Is your job weighing you down (literally)? The importance of goals and tracking within weight loss

A key fundamental to success is a person’s/businesses ability to set ambitious yet realistic goals, combined with method(s) of continuous feedback on performance. Within most jobs, key performance indicators (KPI’s) are used to monitor performance. Within these KPI’s there will usually be a range of individual feedback mechanisms and subgoals to make achieving these set KPI’s manageable. For example, a KPI for a sales role may focus on growing net sales within ‘x’ account by 10% by the end of the year. When working to reach a complex KPI such as this, in which there are multiple factors to consider, there needs to be clear subgoals and continuous feedback to ensure it is manageable; as well as providing structure for the people involved in reaching the goal. This same concept applies to weight loss.

I have often found individuals to be very organised and clear when working towards specific work related KPI’s, but these principles are thrown out the window when it comes to personal fitness or weight loss goals. You wouldn’t start a new business with no plan of how you were going to succeed... yet most people start a weight loss journey without setting any metrics for success. ‘What does success look like?’ I’m sure is something you have all heard within a work environment. Understanding what this statement means within an individual’s weight goal journey, in my opinion, could not be more important. Within this post I aim to highlight the importance of setting goals and self-monitoring these when trying to lose weight. I will also provide insight and personal advice on the optimal metrics to track and efficient ways to do this.

Goal setting is a principle that has been highly researched. Research suggests setting specific goals to achieve a task, in combination with performance feedback leads to higher performance levels. Goals can vary in the degree of difficulty, specificity and complexity. For example, specificity of a goal maybe vague (I want to lose weight), or more specific (I want to lose 15lbs within 8 months). It could also be very complex as there are a large number of indented outcomes needed to meet your goal (such as weight loss), or relatively simple in nature. Goals are commonly used within a business environment. They encourage people to work harder for longer periods, with less distraction. Therefore, not surprisingly, using goals for health-related outcomes such as weight loss has been shown to drastically increase an individual’s chances of long-term success and behaviour change. In my view, any form of goal, especially ones for weight loss, needs to find a certain ‘sweet spot’. This is where the goal is optimistic enough to provoke the right behaviour changes, but at same time is realistic. Goals considered too difficult will likely not be achieved. On the other hand, goals that are too easy will not be taken seriously and usually result in a poor outcome.

Let’s think about this in relation to weight loss. It is well known that many individuals have unrealistic expectations of how quickly they can achieve their ‘dream’ weight. Setting an unrealistic goal means large and often unsustainable behaviour changes are required (e.g. eating a very low-calorie diet), where people remove all enjoyable foods and social situations become difficult to adapt too. Trust me, speaking from experience it is extremely hard to manage calories on a night out!! Therefore, people become frustrated and demotivated after a few days or weeks. In addition, drastic expectations such as daily progress (e.g. a reduction in scale weight on a daily basis) results in frustration and reduced motivation. Sound familiar!? On multiple occasions, I have seen people try and lose an unhealthy amount of weight in a very short period of time to get ready for a certain event, such as a holiday or wedding. In these circumstances, they often stop after a week or so as it’s too hard. Or, by the time they’ve achieved their goal they feel dreadful and within a few months have regained all the weight as the behaviour changes implemented were not sustainable.

Key reasons goals fail;

1 - The goal or tasks required to complete this goal are too complex

2 - The individual is unable to perform behaviour related to the goal

3 - The individual is not motivated or committed

I cannot set you a goal as this has to be very specific to each individual based on the points above. An individual needs to be confident that the goal is achievable. In general, a ‘healthy’ amount of weight to lose on a weekly basis is around 1-2lbs. The individual also needs to be able to perform the behaviours needed to meet that weight loss goal, such as increased physical activity and an understanding how to reduce calorie intake. And finally, the person needs to be committed. Having a strong and well thought out reason for wanting to lose weight can drastically increase motivation.

It is well known that individuals who are successful weight loss maintainers also have a high level of self-monitoring. The main rationale is that it can be used for self-regulation of the behaviours needed to achieve your goal. For example, a behaviour change/sub goal could be to walk 10,000 steps a day to help with weight loss. A wearable device such as a Fitbit (other devices are available!) can prompt you and track this behaviour change. Or weighing yourself on a weekly basis may prompt an increase in physical activity levels if the scales are not moving.

There are three main areas I would advise monitoring to help provide enough feedback to meet your proposed goal. If you have read my previous article on ‘energy balance’ (link: - Energy balance blog), then these should not be a surprise!

1 – Energy output: Including both physical activity levels and exercise

2 – Energy input: The number of calories you are consuming

3 – Scale weight and body image

Let’s quickly talk about these in order, first we have energy output. As discussed in my previous blog, energy output is one of the main variables we can control to help with weight loss and maintenance. Tracking this metric a decade or so ago was very difficult, however with the recent emergence of digital and wearable technology this has become much easier; with around 1 in 4 people now claiming to use wearable monitoring tech. Even most smart phones have the ability to track basic output calculations such as steps per day. Findings from multiple studies show that successful weight loss maintainers frequently use digital self-monitoring technology more so than the standard population. There is evidence to suggest that activity trackers can vary in regard to accuracy, especially when calculating calories burned. Therefore, the two main areas I would advise you track is physical activity levels measured in steps per day, and also energy expenditure from exercise per day. For example, a subgoal to achieve your weight loss goal could be to walk 10,000 steps a day and burn 400 calories 3 x a week in the gym. Great examples of these wearable devices are the Fitbit and Garmin brands, which I have both used previously. You don’t have to spend a fortune on these devices now also. The new Fitbit Inspire smart watch for example is easily available online at around ￡40 (Amazon link here).

If we are tracking energy output, the second area we need to monitor is obviously energy input (calories!). Tracking the amount of energy you have consumed was previously a notoriously laborious and time-consuming task. Using a pen and paper and weighing every gram of food was needed, which is something I am not sure even I would have the motivation to follow! Again, the use of technology has again made tracking energy consumption much more efficient and convenient. The recent emergence of smartphone applications to help monitor calorie intake has revolutionised this previously painful chore. Studies have also shown that those who use smartphone applications for dietary self-monitoring have an increased chance of successful weight loss. A popular app is ‘MyFitnessPal’. The app allows users to easily log their food intake via a search bar or scanning of a barcode via the camera. It includes a huge database of items such as your favourite branded foods along with a full nutritional breakdown. The app also has lots of great functional features such as saving meals, meaning if you eat the same breakfast every day you only need to input all the items once. Using this app can take some getting used to, but even using it for a short period of time will give you a good idea about the calorie density of certain foods you eat on a regular basis.

The final and most important metric to track is weight loss. This can be done both via scale weight and pictures. Tracking output and input will help us create the behaviours needed to hopefully meet an overall weight loss goal; with scale weight being the main KPI in determining performance. Studies have also shown that regular self-weighing has been associated with improved weight loss and maintenance. However, something as simple as weighing yourself is an area in which I see lots of people going wrong. There are multiple factors that need to be taken into account to ensure the scale weight is as accurate as possible. These include, water retention, bathroom visits, food intake and hydration status. For example, eating a meal very high in salt before you weigh yourself will likely cause for lots of water retention within the body. Weighing yourself before your morning bathroom visit can also easily add a pound or two (speaking from experience…). Therefore, to keep your scale weight as accurate as possible you must neutralise as many of these variables as possible. This ensures you are measuring fat loss, not how much how water or food you are storing. I personally would advise weighing yourself first thing in the morning before any food and drink 1 or 2 x a week. In my opinion, weighing yourself daily can also be detrimental as frustration can occur when weight loss isn’t happening on a daily basis. Weighing yourself 2 x a week allows you to hopefully see progress without becoming transfixed on seeing daily progress. As long as the weight loss is liner and consistent, that’s all that matters. Finally, taking pictures during your weight goal journey can also be useful. The scales are great, however there is something incredible motivating about seeing the changes physically. Taking pictures is also very useful if you’re doing some form of resistance training also, as you may be adding muscle mass as well as losing weight. Therefore, the scales may not represent the full picture when it comes to changes in body composition.

To recap quickly; setting a clear and achievable goal along with regular monitoring of the behaviours needed to meet this goal play a vital role in successful weight loss and management. Not preparing before a weight loss journey means most fail before they even start. Hopefully this blog has provided you some insight into how you can prepare and monitor within a weight goal journey.

References

Tracking Myself: Assessing the Contribution of Mobile Technologies for Self-Trackers of Weight, Diet, or Exercise. Journal of Health Communication, 2016. https://www.eulaliapuigabril.net/uploads/7/3/9/5/73956117/abril2016.pdf

Successful weight loss maintainers use health-tracking smartphone applications more than a nationally representative sample: comparison of the National Weight Control Registry to Pew Tracking for Health. Obesity Science & Practice, 2017. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/osp4.102

Comparison of traditional versus mobile app self-monitoring of physical activity and dietary intake among overweight adults participating in an mHealth weight loss program. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 2013. https://academic.oup.com/jamia/article/20/3/513/741491

Accuracy of Heart Rate Watches: Implications for Weight Management. Plos One, 2017. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0154420&xid=17259,15700022,15700105,15700124,15700149,15700168,15700173,15700201

Accuracy of Fitbit Devices: Systematic Review and Narrative Syntheses of Quantitative Data. JMIR health, 2018. https://mhealth.jmir.org/2018/8/e10527/?fbclid=IwAR3h0YPAyt9NxmIks3nrR8qJtQphcwH0YqzjLEDdjTiANfwLfFF3b11LTxk&utm_campaign=JMIR_TrendMD_0&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=TrendMD

A systematic review of the effectiveness of smartphone applications that encourage dietary self-regulatory strategies for weight loss in overweight and obese adults. Centre for Health Psychology, School of Psychology, Sports, and Exercise, Staffordshire University, 2015. https://eprints.staffs.ac.uk/2253/1/Systematic%20review%20smartphone%20apps%20for%20diet%20and%20weight%20loss%20Estore.pdf

Goal-setting And Achievement In Activity Tracking Apps: A Case Study Of MyFitnessPal. Int World Wide Web Conf. 2019. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7197296/

Self‐weighing in weight management: A systematic literature review. Obesity a research journey, 2014. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/oby.20946