There's No Magic Here Folks!
It's not the diet plan per se, but how well people stick to it that matters...says a new study!
Dial a diet...that's what life is like on a typical day here in America. You can't watch 30 minutes of television without seeing Valerie Bertinelli talking about her love affair with the Jenny Craig program. Every decade there's a new version of the high protein low carb diet. And the Weight Watchers program keeps expanding and reinventing their members' options. Well, a new study was just published from the University of Massachusetts and the Stanford Prevention Research Center that looked at which dieting strategy (Atkins, Ornish or Zone) had the most weight loss success over 12 months in 181 women considered overweight/obese.
The researchers found that no matter which diet plan was assigned to the participants (and no matter what the amount of carbs or proteins), the people who lost the most weight were the ones that adhered to their plan the best. No magical effect was noticed with a certain amount of protein grams or low carbohydrate counts or meals that are "in the zone" No magic here - just people following a particular plan well.
In my opinion that's only half the story - they need to look at who kept the weight off a year or two later. That's really the ONLY way to evaluate diets is to look at lasting weight loss because that's where most diets fail. Americans are really great at weight loss, it's the keeping it off part that we have trouble with.
Any type of temporary diet plan isn't going to work long term. The only way a diet plan can help is if it inspires and helps someone to change their lifestyle long term...if it helps them change their eating habits (choosing mostly healthful foods, cooking more healthfully and not overeating) and become a regular exerciser.
[International Journal of Obesity advance online Feb 12, 2008; doi: 10.1038. Alhassan S et al. "Dietary adherence and weight loss success among overweight women: results from the A to Z weight loss study"]
Related Topics: Technorati Tags: weight loss, Atkins, Ornish, Zone, healthy diet
Dial a diet...that's what life is like on a typical day here in America. You can't watch 30 minutes of television without seeing Valerie Bertinelli talking about her love affair with the Jenny Craig program. Every decade there's a new version of the high protein low carb diet. And the Weight Watchers program keeps expanding and reinventing their members' options. Well, a new study was just published from the University of Massachusetts and the Stanford Prevention Research Center that looked at which dieting strategy (Atkins, Ornish or Zone) had the most weight loss success over 12 months in 181 women considered overweight/obese.
The researchers found that no matter which diet plan was assigned to the participants (and no matter what the amount of carbs or proteins), the people who lost the most weight were the ones that adhered to their plan the best. No magical effect was noticed with a certain amount of protein grams or low carbohydrate counts or meals that are "in the zone" No magic here - just people following a particular plan well.
In my opinion that's only half the story - they need to look at who kept the weight off a year or two later. That's really the ONLY way to evaluate diets is to look at lasting weight loss because that's where most diets fail. Americans are really great at weight loss, it's the keeping it off part that we have trouble with.
Any type of temporary diet plan isn't going to work long term. The only way a diet plan can help is if it inspires and helps someone to change their lifestyle long term...if it helps them change their eating habits (choosing mostly healthful foods, cooking more healthfully and not overeating) and become a regular exerciser.
[International Journal of Obesity advance online Feb 12, 2008; doi: 10.1038. Alhassan S et al. "Dietary adherence and weight loss success among overweight women: results from the A to Z weight loss study"]
Related Topics: Technorati Tags: weight loss, Atkins, Ornish, Zone, healthy diet
4 Comments:
Right On...this is the truth. It needs to be a lifestyle change...permanent. You can even cheat every once in a while if you stick to the plan. I like the plant based diet of Dr. John McDougall, M.D. It's not an all or non program. The more you do, the more you gain (not weight). Personally, I stick with the plan 80-90% of the time. You see results quick.
What about the studies that show that every diet works...for a while. Then, unless you cut your calories more and more and more, they stop working and you gain the weight back -- even if you're still religiously following the plan. I think Gina Kolata wrote about them in her book Rethinking Thin.
I'm 60 and I can tell you when I started to gain weight.I have my Health Dept card where when your Mom took you for check ups your weight and height was registered in the card.I was born a "normal" weight of 8.6lbs.There were slow increases over the months in weight and length.Then suddenly,at about 24 months old I just exploded weight wise.What the heck happened? My Mother told me something that really bothered me.About 23 yrs ago my doc and I realized I was I just could not deal with dairy.I asked my Mom about that and she told me that when I was a baby I could keep milk down.As soon as,or part of the way through a feeding I would just throw it up.I asked her what she did(not much in 1947)she said she cleaned me up and gave me another bottle..awful huh. Yea,I thought so,too.Another thing was(she didn't have to tell me this because you don't forget)she beat me to eat.That's right.If I didn't want to eat or didn't finish what was on my plate,she would beat me (not spank)and force feed me.My Mother was a huge sorce of stress in my life.As I got older I got bigger.Until in 1992 I weighed 399 lbs.I was scared,I didn't know what to do.My health was declining,my BP and choles were sky rocketing.I managed to lose about 40lbs, and in 1996 found a new doc.His scale only weighed up to 360.It has been an on going battle.Last year I suffered from April through Oct with crushing gallbladder attacks.I was in the ER and admitted for a few days with infection.I had it removed on Nov 1.But all that time I was slowly losing weight.Of course I cut out all the fat I had been eating,and wait..I've done that before and I would just gain the weight back,and more.What's different this time? My doc made me realize what had happened..my Mom had passed away in May.I had been responsible for everything concerning her well being,her nursing home,her finances,suddenly I wasn't,no more stress.I know weigh 274.No more mindless eating,I am aware of everything I put in my mouth.And, I joined Curves.The weight is just falling off.I've been called the amazing shrinking woman..lol And my health has greatly improved.
I'll talk to everyone.
BobbiGirl718@Yahoo.com
God Bless..
In addition to dieting, you gotta excercise. There are also a number of cost effective ways to stay healthy by incorporating some excercise into our daily routines. I wrote more about this here, http://www.savingtoinvest.com/2008/06/frugal-ways-to-get-and-stay-in-shape.html -
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