Category: Weight Loss

Weight loss is hard enough without this surprising barrier.

People trying to lose weight often face criticism from their own family, surprising research shows.

Losing weight is hard enough without loved ones failing to be supportive.

Women criticised by their family about their weight ended up putting on more weight, the study showed.

In contrast, those that received unconditional acceptance from their family lost over five times as much.

Professor Christine Logel, the study’s first author, said:

“When we feel bad about our bodies, we often turn to loved ones — families, friends and romantic partners — for support and advice.

How they respond can have a bigger effect than we might think.”

The Canadian study involved hundreds of young women followed for around 9 months.

They were asked about their weight, how they felt about it and what their loved ones thought.

The results revealed that women who did not receive many messages of acceptance from their family put on an average of 5.5 pounds.

Those that received acceptance from loved ones, though, lost an average of 1 pound.

Professor Logel said:

“On average, the women in the study were at the high end of Health Canada’s BMI recommendations, so the healthiest thing is for them to maintain the weight they have and not be so hard on themselves.

But many of the women were still very concerned about how much they weigh, and most talked to their loved ones about it.”

Feeling better about themselves likely encouraged people in the study to eat more healthily.

Acceptance may also reduce stress, leading to less weight gain.

Professor Logel said:

“Lots of research finds that social support improves our health.

An important part of social support is feeling that our loved ones accept us just the way we are.

We all know someone who points out our weight gain or offers to help us lose weight.

These results suggest that these comments are misguided.”

The study was published in the journal Personal Relationships (Logel et al., 2014).

Over one thousand psychologists agree on the biggest barrier to weight loss.

The greatest barrier to weight loss is emotional eating, a survey of psychologists finds.

Losing weight is about addressing the issues behind emotional eating.

So said almost every psychologist polled about successful weight loss.

Emotional eating refers to the way in which the emotions can trigger eating.

One example might be responding to feeling bored by eating a bag of chips.

Another might be reacting to feeling sad by eating ice cream.

Emotional eating often begins in childhood when treats are given as rewards for good behaviour.

Psychologists help people break the cycle of emotional eating by identifying situations and feelings that trigger it.

Changing the habit is about spotting the triggers and then changing the response.

Strategies psychologists recommend to help with this process include mindfulness, cognitive therapy and problem-solving.

Professor Norman B. Anderson, an expert on mind/body health, said:

“Anyone who has ever tried to lose a few pounds and keep them off knows that doing so isn’t easy.

The good news is that research and clinical experience have shown that, in addition to behavioral approaches, cognitive behavioral therapy that targets emotional barriers helps people lose weight.”

The survey included 1,328 licensed psychologists who were asked how they helped their clients lose weight.

The need to target emotional issues was highlighted by 92 percent of respondents.

Professor Anderson said:

“Although it is generally accepted that weight problems are most often caused by a combination of biological, emotional, behavioral and environmental issues, these new results show the key role of stress and emotional regulation in losing weight.

Therefore, the best weight loss tactics should integrate strategies to address emotion and behavior as well as lifestyle approaches to exercise and making healthy eating choices.”

The study was conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center for the American Psychological Association.

People following this diet lost four times as much weight as those just following a standard low-carb diet all day long.

Having a large meal for breakfast that is rich in protein and carbs is linked to weight loss, research finds.

Dieters then stuck to a low calorie, low-carb diet for the rest of the day.

People following this diet lost four times as much weight as those just following a standard low-carb diet all day long.

Dr Daniela Jakubowicz and colleagues show that the success of a diet over the long-term relies on its ability to make you feel full and reduce carving for carbs and sweets.

They recruited 94 physically inactive obese women and divided them into two group to see if having a big breakfast high in protein and carbohydrates is more effective than a strict low-carb diet.

The very low-carb diet contained 1,085 calories a day based on 78 grams of fat, 51 grams of protein, and 17 grams of carbohydrates.

For participants who were on this diet, breakfast was the smallest meal throughout the day, containing just 290 calories.

Dieters could have milk, eggs, meat, fruit, cereal, and bread for breakfast but the amount of carbohydrates was only 7 grams and protein 12 grams.

The big-breakfast diet group consumed 1,240 calories per day consisting of 97 grams of carbohydrates, 93 grams of protein, and 46 grams of fat.

Their breakfast was 610 calories containing 58 grams of carbs, 47 grams of protein, and 22 grams of fat.

Their lunch was 395 calories containing 34 grams of carbs, 28 grams of protein, and 13 grams of fat.

Their dinner was 235 calories grams 5 gram of carbs, 18 grams of protein, and 26 grams of fat.

The study period was eight months in which the first four months focused on losing weight and the last four months focused maintaining weight.

The strict low-carb group lost 28 pounds (12.7 kg) and the big-breakfast group lost 23 pounds (10.5 kg).

At eight months, however, the low-carb dieters regained 18 pounds (8.2 kg) whereas those on the big-breakfast diet kept losing weight and lost an extra 16.5 pounds (7.5 kg).

On average, those eating a big breakfast lost 21 percent of their weight but those on the low-carb diet only lost 4.5 percent of their weight.

In addition, after consuming their big breakfast, participants felt more full and craved fewer carbs and sweets.

Dr Jakubowicz said:

“Most weight loss studies have determined that a very low carbohydrate diet is not a good method to reduce weight.

It exacerbates the craving for carbohydrates and slows metabolism.

As a result, after a short period of weight loss, there is a quick return to obesity.”

Dr Jakubowicz believes that the big-breakfast diet works as over 15 years she has successfully used this diet plan on her patients.

It keeps appetite under control and lowers cravings for sugars or starches such as sweets, dessert, potatoes, pasta and bread.

It also contains more fruit and vegetables which will increase level of vitamins and fibre intake.

Dr Jakubowicz added:

“Only five percent of carbohydrate-restrictive diets are successful after two years.

Most carbohydrate-restrictive diets do not address addictive eating impulses.”

The study was presented at the Endocrine Society 90th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

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Study participants lost weight without dieting or making other lifestyle changes.

Taking a vitamin D supplement is repeatedly linked to weight loss by studies.

People taking vitamin D lose weight without dieting or making other lifestyle changes.

Adding in dieting and exercise can help to boost weight loss even more.

One study has shown that people drinking more milk, which contains vitamin D and calcium, can double weight loss.

The new study included 50 overweight and obese women.

Half of them received doses of vitamin D equivalent to almost 10,000 IU per day over six weeks.

The study’s authors write:

“Previous studies had shown that the vitamin D deficiency is more prevalent in obese people and there was an inverse association between vitamin D, body mass index, and weight.”

The other half received a placebo that they were told was vitamin D, but was in fact inert.

The researchers measured people’s weight, waist and hip circumference, cholesterol and other biological markers, before and after supplementation.

The results showed that people taking vitamin D lost 3.5 pounds after taking vitamin D for six weeks.

The study’s authors explain the results:

“The findings of this double-blind clinical trial study in obese and overweight women aged 20–40 years showed that supplementation of the vit D with dozes 50,000 IU/w for 6 weeks reduced significantly the mean BMI [body mass index], weight and on the other hand, it increased significantly the level of vit D in comparison with the control group.”

The average weight loss was around 3.5 pounds in the vitamin D group compared with no change in the control group.

Around half the world’s population is deficient in vitamin D.

Foods that are rich in vitamin D include oily fish and eggs, but most people get their vitamin D from the action of sunlight on the skin.

The study was published in the International Journal of Preventative Medicine (Khosravi et al., 2019).

This weight loss is achieved without making changes to exercise or diet.

Simply tracking food intake and weight can help to double weight loss, research finds.

People who keep a food diary, which involves noting down what they eat, and track their weight, see increased weight loss.

The more notes that people keep, the greater their weight loss.

This weight loss is achieved without making changes to exercise or diet.

However, adding these elements can increase weight loss even further.

For this particular study, people used a free app called ‘MyFitnessPal’.

Other similar apps would likely work just as well.

Professor Gary Bennett, study co-author, said:

“Free and low-cost weight loss apps have changed the ways that Americans manage their weight.

However, we knew little about whether these tools worked very well on their own.

We’ve shown that commercial smartphone apps can be a helpful way to get started with weight loss.”

There were 105 overweight people in the study, which lasted three months.

The only intervention people followed was tracking their food and drink consumption.

The results showed that those who lost the most weight, an average of 7 pounds, were those that tracked their consumption and weight most assiduously.

Ms Michele Lanpher Patel, the study’s first author, said:

“We wanted to study a lower-intensity treatment for weight loss whereby people could join from the comfort of their home.

Not everyone wants or has time for a high-intensity weight-loss treatment.”

Professor Bennett said:

“We have very strong evidence that consistent tracking — particularly of diet, but also one’s weight — is an essential element of successful weight loss.

Consumers should look for apps that make it easy for them to track on a consistent basis.”

The study was published in the journal JMIR mHealth and uHealth (Patel et al., 2019).

The diet helps people control their blood sugar more effectively.

Going on a vegan diet accelerates weight loss and reduces harmful belly fat, research suggests.

People following a plant-based, vegan diet for 16 weeks lost an average of over 12 pounds, including almost 9 pounds of fat mass and belly fat.

More fibre is the most critical element of the diet, researchers think.

Plant-based diets contain plenty of fibre which helps to boost healthy bacteria in the gut.

The study included 147 overweight people who were randomised to a vegan diet or no change for 16 weeks.

The results revealed that a vegan diet reduced weight significantly.

A vegan diet also helped people control their blood sugar more effectively.

The study’s authors write:

“A 16-week low-fat vegan dietary intervention induced changes in gut microbiota that were related to changes in weight, body composition and insulin sensitivity in overweight adults.”

The diet also increased the health of the gut.

People with a greater abundance of critical healthy bacteria in the gut lost more weight.

Bacteria that a vegan diet boosts include Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and Bacteroides fragilis.

The authors conclude:

“A plant-based diet has been shown to be effective in weight management, and in diabetes prevention and treatment.

We have demonstrated that a plant-based diet elicited changes in gut microbiome that were associated with weight loss, reduction in fat mass and visceral fat volume, and increase in insulin sensitivity.”

Fibre is the key to weight loss and a healthy gut, the authors write:

“The main shift in the gut microbiome composition was due to an increased relative content of short-chain fatty acid producing bacteria that feed on fibre.

Therefore, high dietary fibre content seems to be essential for the changes observed in our study.”

The study was presented at the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Barcelona, Spain (Kahleova et al., 2019).

There are only a handful of weight loss supplements that work.

Low-fat dairy, fibre and green tea are the best supplements for weight loss, research finds.

Soluble fibres, like those in beans, vegetables and fruits, improve weight loss and reduce belly fat by reducing appetite.

The caffeine and flavonoids contained in green tea help to speed up the metabolism and process fat more quickly.

Vitamin D and calcium are present in relatively high levels in dairy products.

Low levels of calcium are frequently linked to obesity and vitamin D helps in the absorption of calcium.

The conclusions come from research that examined multiple studies carried out on supplements for weight loss.

Professor Melinda Manore, the study’s author, said that while supplements can help, making dietary changes is critical:

“For most people, unless you alter your diet and get daily exercise, no supplement is going to have a big impact.

I don’t know how you eliminate exercise from the equation.

The data is very strong that exercise is crucial to not only losing weight and preserving muscle mass, but keeping the weight off.”

Increasing protein intake may also be effective, along with these three changes, Professor Manore said:

“Adding fiber, calcium, protein and drinking green tea can help.

But none of these will have much effect unless you exercise and eat fruits and vegetables.”

The research looked at a variety of weight loss supplements including appetite suppressants and caffeine, but few were effective, the study concluded.

Professor Manore said:

“What people want is to lose weight and maintain or increase lean tissue mass.

There is no evidence that any one supplement does this.

And some have side effects ranging from the unpleasant, such as bloating and gas, to very serious issues such as strokes and heart problems.”

The study was published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism (Manore et al., 2012).