Dieting Women Should Keep a Food Log

In a new study, scientists encourage three tips for female dieters: keep a food log, don't skip meals, and don't go out for lunch. Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center analyzed the year-long dieting habits of 123 overweight post-menopausal women and found that those who stuck to these three rules shed more pounds than those who did not, reports USA Today.

"A food journal is one of the easiest ways to keep track of what you are eating," says a researcher. "If you write it down, it seems more real. If you don't, it's so easy to pretend to yourself that you didn't eat that much." Those who kept such logs lost 6 more pounds in the study. Those who didn't skip meals (and thus avoided snack binges) lost 8 more pounds, and those who generally avoided going out for lunch lost 5 more pounds. You can also put the scale away: Daily weigh-ins did not show any effect. (More scientific study stories.)