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For Successful Weight Loss, Counting Calories Matters but Method Might Not
Author(s) -
Foster Jaime Sarah,
Gorin Amy,
Mobley Amy
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.31.1_supplement.136.8
Subject(s) - weight loss , calorie , medicine , self monitoring , intervention (counseling) , body weight , gerontology , demography , psychology , obesity , psychiatry , social psychology , sociology
To date, many models of weight loss have been deemed successful; however, maintenance remains a challenge. It has been proposed that self‐monitoring is an important behavior in both weight loss and maintenance of weight loss. The purpose of this study was to determine if participant self‐selected form of monitoring calories, (i.e. electronic, paper, or no monitoring) predicted significant differences in weight loss. This study included adults (n=102) enrolled in a standard behavioral weight loss intervention with their partners. For each week a diet record was completed and submitted, participants were given one point, thus higher cumulative scores would indicate more prolonged self‐monitoring. Pearson's correlations were run between percent of weight lost and 1) type of record completed and 2) cumulative number of records submitted. No significant differences were observed between electronic versus paper monitoring. Regardless of calorie monitoring method, the more diet records completed by participants during the course of the intervention was significantly, positively associated with weight loss at week 12 (r= 0.319, p > .001), but there was no association at week 24 of the intervention. Interestingly, calorie monitoring compliance for the first 12 weeks of the program was associated with better weight loss outcomes at 24 weeks (r= 0.237, p <.05). These findings suggest self‐monitoring may be more important during initial behavior change and over time the benefits wane, and it seems that the method of self‐monitoring does not matter. Although this study did not find differences in method of self‐monitoring in weight loss outcomes, it is unknown if there is preferential self‐monitoring method for weight maintenance or if a partner's compliance with self‐monitoring might predict their own success, which will be analyzed upon study completion. Support or Funding Information The work was supported by funding from the NHLBI (R21 HL125157)