Category: Weight Loss

People who consume their daily calories in this way can double weight loss.

Eating high quality proteins like eggs, Greek yogurt and lean meats for breakfast can boost weight loss, research finds.

Having more calories for breakfast has even been linked to more than doubling weight loss, one study has found.

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 by the previous study to lower levels of insulin later on and healthier triglyceride levels.

In general, people who consume their daily calories earlier in the day can double weight loss.

Despite this, more than half of young people skip breakfast, researchers find.

This is what inspired Dr Heather Leidy, co-author of the current study:

“This study examined if the type of breakfast consumed can improve weight management in young people who habitually skip breakfast.

Generally, people establish eating behaviors during their teen years.

If teens are able to develop good eating habits now, such as eating breakfast, it’s likely to continue the rest of their lives.”

The study included 28 overweight teens, half of whom were fed a high-protein breakfast (35g) and half a normal-protein breakfast (13g).

Normal protein breakfasts involved milk and cereal while high-protein breakfasts included eggs, dairy and lean pork.

All the teenagers in the study reported skipping breakfast almost every day of the week.

Dr Leidy explained the results:

“The group of teens who ate high-protein breakfasts reduced their daily food intake by 400 calories and lost body fat mass, while the groups who ate normal-protein breakfast or continued to skip breakfast gained additional body fat.

These results show that when individuals eat a high-protein breakfast, they voluntarily consume less food the rest of the day. In addition, teens who ate high-protein breakfast had more stable glucose levels than the other groups.”

The study was published in the International Journal of Obesity (Bauer et al., 2015).

People in the studies lost weight without dieting or changing their lifestyle.

Eating beans, peas, lentils and chickpeas all help people lose weight, a review of the research finds.

People in the studies lost weight by adding a single daily serving of these foods, without making any other changes to their diet or lifestyle.

In other words, they did not reduce their calorie intake, skip meals or track what they ate.

They just added around three-quarters of a cup of these foods to what they normally ate each day.

The group of foods, known as pulses, are effective because they increase feelings of fullness by 31%, studies show.

Other pulses include:

• Runner beans,
• black-eyed peas,
• broad beans,
• kidney beans,
• and butter beans.

Dr Russell de Souza, who led the Canadian study, said:

“Despite their known health benefits, only 13 per cent of Canadians eat pulses on any given day and most do not eat the full serving.

So there is room for most of us to incorporate dietary pulses in our diet and realize potential weight management benefits.”

The research analysed the results of 21 separate clinical trials.

The combined results showed that people lost an average of a half-a-pound in six weeks, without dieting.

Pulses have a low glycemic index, meaning the body takes a while to break them down.

This helps people feel more full, said Dr de Souza:

“This new study fits well with our previous work, which found that pulses increased the feeling of fullness by 31 per cent, which may indeed result in less food intake.”

Pulses have the added benefit of reducing the levels of bad cholesterol in the body by around 5 percent.

They also lower the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Dr de Souza said:

“Though the weight loss was small, our findings suggest that simply including pulses in your diet may help you lose weight, and we think more importantly, prevent you from gaining it back after you lose it.”

The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Kim et al., 2016).

The simple diet change to help you lose belly fat and improve health.

A higher intake of fibre and lower intake of saturated fats can help to lower belly fat, research concludes.

Belly fat is the fat that surrounds the vital organs, deep in the belly.

Unfortunately, there is no miracle food that can reduce belly fat on its own.

However, eating a heart-healthy diet high in fibre can help to reduce abdominal fat.

Soluble fibre, such as that in fruit and vegetables, turns to a gel during digestion.

This helps people feel more full and may also lower blood sugar levels and help bowel movements.

Dr Kari D. Pilolla, the study’s author, writes:

“…research has shown that dietary trans and saturated fats are positively associated with abdominal obesity, whereas fiber, especially soluble, is negatively associated.

Thus, a great start to preventing and reducing abdominal obesity is to follow a diet that encourages foods high
in fiber such as vegetables, fruits, legumes, and whole grains and limits foods high in trans and saturated fats, such as fatty meats, baked goods, and highly processed foods.”

Over 50 percent of Americans are thought to be abdominally obese.

High levels of belly fat are linked to fatty diabetes, liver disease and high blood pressure.

Abdominal obesity raises the risks of a variety of disease, said Dr Pilolla:

“Independent of body weight, a larger waist circumference increases risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome.

In fact, it has been estimated that approximately 84% of people with abdominal obesity are metabolically
unhealthy.”

The study compared the evidence for a variety of different diets, including the ‘paleo’ diet, intermittent fasting and those involving green tea.

The best evidence that is currently available in terms of fighting obesity supports two diets:

• the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet,
• and a Mediterranean-style diet.

Here are ten typical ingredients of the MedDiet:

• Green leafy vegetables,
• other vegetables,
• nuts,
• berries,
• beans,
• whole grains,
• fish,
• poultry,
• olive oil
• and wine.

The MedDiet also has relatively little red meat, little dairy and uses olive oil as the largest source of fat.

The DASH diet is reasonably straightforward and involves eating lots of fruit, vegetables and whole grains.

It also includes:

• fat-free or low-fat dairy products,
• fish,
• poultry,
• beans,
• nuts,
• and vegetable oils.

It recommends limiting intake of sugar, fatty meats, full-fat dairy, palm oil and foods high in saturated fats.

The study was published in the ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal. (Pilolla et al., 2018).

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).

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).

A natural supplement for weight loss that is found in many healthy foods.

Taking certain supplements has been shown by research to increase weight loss.

Inulin, a natural fibre available as a supplement, can even quadruple weight loss, one study has found.

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

The natural fibre works by reducing appetite.

It has a creamy consistency and is sometimes used in the food industry as a substitute for fat.

Inulin is low in calories, high in fibre and it can improve the health of the digestion.

Researchers repeatedly find that an increase in fibre intake can help with weight loss.

A recent study on mice fed them either a high-fat diet on its own or a high-fat diet with a fibre supplement.

After four weeks on this regime, the results showed that inulin — the fibre supplement — reduced obesity resulting from weight gain.

The size of fat cells was also reduced by supplementation with inulin.

Dr. Andrew Gewirtz, study co-author, said:

“We found that manipulating dietary fiber content, particularly by adding fermentable fiber, guards against metabolic syndrome.

This study revealed the specific mechanism used to restore gut health and suppress obesity and metabolic syndrome is the induction of IL-22 expression.

These results contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms that underlie diet-induced obesity and offer insight into how fermentable fibers might promote better health.”

Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of problems including excess belly fat, high blood pressure and low levels of ‘good’ cholesterol.

Inulin also reduced bad cholesterol levels and helped to keep blood sugar more stable.

The balance of the microbes in the gut was restored by taking inulin.

The study was published in the journal Cell Host & Microbe (Zou et al., 2018).