2. They track their food consistently.
…And you don't even have to do it for very long to see results: According to MyFitnessPal data, 88% of users who log their meals for 7 days lose weight. "A lot of times we eat without even realizing it," says Penner. "[Logging] just kind of brings attention to what we're putting in our body—and it also helps people understand the energy that some foods have." Even if you don't have an app like MyFitnessPal, keeping a food journal can help you drop more pounds than you would otherwise.
3. They hold themselves accountable.
If you want to see the best results from the two tips above, combine them: MyFitnessPal users who share their food diaries with just one other user tend to drop two times the weight of users who don't open up about what they eat. Yes, it may feel a little weird to put your munching habits on display, but it's the best way to keep yourself honest, says Penner. "Knowing someone is going to check on you or that they might look at your diary as a source of inspiration can help keep you on track."
4. They stay motivated to work out.
Photograph by guido miet/getty images
Per MyFitnessPal, users who connect their accounts with at least one other fitness or health app—something like Strava or MapMyRun, for example—are nearly twice as likely to lose weight as members who don't. This is probably because the apps help keep them motivated to stay active, says Penner. But you don't have to use an app to get encouragement—you can also try these tips to find your fitness motivation.
5. They cook for themselves.
MyFitnessPal doesn't track cooking directly—but it does have an option for users to enter a recipe so they can then calculate the nutrition info and add it to their logs. And on average, users who logged a recipe this year lost nearly 40% more weight than users who didn't (and presumably didn't cook as much). They also log almost twice as much exercise as their kitchen-averse counterparts. You know that home-cooked meals are likely to be more nutritious and less calorie-dense than packaged foods or restaurant dishes—but you may not realize what an impact this has on your goals. On days when MyFitnessPal users didn't log a recipe, they were more than six times more likely to exceed their calorie, carb, fat, and sugar goals for the day. And they were more than seven times more likely to go over their daily sodium goals. "I definitely think it's eye-opening," says Penner. "Cooking at home just provides more nutrition overall than eating out, and you can eat a lot more if you cook at home and feel fuller because there's more protein and fiber in those meals."
The article 5 Habits People Who Successfully Lose Weight Have in Common originally ran on WomensHealthMag.com.
