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Believing versus logging
The women who lost 30 pounds and kept it off shared one trait: they had the most data. They tracked protein, calories, steps, and hours of sleep, and many found they had believed they were already doing all of it. One client who felt sure she was hitting her protein had breakfasts of 15 grams, half the 30 they used to hold.
The stalled scale
Stephanie Crassweller ran into the same thing during a fat loss phase before her wedding about three years ago. The scale hadn't dropped in three weeks, and she was ready to cut calories again. Her coach pulled up the numbers: she had hit her protein target only twice a week over the previous two weeks. Fixing that moved the scale, and the plan itself never changed.
Deciding from the log
Decisions made from feelings tend to end in regret, guilt, or embarrassment. Starting from the log answers a different question first, which is whether the targets were really hit, and that tells whether anything extreme is needed at all.
Why do people misjudge their own eating?
In a 1992 study in the New England Journal of Medicine, Steven Lichtman and colleagues followed people who described themselves as dieting without success. Their reported food intake was about 47 percent lower than what measurements showed they consumed, and they overreported their physical activity by about 51 percent. The researchers measured actual energy use with doubly labeled water, a method that does not rely on self-report.
Why does protein change how full people feel?
Protein is generally found to be the most filling of the three macronutrients. Digesting it also costs more energy: the thermic effect of protein is often cited as about 20 to 30 percent of its calories, compared with about 5 to 10 percent for carbohydrates and 0 to 3 percent for fat. Protein also raises gut hormones such as peptide YY and GLP-1, which signal fullness to the brain.
Does tracking food actually change results?
A 2011 systematic review by Lora Burke and colleagues in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association examined 22 studies of self-monitoring in weight loss. It found a consistent association between tracking food intake and weight loss. The review also noted that most of the studies were observational, so they could show an association but not prove cause.
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