Category: Weight Loss

Surprisingly, weight loss was achieved without making other changes to diet or lifestyle.

Small changes to meal times could lead to a doubling in weight loss, research finds.

Consuming more of the day’s calories earlier can help to reduce belly fat and double weight loss, scientists have found.

Higher quality sleep — which is linked to eating earlier — may be one of the reasons that weight loss is improved.

The study included 31 obese and overweight people who were following a weight loss diet.

Their sleep and movements were tracked using wearable activity monitors.

The results of the study showed that those who had more of their calories earlier in the day ended up lowering their body mass index more and they had lower body fat.

Those that ate earlier also went to sleep earlier.

Late night snacking is known to be one of the great enemies of weight loss and good quality sleep.

Dr Adnin Zaman, the study’s first author, said:

“We used a novel set of methods for simultaneous measurement of daily sleep, physical activity, and meal timing patterns that could be used to identify persons at risk for increased weight gain.

Given that wearable activity monitors and smartphones are now ubiquitous in our modern society, it may soon be possible to consider the timing of behaviors across 24 hours in how we approach the prevention and treatment of obesity.”

Eating earlier in the day is not the only approach involving shifting meals that works.

Another approach is to move meals more towards the middle of the day — in other words eat breakfast later and supper earlier.

Participants in one study who ate breakfast 90 minutes later and supper 90 minutes earlier doubled their weight loss.

Surprisingly, this was without making other changes to diet or lifestyle.

The study was presented at ENDO 2019, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in New Orleans, La.

Four common foods linked to weight loss.

Making relatively small changes to the dietary balance of foods can lead to dramatic weight loss, new research finds.

Four foods that are strongly linked to weight loss are seafood, yogurt, skinless chicken and nuts.

In contrast, processed meats and red meats are the foods most strongly linked to weight gain.

Dr Jessica Smith, the study’s first author, said:

“There is mounting scientific evidence that diets including less low-quality carbohydrates, such as white breads, potatoes, and sweets, and higher in protein-rich foods may be more efficient for weight loss.

We wanted to know how that might apply to preventing weight gain in the first place.”

The study included data from three studies which followed over 120,000 people across 16 years.

The results showed that for avoiding weight gain, low-glycaemic load diets were the best.

Foods to avoid include refined grains, sugars and starches, which are all linked to blood pressure spikes and the development of type 2 diabetes.

Low-fat dairy was not linked to weight loss, Dr Smith said:

“The fat content of dairy products did not seem to be important for weight gain.

In fact, when people consumed more low-fat dairy products, they actually increased their consumption of carbs, which may promote weight gain.

This suggests that people compensate, over years, for the lower calories in low-fat dairy by increasing their carb intake.”

Dr Dariush Mozaffarian, study co-author, said:

“Our study adds to growing new research that counting calories is not the most effective strategy for long-term weight management and prevention.

Some foods help prevent weight gain, others make it worse. Most interestingly, the combination of foods seems to make a big difference.

Our findings suggest we should not only emphasize specific protein-rich foods like fish, nuts, and yogurt to prevent weight gain, but also focus on avoiding refined grains, starches, and sugars in order to maximize the benefits of these healthful protein-rich foods, create new benefits for other foods like eggs and cheese, and reduce the weight gain associated with meats.”

The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Smith et al., 2015).

The programme worked at three times the speed of ‘normal’ dieting.

A total diet replacement programme is one of the fastest ways to lose weight, recent research finds.

Almost half of the people in the study lost over 15 percent of their body weight in 12 weeks.

It worked at three times the speed of ‘normal’ dieting.

A total diet replacement programme involves replacing all foods with soups, shakes and bars.

This cuts calorie intake to just the essentials: around 1,000 per day, including vital vitamins and minerals.

People also consume an additional three pints of water or other non-caloric drink each day.

In addition, people may take a fibre supplement, such as benefiber or fybogel, to prevent constipation.

Professor Susan Jebb, the study’s first author, said:

“In the past we have worried that a short period of rapid weight loss may lead to rapid weight regain, but this study shows that nine months after the intensive weight-loss phase, people have lost more than three times as much weight as people following a conventional weight-loss programme.”

The study included 278 people who either followed the total diet replacement programme or who went to their doctor’s normal weight reduction clinic.

The results showed that total diet replacement led to weight loss of 24 pounds.

The ‘usual care’ group lost 8 pounds in comparison.

Professor Paul Aveyard, study co-author, said:

“Losing weight and keeping it off is hard and we know that people welcome support from their GP.

This study shows that GP referral to a total diet replacement programme in the community is an effective intervention which GPs can confidently recommend, knowing that it leads to sustainable weight loss and lowers the risk of heart disease and diabetes.

This model of care can be safely offered by GPs in routine primary care.”

Total diet replacement programmes are safe for most people.

However, some people may be at risk, so should consult their physician before starting an extreme diet.

A total diet replacement programme should not be followed for more than 12 weeks.

Normal food is gradually reintroduced at the end of the diet phase.

The study was published in the British Medical Journal (Astbury et al., 2019).

The number of steps that could prevent weight gain.

Many people, especially those who want to lose weight and feel healthy, think of walking 5 miles a day or 10,000 steps as the gold standard.

Experts have looked into 10,000 steps effect and say that people would see the physical and mental health benefits of walking even by just doing 7,500 steps.

However, increasing this to 15,000 steps a day won’t protect people from gaining weight unless they diet or reduce their food intake.

In this study, 120 students were asked to do 10,000, 12,500, or 15,000 steps per day for six days, over nearly six months.

In the meantime, the research team kept measuring participants’ weight and their daily calorie intake.

The team found that the recommended 10,000 steps per day didn’t prevent weight gain in students.

In fact, even if they increased the walks to 15,000 steps this didn’t stop participants putting on weight.

On average, they gained 1.5 kg (3.5 lbs) over the six month period of the study.

Professor Bruce Bailey, the study’s first author, said:

“Exercise alone is not always the most effective way to lose weight.

If you track steps, it might have a benefit in increasing physical activity, but our study showed it won’t translate into maintaining weight or preventing weight gain.”

Despite the fact that increasing steps didn’t matter for maintaining weight, this routine physical activity provided several emotional and health benefits.

One obvious positive effect was that sedentary time decreased by 77 minutes per day in the 15,000-step group.

Professor Bailey said:

“The biggest benefit of step recommendations is getting people out of a sedentary lifestyle.

Even though it won’t prevent weight gain on its own, more steps is always better for you.”

The study was published in the Journal of Obesity (Bailey et al., 2019).

There are four mental tricks that work to help people avoid temptations.

Making plans to avoid temptations is a good way to increase weight loss.

Rather than relying on self-control in the moment, planning to avoid temptation is much more effective, new research finds.

People who plan ahead are more likely to reach their weight loss goals.

There are four mental tricks that work to help people avoid temptations, the researchers found.

1. Avoid the situation

Do not go near situations where the temptation is present.

Dieters should avoid the kitchen or any other venue where self-control is tested.

Other danger points include fast food restaurants, the confectionary aisle at the supermarket and vending machines.

2. Change the situation

Where the environment can be controlled, remove the temptation.

Avoid having the wrong foods in the house, then it is much more difficult to eat them.

3. Think differently

Start thinking of fattening foods as disgusting.

Visualise cookies, or any other banned food, as likely to upset the stomach.

Recall what the tempting foods will do to the waistline.

4. Distraction

When faced with unavoidable temptations, use distraction to avoid focusing on the temptation.

In the first instance, do not look at tempting foods.

Plan ahead

The conclusions come from two studies that tested five different methods of self-control.

The study’s authors explain the results:

“People rely on several self-control strategies.

The use of these strategies can be planned ahead of time, before a temptation is directly experienced.

And, planning self-control ahead of time may be critically involved in achieving long-term goals.”

In contrast, the technique that didn’t work involved simply trying to avoid the temptation when faced with it.

The authors write:

“We found evidence suggesting that participants sometimes formed plans for how to manage temptations and that these plans were indeed related to the initiation of diverse self-control strategies.

People can, indeed, proactively initiate self-control.

And those who do so are better able to make progress toward their long-term goals.”

The study was published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (Williamson & Wilkowski, 2019).

Adding this to your weight loss diet regimen could be a bonus as it reduces hunger and stops overeating.

Contrary to popular belief exercise reduces appetite, a study has found.

Following a low-calorie diet works better if combined with exercise because physical activity can be a protective factor against overeating.

Several studies have suggested that exercise will increase appetite which results in overeating.

However, other studies have shown that physical activity protects people against dietary lapses caused by hunger, stress, and lack of motivation.

Researchers from Drexel University Center for Weight, Eating and Lifestyle Science reveal that engaging in exercise can improve people’s eating behavior and help control hunger when they are on a low-calorie diet.

Ms Rebecca Crochiere, the study’s first author, said:

“Almost all behavioral weight loss programs prescribe exercise because of its health benefits and because it expends energy or ‘burns calories’.

Interestingly, our study suggests that exercise may also aid in adhering to a reduced-calorie diet, perhaps through improved regulation of appetite or eating behavior.

It adds another reason to engage in exercise if one is seeking weight loss.”

The team examined the effect of exercise on the appetites of 130 overweight and obese subjects who followed a reduced-calorie diet and physical activity program.

The team noticed that when participants didn’t exercise, the odds of overeating was increased by 12 percent.

But when these subjects exercised for 60 minutes, the risk of overeating was reduced by five percent.

Moreover, for every extra 10 minutes of physical activity that they had, the risk of overeating reduced by one percent.

They also found that the intensity of the exercise affected participants’ eating behaviour and their food intake.

Light physical activity had the most protective effect against overeating than moderate and vigorous work outs.

Ms Crochiere said:

“These findings can help researchers to better understand when participants who are seeking weight loss are at risk of overeating.

It can inform the development of treatments that prevent overeating and facilitate weight loss.”

The study was published in Health Psychology (Crochiere et al., 2020).

People in the study lost 8 pounds in four weeks.

Eating as much as you want one day and fasting the next is one of the quickest ways to lose weight, research finds.

Alternate-day fasting not only helps people lose weight, but also improves their health and reduces the risk of disease.

People in one study who fasted on alternate days lost 8 pounds in four weeks.

Fasting helped them to reduce biological markers of aging and disease, as well as decreasing their levels of bad cholesterol.

On the fasting day, people are only allowed to have zero-calorie drinks, such as unsweetened tea and coffee and water, or to chew sugar-free gum.

Studies on both mice and humans have shown that alternate-day fasting can be effective.

One study has tested the effects of alternate-day fasting on mice.

This also looked to see if fasting at 50 percent on one day followed by eating freely the next could be effective.

The results showed that total fasting one day was, unsurprisingly, the most effective.

However, 50 percent fasting on one day also reduced weight and improved the health of the mice.

The size of fat cells in the bodies of mice who fasted at 100 percent on alternate days was reduced by more than half.

Dr Thomas Pieber, co-author of the study on humans, said:

“Why exactly calorie restriction and fasting induce so many beneficial effects is not fully clear yet.

The elegant thing about strict ADF [alternate-day fasting] is that it doesn’t require participants to count their meals and calories: they just don’t eat anything for one day.”

Professor Harald Sourij, another co-author of the study on humans, said:

“We found that on average, during the 12 hours when they could eat normally, the participants in the ADF group compensated for some of the calories lost from the fasting, but not all.

Overall, they reached a mean calorie restriction of about 35% and lost an average of 3.5 kg [7.7 lb] during four weeks of ADF.”

The study was published in the Journal of Lipid Research (Varady et al., 2007).

The fruits and vegetables most strongly linked to weight loss.

Eating more fruits and vegetables is often recommended for weight loss, but not all fruits and vegetables are equally beneficial, research suggests.

In general, fruits may be more effective for weight loss than vegetables, according to a recent study of over 100,000 nurses.

The study found that the fruits and vegetables most strongly linked to weight loss are:

1. berries,
2. apples/pears,
3. tofu/soy,
4. cauliflower,
5. and cruciferous and green leafy vegetables, like broccoli and Brussels sprouts.

The reason these foods are linked to more weight loss is probably because they make people feel fuller while containing fewer calories.

Researchers analysed dietary data from 133,468 nurses to reach these conclusions.

The nurses took part in a survey which tracked their weight, diet and intake of specific fruits and vegetables.

Twenty-four years of data showed that people eating fruits saw the greatest weight loss, while some vegetables were also linked to weight loss.

The study’s authors write:

“Thus, an increase in total fruit intake was associated with a change in weight over a 4-y interval of -0.53 lb (a weight loss of 0.24 kg) for each extra daily serving, and an increase in total vegetable intake was associated with a weight change of -0.25 lb (-0.11 kg) for each extra daily serving.”

Some vegetables linked to weight gain, however, included potatoes, peas and corn.

Even among vegetables that were linked to weight loss, the amount of weight loss depends on the glycaemic load, the authors write:

“Notably, higher-fiber, lower-glycemic load vegetables (for example, broccoli and Brussels sprouts) were more strongly inversely associated with weight change than lower-fiber, higher-glycemic load vegetables (for example, carrots and cabbage).”

The study’s authors concludes:

“Our findings support benefits of increased fruit and vegetable consumption for preventing long-term weight gain and provide further food-specific guidance for the prevention of obesity, a primary risk factor for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancers, and many other health conditions.”

The study was published in the journal PLOS Medicine (Bertoia et al., 2015).

Making these dietary changes can lead to long-term weight loss without dieting.

A diet high in legumes like beans and peas can lead to sustainable weight loss, research suggests.

This is because vegetable sources of protein are more filling than animal sources, the study found.

Adding beans, lentils and chickpeas to the diet has been shown to boost weight loss, without the need to make any other dietary or lifestyle changes.

Pulses like these can increase feelings of fullness by 31 percent.

The present study included 43 men who were served meals with either beans and peas as the key ingredient or pork and veal.

Both meals contained the same number of calories.

The results showed that they ate 12 percent fewer calories during their next meal when they had previously eaten beans and peas.

In other words, the beans and peas were more satisfying and reduced subsequent food intake.

Professor Anne Raben, study co-author, said:

“The protein-rich meal composed of legumes contained significantly more fiber than the protein-rich meal of pork and veal, which probably contributed to the increased feeling of satiety.”

Study participants reported finding the beans and peas just as tasty as the pork and veal.

Professor Raben said:

“It is somewhat contrary to the widespread belief that one ought to consume a large amount of protein because it increases satiety more.

Now, something suggests that one can eat a fiber-rich meal, with less protein, and achieve the same sensation of fullness.

While more studies are needed for a definitive proof, it appears as if vegetable-based meals — particularly those based on beans and peas — both can serve as a long term basis for weight loss and as a sustainable eating habit.”

Increase soluble fibre intake has repeatedly been linked to weight loss.

Adding just 10 grams of soluble fibre per day has been linked to reducing belly fat by 7 percent in one study.

The study was published in the journal Food & Nutrition Research (Kristensen et al., 2016).