Adherence
Using a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) for dietary and exercise self-monitoring significantly improves adherence to self-monitoring compared to traditional paper records (PR).
Switch from paper diaries to a digital tracking app or device. The study shows that using a PDA (or smartphone app) for daily food and exercise logging significantly improves your consistency (adherence) compared to writing it down by hand. This is because digital tools save you time on calculations and provide immediate feedback, reducing the mental burden of tracking.
Median percent self-monitoring adherence over the 6 months was higher in the PDA groups (PDA 80%; PDA+FB 90%) than in the PR group (55%) (P < 0.01).
Why this rating
Randomized clinical trial with high retention (91%) and objective measures, though short-term (6 months).
Source
The Effect of Electronic Self‐Monitoring on Weight Loss and Dietary Intake: A Randomized Behavioral Weight Loss Trial
Lora E. Burke et al. · Obesity · 2010
DOI 10.1038/oby.2010.208
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