The most effective weight loss strategy is a lot simpler than people think

Tracking your food is the best predictor of the success of weight loss, and it's not as dreadful as it sounds. Here's how to do it.

When you're thinking about losing weight, you can imagine the sadness of hours spent on the treadmill and the depressing deprivation of the foods you love. Which, yes, up to a certain extinct may be necessary. But did you know that research shows that the best predictor of the success of weight loss is monitoring and recording caloric and fat intake throughout the day?

Yet, even though it is the most effective tool, food self-monitoring is generally considered "so unpleasant and time consuming that many of those who lose weight can not muster the will to do so." ", according to researchers at the University of Vermont and University of South Carolina.

But a new study by the team revealed that the reality of food self-monitoring could be much less odious than the idea.

"People hate it, they think it's painful and horrible, but the question we had was: how long does self-monitoring for food?" said Jean Harvey, president of the Department of Nutrition and Food Science at the University of Vermont and lead author of the study. "The answer is, not much."

The study is the first to examine the time it takes to keep a detailed diary for those who lose weight successfully.

The team analyzed the self-monitoring habits of 142 participants for 24 weeks. Everyone was asked to record calories and lipids online for six months for everything that was consumed, as well as portion sizes and preparation methods.

They found that the most successful dieters in the cohort – those who lost 10% of their weight – spent an average of 23.2 minutes per day on the task in the first month of the program. But by the end of the study, they had had 14.6 minutes. The researchers also found that the frequency of additions to the journal played a key role in the success.

"Those who self-monitored at least three times a day and who followed day after day were the best performers," said Harvey. "It seems to be the act of self-control itself that makes the difference – not the time spent or the details included."

So, how horrible is it or not to record everything you have eaten during a day? I can tell you!

I am my favorite india pig when it comes to nutrition and I love trying diet approaches. In the summer I was at a dinner where each guest, independently, was on a low carb diet and boasted of the feeling of well-being they felt. I was always wary of fruits and whole grains, but out of curiosity, I decided to try it for a month and decided to record all my nutrients along the way.

And as the study showed, it was so much easier than I expected. I've used My Fitness Pal online and by app – the researchers have also mentioned Lose It !, CalorieKing – and I've been really surprised at the simplicity of its use. The program contains most of the foods entered in a complete database and you just have to find the food and enter the part – the program does all the rest of the work and manages the nutrients. It keeps a list of frequently-consumed things, making regular items very quick to add. The recipes I make regularly, I put them whole in the recipes section and I could then enter a portion per meal. In all, it took about 5 to 10 minutes a day. It definitely made me more responsible to myself for what I ate. In the end, no one wants to be confronted with the fact that he ate the whole batch of cookies.

Whatever the case may be, Harvey hopes that the results of this study will encourage more people to use food self-monitoring as a weight loss strategy. And I agree; it's important for several reasons. With nearly 40% of American adults declared obese in 2015-2016, compared to 34% in 2007-2008, we have a problem in hand. Obesity is linked to a host of chronic diseases, for which the treatment is expensive and uses a lot of natural resources. Not to mention, obviously, that it is painful and potentially deadly for those who suffer.

For the record, my low carbohydrate experience was interesting. In fact, I lost weight without really trying and I felt fantastic. But looking at the data that I collected during the month, I was horrified by the lack of fiber I was getting. Now, I'm back to my Mediterranean-style herbal diet. But what do you know? I again follow my food on a semi-regular basis because it's really interesting … and so easy.

As Harvey says: "It's very effective, and it's not as hard as people think."

You can read more about the research done on the University of Vermont website.