How to stay motivated and avoid food-log fatigue

Ivory Lira, RDN - Registered Dietitian Nutritionist

A new year often brings new motivation for health improvement, and many people start using a food log app like MyNetDiary. Staying motivated for the long term can be challenging as life’s other obligations slowly creep in, making food logging feel tedious. Follow these tips for staying motivated and avoid burnout throughout the year and beyond.

Tips for staying motivated using a food log

Food-log fatigue occurs when you become overwhelmed, continuously recording everything eaten throughout the day, and start falling behind or stop logging altogether. However, keeping a consistent food log can be a great tool to not only help you achieve your health goals but also maintain long-term success. Here are ways to keep up the momentum.

Use a food log app. Using an app like MyNetDiary can help simplify logging and data collection while also making it fun and enticing. The apple in the middle of the Dashboard gives real feedback on the status of your daily nutrition goals each day. Green signifies meeting nutrition goals for the day, yellow means you are close, and red means you are either significantly under or over.
Don't set a defined endpoint for your goal. If your goal is to reach a certain weight, for example, stopping your food log when you achieve that target weight can lead to returning to old eating habits.
Look at food logging as a form of mindful eating. Mindful eating involves being more aware of what you eat and how it makes you feel. Keeping a food log can help you remember what you ate and your habits around eating so that you can identify patterns.
Log as soon as you eat or even before eating. Waiting until the end of the day to log can cause less-accurate entries and feel like a time-consuming burden as you try to remember everything. It can also feel overwhelming trying to enter meals all at once instead of one at a time. Logging the night before for the day ahead can be a good way to check on your meals and snacks to see how they will support your nutrition goals for the day. Then, when you do eat, only minor adjustments may be needed to update your log.
Celebrate milestones. Having only one larger goal can feel daunting, and motivation can quickly fade. By setting smaller goals, such as getting a green apple on your Dashboard 6 out of 7 days per week for one month, you can feel like you have achieved something while striving toward your bigger goals. These little feelings of success can lead to big motivation as you continue on your journey.

Keeping a food log or diary can be a great way to get started improving your health. Long-term logging has led to long-term success with weight management and improved health outcomes for thousands of people. Simplifying your daily logging processes with these tips provides an excellent pattern for more consistency and motivation.