Which Is The Best Weight-Loss Diet?

Anoop | Tue August 10, 2010  

Yes- “All of the diets had an average calorie deficit of 750 calories from the patients’ aggregate baseline caloric intake.”

Most of the diet study we have are short term, like a year the most. These studies won’t tell you much since people start gaining back weight after 6-12 months on any diet. This was a study which received a lot of accolades for the way it was done. And I think behavioral strategies is the key. Most diet books and diets emphasize too much on the diet composition and why the diet better than the rest.

Yes, protein blunts hunger. The problem with high protein diets though is that normal people cannot sustain it for long periods and fall back to their usual diets.People like us who can eat high protein day after day is the minority.

Anoop | Sun August 15, 2010  

Hi Karky,

I think for people who has been eating a low protein or high carb diet it is hard to change their habits, at least for a few. It could be cultural or it could be environmental.

There are studies which shows how people gradually move from a high protein or a low protein or a low carb to a moderate carb after a few months.  And one of the criticisms of the study was that it wasn’t a big difference in protein or carbs, so the study is not a true measure of high carbs or high protein on body composition. But other studies shows how it is almost impossible to adhere to high protein atkins like diet and people gradually gravitate towards moderate carbs and protein.

Anoop | Sun August 15, 2010  

Hi Dave & Mavros,

Thanks. I do agree.

Even the insulin resistance concept only affects a segment of the population. In fact, the study quoted by fulldeplex shows that a low carb diet maybe better for people who are insulin resistant if I remember it right.

Hi Fullduplex,

Thanks for commenting. I think they had a number of group and individual sessions, and daily meal plans for 2 week block were provided. So the treatment was pretty intense.

If they had a control group with no food counting, we then could have made some conclusions about calorie counting.

And the primary outcome was weight lost and not fat loss.

Thanks for the study!

Anoop | Sun August 15, 2010  

Extreme macro nutrient recommendations always fail whether it is low carbs or high protein. People find it so hard to change their habits and eating habits. People who do stick with all the recommendations are people who are really motivated. These are the people you see in the magazines who lost 100 lbs and now workout everyday and eat healthy and stuff. It’s possible, but not the norm you know. How many people can make such a change? Not many.

I think this is the problem when diet gurus say this will work. He is getting his subjects because they have gone through other diets and believe in him and his diet and are highly motivated to begin with and will stick to it. This is why studies worry so much about the selection criteria, randomizing, drop outs, and blinding of the groups.  They all start at the same point.

Anoop | Tue August 17, 2010  

It is pretty clear now that weight loss after 2-4 years will be average around 3-4 kg. As usual, in the first 6 months they saw an average of 6 kg weight loss, and then subjects started gaining weight.

And mind you, the researchers were the top in their feild, the majority of the subjects were highly educated, the particpants were highly motivated (levels assessed by interview and questionnaire) and they had multiple number of group and individual sessions. And still they coulddn’t continue with weight loss or stick with the diet plans.

And I think Mavros hit the nail on the head. What we need is a community effort which might be a paradigm shift in obesity treatments. The individualistic approach is not working as we have seen again and again. The EPODE trial which began in France which is a community based trial to prevent childhood obesity is a good example.Everyone the teachers, mayor, shop owners, resturant owners, researchers were involved in making kids move around more and eat healthy. And now it being tried in other towns in Europe.

Anoop | Wed August 18, 2010  

Hi Anatoly,

When it comes to overweight or obese individuals, it is mostly fat and less muscle. And muscle loss is somewhat accepted for these population.

Exercise plays a bigger role in maintaining weight lost it seems. And when the study means exercise, it is mostly walking and cardio stuff.

And I don’t know if anyone has really looked into if weight training helps for weight loss/weight maintenance or if it makes a difference to add to the cardio.  Weight training has never been really popular with obesity researchers.

And the study only looked at weight and waist circumference for composition measures.

Anoop | Fri August 20, 2010  

The calorie burned depends on your body weight too. So a obese or overweight person burns a lot more than lean individuals. So the calories burned is not always fixed number. This is part of the reason women find it so hard to keep losing bcos of their small BMI.

There are couple of reasons quoted for exercise helping in weight maintenance. Couple of them are: the increase in expenditure with exercise compensates for the decrease in energy expenditure due to weight loss, physical activity adherence can also improve diet adherence.

Good discussion, guys.

Anoop | Fri October 08, 2010  

Thanks for the comment BJ. I do think the researchers conducted the study because we weren’t really sure about it.

And as you said according “to your personal opinion”, Usually personal opinions are more often wrong than right.

Anoop | Mon August 08, 2011  

Hi Toni,

I usually have the references at the end of the article. It is at the bottom of the article in blue.