Category: Weight Loss

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).

What is missing from most weight loss treatments?

The best therapy for weight loss involves treating both obesity and depression, research finds.

People lose more weight when they are treated in an integrated way than if they are treated ‘as normal’ by their physician, the study revealed.

Part of the integrated treatment involves seeing a counsellor and a health coach.

Integrated treatment also reduced depression, which ‘as normal’ treatment did not.

Depression and obesity often occur together.

Over 40 percent of people with depression are obese; obesity is also a risk factor for developing depression.

Usually the two conditions are treated separately, involving multiple appointments that may increase the risk of dropping out altogether.

Professor Jun Ma, the study’s first author, said:

“Treatments exist that are effective at treating obesity and depression separately, but none that address both conditions in concert, which is a critical unmet need because of the high prevalence of obesity and depression together.

We have shown that delivering obesity and depression therapy in one integrated program using dually trained health coaches who work within a care team that includes a primary care physician and a psychiatrist, is effective at reducing weight and improving depressive symptoms.”

The study included 409 people with depression who were also obese.

Half of the people in the study were treated as normal by their physician.

This involved being given information on standard health care services for obesity and depression in the clinic.

The other group, though, were given integrated care that involved nine counselling sessions, a health coach and information on living a healthy lifestyle.

The results showed that people receiving integrated care lost 6 pounds in comparison to no weight loss in the comparison group.

The group receiving integrated care also saw reductions in depression, which the control group did not experience.

Professor Ma said:

“For patients, this approach is an attractive alternative to seeing multiple practitioners each charging for their services as is done traditionally.”

The study was published in the JAMA (Ma et al., 2019).

This technique makes people bored of sweet and salty foods.

Looking at endless images of sweet or salty foods can actually turn people off eating them, psychological research reveals.

While looking at one or two pictures makes people feel hungry, after the first few, it has the opposite effect.

Perhaps one answer to weight loss, then, is to start scrolling through pictures of food on Instagram.

The effect relies on the fact that people generally get tired of anything after they have too much of it.

Psychologists find that nothing beats the first mouthful of food, because we naturally get bored as we eat.

Professor Ryan Elder, who led the study, said:

“In a way, you’re becoming tired of that taste without even eating the food.

It’s sensory boredom — you’ve kind of moved on.

You don’t want that taste experience any more.”

In the study, many hundreds of people were shown pictures of both sweet and salty foods.

The results showed that when people looked at pictures of sweet foods they subsequently rated sweet foods as less tasty.

The same was also true for salty foods.

What is happening is that each time you look at another photograph of some food, you get less pleasure from it.

Like the first taste of chocolate giving you a frisson, the first photograph whets your appetite.

But each subsequent picture — like each subsequent mouthful of chocolate — is less and less exciting, until you get sick of it.

Professor Elder explained:

“You do have to look at a decent number of pictures to get these effects.

It’s not like if you look at something two or three times you’ll get that satiated effect.

That’s good news for food-photo enthusiasts, because, let’s be honest, showing everyone the awesome food you’re eating really is cool.”

The study was published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology (Larson et al., 2013).

Eating this food, people lost 7 pounds and maintained their weight loss.

Eating mushrooms can make people feel fuller than meat, research finds.

Feeling fuller from consuming the same number of calories can aid weight loss.

In one study, people who switched some of their meat intake to mushrooms lost 7 pounds and maintained this weight loss over six months.

Another study has shown that mushrooms are linked to a higher intake of crucial vitamins and minerals.

Other plant-based sources of protein work just as well as mushrooms to increase satiety.

For example, lentils, chickpeas, tofu, peanuts and quinoa are all relatively high in protein and contain many essential nutrients.

Professor Joanne Slavin, the study’s first author, said:

“Previous studies on mushrooms suggest that they can be more satiating than meat, but this effect had not been studied with protein-matched amounts until now.

As with previous published research, this study indicates there may be both a nutritional and satiating benefit to either substituting mushrooms for meat in some meals or replacing some of the meat with mushrooms.”

For the study, 32 people were followed for ten days.

Half the time they ate white button mushrooms for breakfast, the other half of the time they had meat.

The mushrooms and meat were balanced so they contained the same amount of calories and protein.

The results showed that people felt significantly less hungry after eating mushrooms than they did after eating meat.

Ms Mary Jo Feeney, a nutritionist for the Mushroom Council, who funded the study, said:

“This new study adds to a growing body of evidence that suggests mushrooms may aid weight management and satiety, and thus contribute to overall wellness.

Consumers are interested in the benefits of protein food choices, so it’s important for them to know that plant-based sources of protein, such as mushrooms, can be satisfying.”

The study was published in the journal Appetite (Hess et al., 2017).