Anybody that has wanted to lose weight seriously enough to put some study into it, knows that there's an information overload on the topic, and most of it obviously doesn't work or there would not be so many of us still needing to lose weight.
After all is said and done the secret to weight loss is to watch what you eat and do some exercise.
If you've read any of my stuff, thank you, and I'm sure you noticed that I don't believe in starving yourself. But I am a believer in keeping a food journal. Many times I have claimed that anybody who does so will lose weight.
New study
I mention the food journal idea again because of A TIME Healthland article “How Stress and Sleep Conspire to Make You Fat” by Meredith Melnick (29 March) that reported on a two-part study, part one having been just completed, about stress and sleep and their influence on weight gain.
The study appeared in the International Journal of Obesity. Dr. Charles Elder from Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research (Portland) led the study that involved 472 obese adults that volunteered for a weight-loss program whose protocols included :
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weekly group counseling sessions
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exercising at moderate intensity for at least three hours per week
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reducing daily food consumption by 500 calories
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foods that are low-fat, low-salt
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high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins
One thing that was unique in this program was the keeping of a food journal by participants.
Shifting weight-loss odds to your favor
The study notes that the amount of sleep and stress experienced by participants affected their odds of success. More stress and less sleep drive down chances of weight-loss success.
That is especially worthy of note because it's almost become fashionable when your life is stress-filled and you are terminally sleep-deprived.
That's a weird badge of honor, in my opinion, because growing numbers of studies have reported an inverse relationship between amount of sleep and weight gain. The link may be decreased leptin and increased ghrelin levels -- hormones influence how full we feel after eating.
But most notable in the study, to me anyhow, was that keeping a food diary was said to boost the odds of hitting the 10 pound weight-loss goal. That's not exactly breaking news as the value of of a food diary has been noted many experts and organizations.
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (National Institutes of Health) suggests that keeping a record of your daily food intake will help you stay on track when trying to lose weight.
So what's stopping most people?
While keeping a food journal is a viable weight-loss tool, it's so simple that many people pooh-pooh the idea. And there are others that think it's too much effort.
If you would like to give a food journal a try and you're a tekkie you can download software online or find an app by doing a search. Some is for sale, much is free such as How to keep a food journal, with free worksheets.
If you want to you can click my name at the top of this page and scroll through my content for weight loss articles. Or you can go this article about food journals. Or you can go to my website and read about my own food journal.
How come these things work?
WebMd Health News published “ Keeping Food Diary Helps Lose Weight” by Miranda Hitti in 2008 that cited a study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine that included 1,685 overweight or obese U.S. adults aged 25 and older.
Victor Stevens, PhD, senior investigator at Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research said about study participants: “The most powerful predictor of their weight loss was how many days per week they kept their food diary.”
End notes
Food journals work well and if you are serious about wanting to lose weight without the food-deprivation strategies most diets put you through, you really ought to give it some consideration. It might take you, what? Five minutes a day for a couple weeks. How hard can it be?
cinta anda
Remember — get an annual physical. Information presented by Thomas Amshay is for education only and not meant to cure, guide treatment, or take the place of a licensed health practitioner. Consult your health care team before starting an exercise program, diet, or supplement.
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