By: Susan Weiner
With the official start to summer now just a few months away, many of us will be looking to shed a few extra pounds that we put on this winter.
You may think that means spending hours each week in the gym. While exercise will most definitely help burn off some of that excess weight, you may be surprised to learn that your biggest helper may just be keeping a food journal.
A recent study conducted by Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research finds that writing down what you eat can lead to double the amount of weight loss.
Funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institute of Health, the study is one of the largest weight-loss maintenance trials ever conducted. Participants included 1,700 overweight or obese male and female adults who were at least 25 years of age. African Americans represented 44% of the study participants.
In addition to keeping a food diary, participants followed a low fat diet and exercised at moderate intensity levels for a minimum of 30-minutes a day.
“The more food records people kept, the more weight they lost,” says Jack Hollis PhD, a researcher at KPCHR and lead author of the study. Dr. Hollis goes on to point out that "Those who kept daily food records lost twice as much weight as those who kept no records. It seems that the simple act of writing down what you eat encourages people to consume fewer calories."
After six months, the average weight loss among the nearly 1,700 participants was 13 pounds. More than two-thirds of the participants (69%) lost at least 9 pounds, enough to lower their health risks and qualify for the second phase of the study, which lasted 30 months and tested strategies for maintaining the weight loss.
For anyone interested in keeping a food diary, here are a few recommendations:
- Accuracy counts. Invest in a kitchen scale, measuring cups and measuring spoons to ensure you are accurately journaling all calories being consumed.
- Stay on top of the details. In addition to tracking calories keep detailed records on the amounts of protein, carbohydrates, fat and sodium you are consuming. The more information you have, the easier it will be to identify reasons that you may not be losing weight.
- Consider using an online journaling program such as those available on FitDay, CalorieKing, SparkPeople or DailyBurn. These programs do the number crunching for you and take the guesswork out of your diet plan. Less time crunching numbers = more time for exercise!
Remember, just a 1 pound loss per week means you will be 10 pounds thinner by summer!
Susan Weiner is a Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach who has been featured in Oxygen Magazine. Visit www.CatapultFitnessBlog.com to learn more fitness and nutrition tips.
