David PS
Member
According to the study below, avoiding continuous dieting may be the key to losing weight and keeping it off, say nutrition scientists, but traditional intermittent fasting regimens such as the popular 5:2 diet are not the way to do it.
The findings from a randomized controlled trial, including 51 obese men, show that taking a two-week break from energy restriction appears to be critical to success. Those who take a break from dieting lose on average 47% more weightthan the continuous dieters and 80% more weight at six-month follow-up.
In the current study, intermittent dieters achieve “superior weight loss”, the researchers say. Two groups of participants took part in the 16-week trial, which cutcalorie intake by one-third. One group maintained the diet continuously while the other dieted for two weeks and then stopped for two weeks, eating simply to keep their weight stable, andrepeated this cycle for 30 weeks to ensure 16 weeks of dieting. The researchers report that those in the intermittent diet group not only lost more weight, but also gained less weight after the trial finished. “Although both groups regained weight post-intervention,weight loss (reduction from baseline) was on average 8.1kg greater inthe intermittent group than the continuous group at six-monthfollow-up,”
www.nature.com
www.nature.com
The findings from a randomized controlled trial, including 51 obese men, show that taking a two-week break from energy restriction appears to be critical to success. Those who take a break from dieting lose on average 47% more weightthan the continuous dieters and 80% more weight at six-month follow-up.
In the current study, intermittent dieters achieve “superior weight loss”, the researchers say. Two groups of participants took part in the 16-week trial, which cutcalorie intake by one-third. One group maintained the diet continuously while the other dieted for two weeks and then stopped for two weeks, eating simply to keep their weight stable, andrepeated this cycle for 30 weeks to ensure 16 weeks of dieting. The researchers report that those in the intermittent diet group not only lost more weight, but also gained less weight after the trial finished. “Although both groups regained weight post-intervention,weight loss (reduction from baseline) was on average 8.1kg greater inthe intermittent group than the continuous group at six-monthfollow-up,”
Intermittent energy restriction improves weight loss efficiency in obese men: the MATADOR study
Figure 1 | International Journal of Obesity
www.nature.com
Figure 4 | International Journal of Obesity
www.nature.com
