter food choices and provides a more accurate picture of your daily consumption.
According to the study findings, two-thirds of all participants who adopted a low-fat diet rich in fruits and vegetables, and participated in regular exercise, dropped nine pounds or more of body weight. But those who kept a daily food diary lost up to 20 pounds. That is more than double the weight loss than for subjects who didn’t record their daily food intake.
The study included 1,685 overweight or obese adults with an average age of 55, who were taking medication for high blood pressure or high cholesterol. Participants attended weekly group meetings during which they were encouraged to engage in 30 minutes of daily exercise and cut back on calories.
Daly stressed that exercise is as important to weight loss as a healthy diet.
“You need to track exercise as well,” she said about keeping a journal. “It (physical activity) is always part of weight loss and can’t happen without adding physical exercise,” she added.
The weight scale may not immediately reflect a healthier body composition, since muscle tissue weighs more than fat. But most people, who start a regular exercise program and eat a healthy diet, will experience within weeks the positive effects of their clothes fitting loser, their bodies toning up and feeling more energized. That’s because the gained health benefits of engaging in regular physical activity reach beyond burning calories. Research has shown that people who exercise most days of the week can reduce the risk of developing many chronic diseases, including obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and some cancers.
In a 2008 ACE Fitness Matter article, science writer Steve Mitchell quoted a 46-year-old ex yo-yo-dieter who lost 30 pounds during the Kaiser study and credited her food diary for her weight loss success. As a result, she was also able to cut her high cholesterol medication dosage by half. By continuing to log every food item even after the study ended, the woman dropped another 25 pounds in eight months. She lost a total of 55 pounds going from an original body weight of 205 pounds to 150 pounds.
Researchers, according to Mitchell, said that other participants who lost nine pounds or more also still lost weight after the study ended, which led them to believe that they would have continued to lose more weight.
Daly said that most people, those with eating disorders excluded, don’t need to hire a dietitian to start a food log. She offered the following perspective on why food diaries are important and how they should be approached.
Recording
When you record, your food it’s suggested you include the portion size and calories where possible, and include the time and location where you ate the food. A lot of people engage in “mindless” eating in front of the TV, at their desks, in the car, or while they’re walking with their food. Ideally, Daly said, people should sit down while they’re eating and take between 20-30 minutes to eat.
Research has shown that people tend to eat more and faster when they’re eating rushed or when they’re not sitting down. The brain takes between 20-30 minutes to recognize that our tummies are full, which becomes a problem when people eat without truly focusing on their meals.
Most people also underestimate portion sizes. It doesn’t help that portion sizes for such popular foods as bagels, sodas, and muffins have drastically increased in the last 20 years. Educating yourself on portion sizes is critical, but Daly notes that while portion sizes are consistent, the amounts we take in can vary among individuals. The calorie needs of a marathon runner who walks a lot on the job are significantly different than for someone who walks for 30 minutes during lunch and sits the rest of the day.
At the same time, learning what one-a-half-cup portion size looks like and how many calories different food items contain is key to really understanding how many calories we expend vs. consume.
Be Honest and Accountable
Even the best log book is worthless, if you aren’t completely forthcoming with your entries. A glass of wine at dinner (120 calories) or that midnight snack can quickly add up to extra pounds. Daly said that for some people meeting with a dietician once a week can help with the accountability factor. Knowing that someone else will scrutinize your log makes some people think twice about eating that piece of candy or chocolate.
Keep Your Diary Close
Daly said food logs are very personal and every person has a preference about recording their daily intake.
Some people prefer keeping a journal using pen and pencil. Many of Daly’s university students keep track of food journals online by using a phone application. The best way to keep track is to log foods immediately after consumption. This eliminates the forgetful factor. Others wait until the end of the day to record their food consumption, which isn’t ideal.
While many food diaries and experts advise you to track calories, Daly said she is no fan of obsessive calorie counting. In her view, the calorie counting method is less productive than analyzing one’s daily food consumption, the types of foods we eat, learning how to cut out unhealthy foods from our diets, and thinking about why we eat, where and when.
By understanding triggers or situations that prompt unhealthy eating habits, such as emotional eating patterns amid stress or unhappiness or snacking while watching TV, people can use this data to change behaviors.
For instance, in stressful situations, instead of reaching for candy, go for a walk; instead of opening an entire bag of chips while watching TV, allowing oneself a healthier dessert once a week at the dinner table cuts out calories.
Internet-based Food Diary Guides
Here is Daly’s list of several Internet-based food log diaries, some of which are free of charge. Typically, the more information you want to log, the greater the chances that you’ll end up paying a fee.
The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, NHLBI, offers a free food diary and a menu planner that automatically calculates calories in common foods.
MyNetDiary.com, an online food diary and calorie counter, offers iPhone and Blackberry applications, among others for a fee, and provides additional services.
Myfooddiary.com, which has a database of foods and nutrients and a food search engine, allows individuals to start on a 7-day free trial, but then charges $9 a month.
Fitday.com, a free online diet and fitness journal, offers multiple diet-related services, but asks individuals to first create a user profile.
Nutrihand.com offers a free basic plan upon registering, and charges $9.95 a month for additional services.
Marion Webb is the managing editor for the American Council on Exercise and is an ACE-certified Personal Trainer and an ACE-certified Group Fitness Instructor. To leave comments, please share them below. For specific fitness-related story ideas, please e-mail her directly at marion.webb@acefitness.org.
