Women who want to lose weight are advised to faithfully keep a food journal, and avoid skipping meals and eating in restaurants -- especially at lunch.

The findings from the study by Anne McTiernan, MD, PhD, at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and colleagues looks at the impact of a wide range of self-monitoring and diet-related behaviours and meal patterns on weight change among overweight and obese postmenopausal women.

"When it comes to weight loss, evidence from randomised, controlled trials comparing different diets finds that restricting total calories is more important than diet composition such as low-fat versus low-carbohydrate. Therefore, the specific aim of our study was to identify behaviours that supported the global goal of calorie reduction," McTiernan said.

Specifically, McTiernan and colleagues found that: Women who kept food journals consistently lost about six pounds more than those who did not and those who reported skipping meals lost almost eight fewer pounds than women who did not.

They also found that women who ate out for lunch at least weekly lost on average five fewer pounds than those who ate out less frequently (eating out often at all meal times was associated with less weight loss, but the strongest association was observed with lunch).