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Do routinized eating behaviors support weight loss? An examination of food logs from behavioral weight loss participants
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Do routinized eating behaviors support weight loss? An examination of food logs from behavioral weight loss participants

Charlotte J Hagerman, Asher E Hong, Nicole T Crane, Meghan L Butryn and Evan M Forman
Health psychology
26 Mar 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0001591
PMID: 41885884
url
https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0001591View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

routine habit formation dietary variety caloric stability Obesity
Weight loss requires constant effortful decision-making. Following a more routine (vs. varied) diet may allow healthy choices to become more habitual, that is, automatic. The current study examined whether routinized eating patterns predicted success for 112 participants in a behavioral weight loss program. Using daily food logs from the first 12 weeks of the program, we examined whether (daily calorie fluctuations and weekday-weekend fluctuations) and (percentage of unique foods tracked and percentage of foods logged 10+ times) predicted 12-week weight loss. Greater dietary repetition (both metrics) and more daily calorie stability were associated with higher weight loss. However, contrary to hypotheses, participants with higher weekend-weekday deviations also had greater weight loss. Overall, findings suggest that more routinized eating patterns during a weight loss attempt may facilitate success. Future work should confirm these findings with experimental manipulations and identify potential mechanisms of action. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

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