Category: Weight Loss

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).

Three simple and delicious drinks that have all been linked by research to weight loss.

Low-fat milk, water and yerba mate tea have all been linked to weight loss.

Yerba mate tea is a herbal tea which is an excellent source of flavonoids, amino acids, vitamin C, B1 and B2 and minerals providing several health benefits.

This traditional south-eastern Latin American tea is sold as a stimulant due to its caffeine.

Research has found that it can boost weight loss.

In addition, replacing just one sugary soda with water can lead to weight loss and improve health.

Indeed, one study has linked drinking a pint of water before every meal to losing five times as much weight.

Changing to water also decreases fasting glucose levels, which is better for weight loss and general health.

Drinking water is one of the most popular weight loss techniques used by people.

On top of mate tea and water, a couple of glasses of fat-free milk each day could double weight loss, research finds.

A study of 322 overweight people revealed that those drinking two glasses of low-fat milk each day doubled their weight loss compared to those who drank around half-a-glass.

Dr Greg Miller, an expert in food science and human nutrition, said:

“The good news for the public is that you can follow these recommendation for 3 servings of dairy foods each day and get the nutrition benefits without concern of extra weight gain.

If you’re cutting calories to lose weight, it’s important to get your 3 servings of dairy foods each day for good health and to enhance your weight loss efforts.”

Drinks like mate, water and milk are all an improvement on sugary drinks, said Dr Kiyah J. Duffey, author of study on the subject:

“We found that among U.S. adults who consume one serving of sugar-sweetened beverages per day, replacing that drink with water lowered the percent of calories coming from drinks from 17 to 11 percent.

Even those who consumed more sugary drinks per day could still benefit from water replacement, dropping the amount of calories coming from beverages to less than 25 percent of their daily caloric intake.”

The study was published in the journals American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Nutrients & Journal of Functional Foods (Duffey & Poti, 2016; Rajpathak et al., 2006; Zapata, et al., 2019).

Just one simple habit is enough to initiate weight loss.

The simple act of getting on the scales is enough to start losing weight, research finds.

Self-weighing helps to encourage people to be aware of their own weight and makes them think about what they are eating.

Awareness is more likely to motivate change.

That is why in one previous study people doubled their weight loss by noting down their exercise and dietary habits.

People in the current study lost weight by just weighing themselves.

They made no other conscious changes to their diet or lifestyle — although clearly they must have made some adjustments.

For the study, 111 people were tracked over the festive season.

The results showed that people who did not weigh themselves gained weight.

However, many of those who weighed themselves lost both weight and belly fat, or at least did not put on any weight.

Dr Jamie Cooper, study co-author, said that people naturally adjust their lifestyle when they see their weight:

“Maybe they exercise a little bit more the next day (after seeing a weight increase) or they watch what they are eating more carefully.

The subjects self-select how they are going to modify their behavior, which can be effective because we know that interventions are not one-size-fits-all.”

The simple trick used in the study was to show people a graph of their weight over time.

Dr Michelle vanDellen, study co-author, said:

“People are really sensitive to discrepancies or differences between their current selves and their standard or goal.

When they see that discrepancy, it tends to lead to behavioral change.

Daily self-weighing ends up doing that for people in a really clear way.”

Obesity often results from putting on small amounts of weight over the years.

Dr Cooper:

“Vacations and holidays are probably the two times of year people are most susceptible to weight gain in a very short period of time.

The holidays can actually have a big impact on someone’s long-term health.”

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

The diet can lead to 5.5 more pounds of weight loss.

Vegetarian diets produce the most weight loss, research finds.

Diets that do not contain meat are linked to significantly more weight loss.

Vegetarian dieters typically lose around 4.4 pounds more than those following diets that include meat.

A vegan diet is even more effective for losing weight, with an average weight loss of 5.5 pounds more than those eating meat.

Vegetarian diets are particularly effective for weight loss because of the high intake of fruits, whole grains and vegetables.

Vegetables and whole grains typically have a high glycaemic index, meaning they do not cause a spike in blood sugar levels.

Fruits are rich in fibre and contain many antioxidants and minerals that naturally protect the body.

Fibre helps to slow down the rate at which food leaves the stomach, which stops people from feeling hungry.

Eating more fibre is repeatedly linked to weight loss by research.

The conclusions come from a review of 12 separate studies including 1,151 participants in total.

The studies all compared people who were dieting on vegetarian diets with those dieting while still eating meat.

There are two types of vegetarian diets, the authors write:

“The two major types of vegetarian diets are the lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet, in which meats are avoided but consumption of milk and eggs is allowed, and the vegan diet, in which all products originating from animals are avoided.”

The results showed that vegetarian diets were superior for weight loss.

The study’s author explain the results:

“Vegetarian diets appeared to have significant benefits on weight reduction compared to non-vegetarian diets.

Further long-term trials are needed to investigate the effects of vegetarian diets on body weight control.”

Another study has found that vegetarian diets can double weight loss.

The study was published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine (Huang et al., 2019).

A weight loss drink that is very easy to incorporate in the daily routine.

Drinking a low-sodium vegetable juice can quadruple weight loss, research shows.

People in the study who drank one or two glasses of vegetable juice each day lost four times as much weight while dieting.

A vegetable juice could be a simple way for people to boost their intake of essential nutrients and increase weight loss.

Vegetables help with dieting because they are low in energy-density.

This means they tend to make people feel fuller and they contain more nutrients, but without containing as many calories.

Dr John Foreyt, study co-author, said:

“Making vegetable consumption easy is critical because it has so many benefits, from disease prevention to weight management.

We have a lot more work to do in finding ways for people to improve their health, but providing them with something simple like vegetable juice is a step in the right direction.”

Included in the study were 81 overweight people with metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions including high blood sugar, blood pressure, excess body fat and abnormal cholesterol levels.

One group in the study followed the DASH diet and drank one or two servings of vegetable juice daily for 12 weeks.

The results showed that those drinking vegetable juice lost four pounds in comparison to only one pound among people who only did the DASH diet.

People drinking vegetable juice daily also had higher levels of vitamin C and potassium.

Professor Carl Keen, study co-author, said:

“This study suggests that it’s not enough to just educate people on the importance of vegetables, you need to show them ways to easily incorporate them into their daily routine.

What we found was that something as simple as drinking your vegetables can be an effective tool in achieving behavior change.”

The study was published in the Nutrition Journal (Shenoy et al., 2010).

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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People with higher levels of this vitamin in their body tend to lose more weight when dieting.

A variety of common vitamins and minerals have been linked to weight loss.

High levels of vitamin D, though, have repeatedly been linked to weight loss and a reduction in belly fat.

People with higher levels of vitamin D in their body tend to lose more weight when dieting.

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

The study included 218 overweight women who were tracked as they took part in an exercise and diet programme that lasted for one year.

Half of the group took a vitamin D supplement of 2,000 IU per day.

Dr Duggan explained the results:

“We were quite surprised to see that vitamin D had an effect on an inflammation biomarker only among women who lost at least 5 percent of their baseline weight.

That suggests vitamin D can augment the effect of weight loss on inflammation.”

Up to 50 percent of people may have a vitamin D deficiency.

A deficiency in this vitamin has been linked to increased inflammation the body.

Foods rich in vitamin D include eggs, oily fish like salmon, mushrooms, dairy and foods that are fortified with it, including cereals and juices.

Dr Catherine Duggan, the study’s first author, said:

“We know from our previous studies that by losing weight, people can reduce their overall levels of inflammation, and there is some evidence suggesting that taking vitamin D supplements can have a similar effect if one has insufficient levels of the nutrient.”

Along with its involvement in weight loss, vitamin D may also have a beneficial effect on cancer risk.

Dr Duggan:

“It is thought that this state of chronic inflammation is pro-tumorigenic, that is, it encourages the growth of cancer cells.

Weight loss reduces inflammation, and thus represents another mechanism for reducing cancer risk.

If ensuring that vitamin D levels are replete, or at an optimum level, can decrease inflammation over and above that of weight loss alone, that can be an important addition to the tools people can use to reduce their cancer risk.”

The study was published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research (Duggan et al., 2015).

How mental imagery can help you lose weight 8 times faster without dieting or exercise.

Mental imagery can boost weight loss significantly, research finds.

Functional Imagery Training (FIT) enabled people to lose 8 times as much weight as those using an alternate talk therapy.

The technique is designed to help people imagine how good it will feel to lose weight.

The imagery training also helped people lose almost two inches from their waistlines.

Surprisingly, people in the study did no extra exercise, nor did they go on a diet.

The mental imagery was designed simply to increase motivation.

It involves people focusing on how they will look and feel after they lose weight.

Dr Linda Solbrig, who led the study, explained the basics:

“We started with taking people through an exercise about a lemon.

We asked them to imagine seeing it, touching it, juicing it, drinking the juice and juice accidentally squirting in their eye, to emphasise how emotional and tight to our physical sensations imagery is.

From there we are able to encourage them to fully imagine and embrace their own goals.

Not just ‘imagine how good it would be to lose weight’ but, for example, ‘what would losing weight enable you to do that you can’t do now? What would that look / sound / smell like?’, and encourage them to use all of their senses.”

There were 141 people in the study who were either given the FIT training or an alternate technique called Motivational Interviewing.

The results revealed that after six months people in the FIT group lost 9 pounds in contrast to just 1.5 pounds in the comparison group.

One year later, people in the FIT group had lost 13 pounds, compared with only 1.5 pounds in the Motivational Interviewing group.

Dr Solbrig explained:

“Most people agree that in order to lose weight, you need to eat less and exercise more, but in many cases, people simply aren’t motivated enough to heed this advice—however much they might agree with it.

So FIT comes in with the key aim of encouraging someone to come up with their own imagery of what change might look and feel like to them, how it might be achieved and kept up, even when challenges arise.”

The study was published in the International Journal of Obesity (Solbrig et al., 2018).

Up to 40 percent of the population have a vitamin D deficiency.

Taking vitamin D supplements is linked to losing four times as much weight, research finds.

People who took a vitamin D supplement also doubled the number of inches by which they reduced their waistlines.

As many as 40 percent of the population have a vitamin D deficiency.

A deficiency in this vitamin has been linked to increased inflammation the body.

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.

Being deficient in vitamin D is repeatedly linked to being overweight and obese.

The conclusions come from a study of 400 obese and overweight people, all of whom had a vitamin D deficiency.

All were put on a low-calorie diet, but they were split into three groups, with each given different amounts of vitamin D supplementation.

One had none, another had 3,000 IU per day and the remainder had 800 IU per day.

After six months, the results showed that those taking the highest amount of 3,000 per day had lost 12 pounds.

Those taking 800 IU per day had lost 8 pounds and those taking none lost just 2.6 pounds.

The study’s authors explain the results:

“The present data indicate that in obese and overweight people with vitamin D deficiency, vitamin D supplementation aids weight loss and enhances the beneficial effects of a reduced-calorie diet.”

The results also revealed that vitamin D helped people lose more from their waistlines.

The group taking 3,000 IU per day lost two inches in comparison to just 1 inch in the control group.

The researchers conclude:

“All people affected by obesity should have their levels of vitamin D tested to see if they are deficient, and if so, begin taking supplements.”

The study was presented at the European Congress on Obesity, 2015 (Vigna et al., 2015).

People with this trait find it easier to lose weight.

Being pessimistic and self-aware is linked to greater weight loss, research finds.

People who prefer to look at the facts and to consider alternatives do better when they try to lose weight.

In contrast, those who approach weight loss with childish optimism are doomed to fail.

The conclusion comes from a study of 101 obese people who were given combined counselling, nutrition and exercise therapy.

The results showed that people who were optimistic at the start of the six month trial found it harder to lose weight.

However, people who successfully lost weight did become more optimistic as time went on, even if they started out pessimistic.

A second key to weight loss is self-awareness.

It is important to be aware of what triggers eating and to be gathering information about what changes are working and what are not.

The authors write:

“It is important to enhance patients’ self-effectiveness and self-control in order to reduce psychological stress and to maintain the weight loss.

The weight loss should be attributed not simply to the intervention of the clinical psychologists but to the total effect of the intervention of a holistic medical care team.”

The study was published in the journal BioPsychoSocial Medicine (Saito et al., 2009).