Adherence
Both high-intensity (recording all dietary intake) and low-intensity (recording specific dietary components) self-monitoring strategies are effective in supporting statistically significant weight loss in behavioral interventions for adults with overweight or obesity.
You can lose weight by tracking your diet, and you don't have to track every single calorie to see results. You can choose to track all your food (high intensity) or just specific items like sugary drinks or snacks (low intensity). Both approaches have been shown to produce significant weight loss compared to no intervention. The key is consistency and using the method that you can sustain, whether that is a paper log, an app, or a phone call.
We found the majority of studies using high- and low-intensity self-monitoring strategies demonstrated statistically significant weight loss in intervention groups compared with control groups.
Why this rating
Systematic review of 59 RCTs/experimental studies, though high heterogeneity (I2 > 95%) limited meta-analysis interpretability.
Source
A systematic review of the use of dietary self-monitoring in behavioural weight loss interventions: delivery, intensity and effectiveness
Margaret Raber et al. · Public Health Nutrition · 2021
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