One of the best ways to improve on something is to measure your progress by continuously maintaining a record of your activities. And the same rule of thumb applies to healthy weight management. Having a track record allows you to see your progress, the goals you have achieved, and how different activities have affected your body.

For effective weight management, you need to measure three important things: your eating habits, the amount of exercise you do, and of course, your weight. How can you do this? Through a technique called self-monitoring.

What is Self-Monitoring?

Yes, it is exactly what the name suggests. It refers to continuous observation and recording of exercise and eating patterns, followed by evaluating the impact of those patterns on the subject. The purpose of this technique is to improve self-awareness of the targeted goals and outcomes. It is like an early warning system that allows you to pinpoint problems as they arise and also helps track success.

In other words, self-monitoring helps you get a clear picture of where you are at the moment, how much you have progressed from your previous state, and chart your short term and long term objectives.

Some of the popular ways of self-monitoring in healthy weight management include:

Equipment such as accelerometers, pedometers, and metabolic devices

Exercise logs

Food diaries

Regular self-weighing

Why is it Important for Weight Management?

Over the years, health scientists have found that self-monitoring can help with several aspects of healthy weight management, such as:

You’ll be mindful about what you consume and are likely to eat less.

You’ll focus on exercising more to ensure you are burning the calories you intake

By keeping a watchful eye on your diet and exercise, achieving weight loss goals becomes easy

You’ll feel great whenever you achieve a milestone or see how much you have progressed

The importance of self-monitoring for weight management cannot be denied, though keeping a track of everything can become a hassle. That’s why you should consider joining our online weight loss coaching program, where you will get expert advice from experienced health and weight loss coaches on self-monitoring and other healthy weight management techniques.