According to the Society of Behavioral Medicine, tracking meals and snacks is one of the most important components of our weight loss programs (1). It’s so easy to leave out those hidden calories that can derail our plans if we’re not being mindful. Just a few added snacks or beverages can really add up if they become a habit!
Weighing and measuring our food and drink goes hand-in-hand with tracking. See my earlier blog post on this topic here: https://lindawbrowning.com/2023/02/07/measuring-weighing-foods/
Here is an example of how tracking your food can impact decision making. Healthline reporter Brian Mastroianni interviewed dietician Ali Webster, PhD, who explained that tracking helps us to face the reality of what we’re actually consuming:
“ ‘Self-monitoring can be helpful for both positive reinforcement of making healthy choices and for reining in tendencies to indulge more often than is beneficial for weight or nutrition goals. Seeing healthy meal and snack decisions manifest themselves in improvements to our health is rewarding,’ Webster explained. ‘And being able to say, ‘oh, I forgot that I had some candy after lunch today — maybe I can go easy on dessert tonight,’ is a clear way that having a written food record can lead to making healthier choices overall’ “ (2).
A study by Jean Harvey, PhD, et al found that dieters who frequently monitored their foods on the experiment’s designated website lost significantly more weight that other study participants (3). While they spent over 20 minutes daily tracking at the beginning of the program, by the time they were at the six month mark, they were spending under 15 minutes daily. Well worth the effort!
The American Heart Association suggests that we track our foods and beverages to identify both good and bad habits (4). They provide a paper template for this here https://www.heart.org/-/media/Data-Import/downloadables/3/6/9/Food-diary-log-UCM_467642.pdf . But they also point out that there are many digital food trackers.
What is your favorite app, journal, or other tracking method? I’ve tried many apps, some of which are free. I’ve also used diet journals, Excel spreadsheets, or even just slips of paper. I’m not sure if the method matters – the key is to just do it!
What data do you track, beyond food, portion size, and calories or WW points values? I usually track protein and calcium, and sometimes sodium. Carbohydrates, sugars, fats, cholesterol, and fiber are important macronutrients to look at as well. Depending upon your medical conditions, there are so many nutrients that can play a role in supporting your health.
I rarely think about how I’m feeling when I track, but I think it’s a great idea to write about your frame of mind, hunger, or fullness. You might pick up on some important patterns about why you eat certain foods or at specific times, for example. Is this something you track?
Sometimes when we are tracking, there will be areas to enter body weight or other measurements. These will be discussed in future blog posts. They all play their own roles in maintaining our healthy weight.
(1). https://www.sbm.org/healthy-living/the-7-components-of-a-successful-weight-loss-plan
(3). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/oby.22382
Maintain Weight Loss 
2 thoughts on “Tracking”