Category: Weight Loss

A simple way to boost weight loss.

Simply noting down diet and exercise habits can increase weight loss by 100 percent, researchers repeatedly find.

The action of making notes helps make people more aware of what they are eating and what exercise they are taking.

There is no need for the process to be complicated — a simple text message or an email is sufficient.

Some studies even show that the more notes people make, the more weight they eventually lose.

One study, including 50 obese women, had them send daily texts on top of a regular weight loss diet.

The women texted the number of sugary drinks they had each day and the number of steps they walked.

Text messaging is an easy intervention, said Dr Dori Steinberg, the study’s first author:

“Text messaging has become ubiquitous and may be an effective method to simplify tracking of diet and exercise behaviors.”

The study’s results showed that women who tracked their diet and exercise with texts lost around 3 pounds across six months.

In comparison, those not sending text messages put on 2.5 pounds.

Dr Steinberg said:

“Given the increasing utilization of mobile devices, text messaging may be a useful tool for weight loss, particularly among populations most in need of weight-loss treatment.”

Another weight loss study had people keeping food diaries and following a diet and exercise program.

The results showed that those keeping food diaries lost twice as much weight.

Dr Keith Bachman, a weight management expert, said:

“Keeping a food diary doesn’t have to be a formal thing.

Just the act of scribbling down what you eat on a Post-It note, sending yourself e-mails tallying each meal, or sending yourself a text message will suffice.

It’s the process of reflecting on what you eat that helps us become aware of our habits, and hopefully change our behavior.”

The study was published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (Steinberg et al., 2013).

The meal timings that increase weight loss, lower blood sugar and fight diabetes.

Starting the day with an energy-boosting breakfast, having a medium-sized lunch and ending with a humble dinner might be the answer to weight loss, research finds.

The study shows that a high-energy breakfast, when added to the meal schedules of obese and type 2 diabetes patients, improves blood glucose levels, and boosts weight loss.

The results revealed that people who ate a high-energy breakfast lost 5 kg (11 pounds) but those in a comparison group put on 1.4 kg (3.1 pounds).

Professor Daniela Jakubowicz, the study’s first author, said:

“The hour of the day — when you eat and how frequently you eat — is more important than what you eat and how many calories you eat.

Our body metabolism changes throughout the day.

A slice of bread consumed at breakfast leads to a lower glucose response and is less fattening than an identical slice of bread consumed in the evening.”

Professor Jakubowicz and colleagues recruited a group of obese and diabetic patients who were on insulin therapy.

The participants were divided randomly into two groups to take the same number of daily calories but with two different diets.

The meal schedule for the first group was a large breakfast, an average lunch, and a light dinner for three months.

The total amount of daily calories was 1,600, in which breakfast made up 50 percent of this number, lunch 33 percent, and dinner 17 percent.

The other group had six meals designed for diabetes and weight loss, consisting of six meals which were distributed evenly during the day.

This group also consumed 1,600 kcal a day, but breakfast made up 20 percent of the proportion, lunch 25 percent, dinner 25 percent — plus they had three snacks, which each counted for 10 percent of total daily calories.

The study compared the impact of each diet plan on appetite, insulin level, weight loss, and concentration of glucose in the blood (overall glycemia) of participants.

After three months, the high-energy breakfast group lost 5 kg (11 pounds) but those who were in the the six-meal group put on 1.4 kg (3.1 pounds) more weight.

Overall, glucose levels in the first high-energy breakfast group decreased by 38 mg/dl but this was 17 mg/dl for the six-meal group.

The insulin dosage in the high-energy breakfast group reduced by 20.5 units per day, but the other group required 2.2 units per day more insulin.

Moreover, the hunger and cravings for carbs reduced a lot in the high-energy breakfast group, while it was the opposite for the other group.

Professor Jakubowicz, said:

“This study shows that, in obese insulin-treated type 2 diabetes patients, a diet with three meals per day, consisting of a big breakfast, average lunch and small dinner, had many rapid and positive effects compared to the traditional diet with six small meals evenly distributed throughout the day: better weight loss, less hunger and better diabetes control while using less insulin.”

The other improvement was a large decrease in overall glycemia within 2 weeks for the high-energy breakfast group.

This was only due to changes in meal timings, suggesting a correct meal schedule itself can positively affect blood sugar levels.

The study was presented at the Endocrine Society Annual Meeting 2018 in Chicago.

The three strategies that help people maintain 50 pounds of weight loss.

Tracking food intake, healthy eating and psychological coping are the keys to maintaining successful weight loss, research finds.

People who successfully lose 50 pounds in weight and manage to maintain it tend to:

• Keep a note of what they eat: tracking weight is also important for weight loss.
• Choose healthy food: many foods are healthy, but it is important to stick to foods that you like to maintain weight loss.
• Use positive self-talk: this can involve thinking about past successes to motivate behaviour.

The longer people maintained these habits, the more ingrained and easier they became, researchers found.

Professor Suzanne Phelan, the study’s first author, said:

“People who maintained their successful weight loss the longest reported greater frequency and repetition in healthy eating choices.

Healthier choices also became more automatic the longer people continued to make those choices.

These findings are encouraging for those working at weight loss maintenance.

Over time, weight loss maintenance may become easier, requiring less intentional effort.”

The results come from a study of 4,786 formerly obese people who had maintained their weight loss of 50 pounds, on average, for at least three years.

They were all members of WW, formerly known as Weight Watchers.

They were compared to a group of 528 obese people whose weight had not changed.

The results revealed that the most effective strategy was, unsurprisingly, eating right.

However, self-monitoring was almost as powerful, with psychological strategies also beneficial.

People who used these strategies also found it easier to avoid food cravings.

Professor Phelan said:

“Successful weight loss is associated with a variety of health benefits.

The improved quality of life observed among the successful weight losers in this study may serve as an important motivator for people working at long-term weight management.”

The study was published in the journal Obesity (Phelan et al., 2020).

People in the study experienced very fast weight loss.

Alternate-day fasting — eating one day and fasting the next — is the fastest way to lose weight, research finds.

One of the beauties of the diet is that it is very simple: on one day people can eat whatever they like.

On the next they have to confine themselves to just unsweetened tea or coffee and water for the day.

There is no calorie counting or any complicated rules.

Researchers found that alternate-day fasting also helped to reduce bad cholesterol levels and decreased biological markers linked to disease, aging and inflammation.

Overall, people in the study lost around 4.5 percent of their body weight.

Dr Thomas Pieber, study co-author, 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.”

Thirty people in the study who went on alternate-day fasting were compared with another group of 30 people who ate freely for four weeks.

People fasting compensated for some calories on their days off, said Professor Harald Sourij, but not all:

“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.”

Fasting should be avoided by those with viral infections, said Professor Frank Madeo, study co-author:

“We feel that it is a good regime for some months for obese people to cut weight, or it might even be a useful clinical intervention in diseases driven by inflammation.

However, further research is needed before it can be applied in daily practice.

Additionally, we advise people not to fast if they have a viral infection, because the immune system probably requires immediate energy to fight viruses.

Hence, it is important to consult a doctor before any harsh dietary regime is undertaken.”

The study was published in the journal  Cell Metabolism (Stekovic et al., 2019).

Obese people in the study lost almost 18 pounds in 12 weeks.

Eating a higher calorie breakfast can more than double weight loss, research finds.

Consuming more calories at breakfast is linked to a greater chance of losing weight and reducing the waistline.

Even having a desert at breakfast, such as a cookie or piece of chocolate cake, was linked to lower levels of insulin later on and healthier triglyceride levels.

One study has found that people who consume their daily calories earlier in the day can double weight loss.

Eating more calories earlier is also linked to better sleep quality, which is likely one of the factors affecting weight loss.

For the current study, though, 93 obese women were put in one of two groups.

The first group ate 700 calories at breakfast, 500 at lunch and 200 at dinner.

The second group had 200 for breakfast, 500 at lunch and 700 for dinner.

The results showed that women eating a larger breakfast lost 17.8 pounds on average, compared with those eating the larger dinner only losing 7.3 pounds.

The difference was also visible on their waistlines, with those eating bigger breakfasts losing three inches, compared with just 1.4 inches in the other group.

People eating bigger breakfasts showed larger decreases in the hunger hormone ghrelin and had healthier insulin, glucose and triglyceride levels.

Meal timings play an important role in weight loss, the study suggests.

Professor Daniela Jakubowicz, commenting on a similar previous study, said:

“The hour of the day — when you eat and how frequently you eat — is more important than what you eat and how many calories you eat.

Our body metabolism changes throughout the day.

A slice of bread consumed at breakfast leads to a lower glucose response and is less fattening than an identical slice of bread consumed in the evening.”

The study was published in the journal Obesity (Jakubowicz et al., 2019).

The supplement helps the body burn fat faster and reduces cravings for high-calorie foods.

A natural fibre called inulin, taken as a supplement, can quadruple weight loss, research finds.

Inulin is found naturally in many foods, including wheat, leeks, bananas and asparagus.

The fibre helps the body burn fat faster and reduces cravings for high-calorie foods.

The current study tested a type of inulin called an inulin propionate ester (IPE).

Propionate is found naturally in the gut and is produced when food is broken down.

IPE was developed as it is easier to break down and produces feelings of fullness quicker.

For the study, 20 obese women went on a four-week course of regular exercise combined with taking the supplement.

The results showed that the IPE increased the rate at which the women burned fat.

Professor Gary Frost, study co-author, said:

“These results are encouraging in that they show this potential food supplement, when combined with exercise, can help people burn through their fat stores faster, decreases appetite and could in the long term help to achieve a healthy weight.”

While exercise is important, its link to weight loss is inconsistent, said Dr Douglas Morrison, study co-author:

“Adding moderate exercise to your daily routine is a good thing for your cardiovascular and general health, but the effects it has on the amount of fat which you burn while at rest and after a meal can be inconsistent and these effects don’t easily translate through to changes in body composition and body mass.

Our own research has shown that IPE can encourage people to feel full while eating less, and that it encourages the human body to burn fat faster.”

A previous study found that inulin on its own could quadruple weight loss.

The study was published in the journal Metabolism (Malkova et al., 2020).

People in the study lost weight without making lifestyle changes.

A variety of different supplements have been linked by research to weight loss.

However, two cups of green tea per day can lead to weight loss without making other changes, research suggests.

People who drank four cups in one study lost 5.5 pounds.

Both the flavonoids and caffeine contained in green tea may help to speed the metabolism, which lead to processing fat more quickly.

Antioxidants called catechins are also abundant in green tea.

Among these catechins, the most important is called Epigallocatechin-3-gallate, or EGCG.

EGCG enhances the body’s ability to use fat and reduces the storage of fat.

When drinking green tea, letting the water cool before adding it avoids damaging the EGCG.

EGCG is available as a food supplement which contains a more concentrated dose.

The conclusions come from a study that included 35 obese people who either took green tea extract, drank green tea or made no change.

The results showed that those drinking four cups of green tea lost 5.5 pounds in 8 weeks.

The supplements led to 4 pounds of weight loss.

A different study of mice found that green tea worked to reduce the effects of a high-fat diet.

Dr Joshua Lambert, who led the mouse study, said:

“Our results suggest that if you supplement with EGCG or green tea you gain weight more slowly.

There seems to be two prongs to this.

First, EGCG reduces the ability to absorb fat and, second, it enhances the ability to use fat.”

Dr Lambert explained that both groups of mice were eating the same:

“There’s no difference in the amount of food the mice are eating.

The mice are essentially eating a milkshake, except one group is eating a milkshake with green tea.”

The studies were published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition and Obesity (Basu et al., 2013; Grove et al., 2011).

Genes put some people at higher risk of obesity.

The best exercise for weight loss is regular jogging, new research finds.

People whose genes make them susceptible to obesity can benefit most from this exercise.

A sign that you have a genetic susceptibility to obesity is putting on weight, no matter how much you reduce calorie intake.

Along with jogging, other types of exercise can also lead to weight loss for those with a genetic susceptibility, the researchers found:

• walking and power walking,
• mountain climbing,
• formal dancing, such as the waltz, tango, foxtrot and quickstep,
• and practising yoga for a long period.

Certain exercises, while beneficial for people in general, were not effective for those with a genetic susceptibility to obesity.

These include swimming, cycling and stretching.

Naturally, the exercises still burn calories, but do not seem to be as effective for some.

There were 18,424 people in the study, which was carried out in China.

Participants’ body weight and a genetic risk score were recorded.

Scoring genetic risk reflects the fact that some people are at a higher risk of obesity because of their genes.

The results were explained by the study’s authors:

“…mountain climbing, walking, exercise walking, international standard dancing, and a longer practice of yoga attenuated the genetic effects on BMI.

The benefits of regularly performing these 6 kinds of exercise are more impactful in subjects who are more predisposed to obesity.”

A range of other studies have looked at the best exercise for losing weight, but have not examined genetics.

Studies frequently find that high-intensity interval training, known as HIIT, can reduce weight more quickly than continuous exercise.

Common types of interval training involve 30-second bursts going “all out” followed by four minutes of recovery at a much lower intensity.

People in the studies doing interval training lost almost 30% more weight than those training at a moderate, continuous intensity.

The study was published in the journal PLOS Genetics (Lin et al., 2019).

The strategy beats both reducing calories and doing exercise.

The most popular weight loss tactic is to drink water throughout the day, researchers find.

This can be very effective as one study has found that drinking a pint of water before every meal can increase weight loss by five times.

Drinking water is three times more popular than reducing calorie intake and twice as popular as exercise.

Another study has shown that changing one sugary drink to water can boost weight loss by 5 pounds.

Drinking water works by making people feel more full before a meal, so that they eat less.

Water works as a natural appetite suppressant and may aid in the burning of calories and fat.

For the study, 48,026 people in the US answered a survey about their attempts to lose weight.

The results showed that 42 percent of people were trying to lose weight.

This figure had increased from 34 percent 15 years ago.

Dr Lu Qi, study co-author, said:

“These findings suggest that although 34-42% of U.S. adults in our study reported weight-loss efforts, many of them might either not actually implement weight-loss strategies or apply a minimal level of effort, which yielded unsatisfactory results.

Reduced food consumption is one common strategy to lose weight, but modified diets are difficult to maintain.”

The researchers found that other common weight loss techniques people used were reducing sugar intake and eating more fruits and vegetables.

Dr Qi said:

“These findings suggest a need to increase the promotion of effective strategies for weight loss, including caloric reduction and increased physical activity, among all adults attempting to lose weight.

Notably, adherence is the primary factor predictive of a successful response to a weight-loss attempt.

Therefore, weight-loss strategies that consider a participant’s preferences and abilities may help them stick with it long term.”

Although people attempted to increase their exercise levels to shed pounds, they usually did not do enough to have an effect.

The study was published in the JAMA Network Open (Han et al., 2019).

This change boosts energy and reduces appetite.

Sleeping for longer is linked to weight loss.

People who get more sleep have a lower body mass index (BMI), new research finds.

However, many people do not get the recommended amount, which is around 7 – 9 hours of sleep a night.

New research found that in a large US sample, the average was six hours, meaning many people sleep considerably less than the recommended amount.

Lack of sleep is thought to contribute to obesity by disrupting appetite and leaving less energy for exercise.

Ms Trimella Jefferson, the study’s first author, said:

“The good news is sleep is something most people can control, regardless of other factors, like income and education levels.

Spreading that information can be very empowering, especially to communities that struggle with obesity.”

To sleep better, psychologists recommend increasing ‘sleep hygiene’:

• Go to bed early enough to get at least seven hours of sleep.
• Avoid screens in the bedroom, including phones and TVs.
• Keep the bedroom dark and cool.
• Avoid large meals and alcohol before bedtime.
• Drink relatively little fluid before bedtime.

→ More information on how to fall asleep fast.

The conclusions come from a study including 3,778 overweight and obese African Americans.

All were being followed as part of the Jackson Heart Study, a large, long-term study of risk factors for heart disease among African Americans.

The study’s authors write:

“This study’s findings highlight the high rate of overweight and obesity among participants in the Jackson Heart Study.

About one-fourth of the participants described themselves as enjoying ideal health.

In men, longer sleep duration was associated with lower BMI levels and lower WC; in both men and women, good sleep quality was associated with lower WC.”

The study was published in The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association (Jefferson et al., 2019).