Adherence

Traditional self-reported dietary instruments (diet recalls, diaries, FFQs) systematically underreport energy intake, with the magnitude of error increasing with BMI, thereby attenuating or reversing observed diet-disease relationships.

Do not rely on your memory of what you ate to calculate calories or track weight loss progress. Self-reported intake is consistently 16-30% lower than actual intake, especially if you are overweight. For accurate health insights, use objective biomarkers (like Doubly Labeled Water) or calibrated statistical corrections rather than self-reported food diaries.