Best Personal Trainers in Dalkeith

Dietary self-monitoring is the practice of recording food and beverage intake, including portion sizes. More generally referred to as "food tracking," self-monitoring is central to the process of weight loss and is often underplayed and viewed only as a secondary focus in weight loss interventions, rather than a primary behaviour. A multitude of studies have consistently demonstrated a causal link between between dietary self-monitoring and weight loss and control. Self-monitoring of food intake places deliberate attention on one's eating behaviour and through this awareness, an individual is better able to understand calories consumed through the day and week and thus better able to adhere to one's caloric goals. The research shows that not just dietary self-monitoring, but highly consistent and frequent self-monitoring correlates with positive weight loss outcomes. Consistent food tracking (i.e. consecutive days and weeks of tracking) and frequent tracking (i.e. recording 3 or more times per day), are both shown to be highly important for maximising the effects of dietary self-monitoring. The focus then for individuals and personal trainers should be on enhancing consistency and frequency of dietary self-monitoring. Our latest article discusses dietary self-monitoring in the context of weight loss and examines the research to understand the frequency of food recording needed to generate meaningful weight loss and factors that affect dietary self-monitoring adherence.