Daily food tracking linked to greater weight loss: study

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People who make a habit of recording what they eat every day may lose more weight, according to a new study.

Those who tracked their food intake nearly every day of the week lost an average of 11 percent of their initial body weight over six months.

Researchers at MyNetDiary, a U.S.-based diet and weight-management app, analyzed six months of usage data from 5,132 app users to examine the relationship between food-tracking frequency and weight change. The participants had an average age of 42.1, and 72.8 percent were women.

The researchers counted a day as a “food-tracking day” if a user entered at least one food item into the app. Participants were then grouped according to their average number of tracking days per week, and their weight changes were compared.

The results showed a clear trend: The more frequently people recorded their food intake, the greater their weight loss tended to be.

Those who tracked their food six to seven days a week lost an average of 11 percent of their initial body weight over six months. By comparison, those who tracked their food fewer than two days a week lost an average of 7 percent.

More specifically, participants who tracked their food on two to fewer than three days a week lost an average of 7.4 percent of their body weight, while those who tracked three to four days lost 7.8 percent, those tracking four to five days lost 8 percent, and those tracking five to six days lost 9.8 percent.

Overall, the findings showed that weight loss tended to increase as the number of days people tracked their food increased.

The association remained similar after the researchers adjusted for age, sex and body mass index at the start of the study. Each additional day per week of food tracking was associated with a 35 percent higher likelihood of losing at least 5 percent of body weight.

For people who are overweight or obese, losing at least 5 percent of their body weight is considered a clinically meaningful benchmark because it can lead to improvements in several health indicators, including blood sugar, blood pressure and blood lipid levels.

You don't have to track every day, but consistency matters

One notable finding was that people did not necessarily have to record their food every single day to achieve meaningful weight loss.

Participants who tracked their food an average of two to three days a week still lost about 7 percent of their body weight over six months. More than half of them — 57 percent — succeeded in losing at least 5 percent of their initial body weight.

However, greater weight loss was observed among those who maintained the habit for longer periods.

Participants who recorded their food every day for more than 90 days lost an average of 12 percent of their body weight, and 81 percent lost at least 5 percent of their initial weight.

In contrast, those who never managed to track their food for more than seven consecutive days lost an average of 4 percent of their initial body weight. Among them, 42 percent lost at least 5 percent.

Food tracking is a common self-management strategy that allows people to review what and how much they eat and adjust their eating habits accordingly. Previous research has also suggested that monitoring one's own eating habits may help with weight management.

However, the current findings do not prove that frequent food tracking itself caused greater weight loss.

The study was an observational analysis of actual app usage data. People who were more motivated to lose weight may have been more likely to record their food consistently and to take other steps, such as exercising more or following a healthier diet.

The study also had several limitations. The researchers did not measure the quality of participants' diets, physical activity, sleep or motivation to lose weight. They also did not examine whether participants were using weight-loss medications, including the widely used GLP-1 receptor agonists.

As a result, these factors may have contributed to weight loss among some of the participants.

The study, titled “Association Between Daily Food-Tracking Frequency and Clinically Significant Weight Loss: Retrospective Cohort Study of 5132 Mobile App Users,” was published in the international journal Journal of Medical Internet Research.

This article from Kormedi.com, Korea’s top health care and medical portal, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.