Within-Day Patterns of Self-Monitoring Dietary Intake and Weight Loss in a Behavioral Weight Management Program

Area of Science:

• Behavioral Science
• Obesity Research
• Health Technology

Background:

• Behavioral weight management programs (BWLPs) emphasize daily self-monitoring of dietary intake.
• Existing research supports daily self-monitoring, but within-day logging patterns remain understudied.
• Understanding these patterns is crucial for optimizing weight loss interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine within-day self-monitoring patterns in adults with obesity.
• To investigate the association between these patterns and weight loss outcomes.
• To inform recommendations for effective dietary self-monitoring strategies.

Main Methods:

• 449 adults with obesity enrolled in a 16-week BWLP used a smartphone app for daily dietary self-monitoring.
• K-means cluster analysis identified four distinct self-monitoring patterns: Minimal Logging, Backlogging, Logging one occasion/day, and Logging two or more occasions/day.
• Weight loss percentages were compared across the identified clusters.

Main Results:

• Four self-monitoring patterns were identified, with 165 participants logging two or more occasions/day.
• Participants logging two or more occasions/day (9.1% weight loss) and one occasion/day (7.7% weight loss) achieved significantly more weight loss than those who backlogged (5.7%) or minimally logged (2.1%).
• A higher percentage of participants in the "Logging two or more occasions/day" group (88.5%) achieved clinically meaningful weight loss compared to other groups.

Conclusions:

• Results support recommendations for daily, and ideally, throughout-the-day self-monitoring of dietary intake.
• Frequent self-monitoring, particularly logging multiple times daily, is associated with greater weight loss success.
• Future research should explore strategies and tools to enhance self-monitoring adherence in BWLPs.