Weight Loss
New research indicates that people trying to lose weight should follow a diet programme that slices off a large proportion of their unwanted poundage straight off.
The traditional approach to weight-loss has been that slow gradual weight loss is more effective in the long term than fast weight loss but research presented to the International Congress on Obesity in Stockholm earlier this month has kicked that idea into touch.
Dr. Jeroen Barte, a researcher at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands explained to the congress that they had analysed data from 12 different weight-loss studies with 1,000 overweight participants.
The programmes lasted between ten weeks and one and a half years and all the participants were weighed again at least a year after the programme ended to ascertain how successfully they had kept the weight off. The dieters who had initially lost the most weight also ended up with the best long-term results.
Will Williams, Nutrition and Fitness Advisor of All About Weight, said: "All About Weight programmes are designed to produce fast weight loss which comes mainly from losing fat but we are careful to provide all essential nutrients. Other diet programmes can be nutritionally inadequate and subjects lose more weight from muscle and water. This often results in rapid weight regain and does not address unhealthy eating behaviours."
"Seeing the weight come off quickly and feeling better week by week is a great motivator and this helps to keep people on track so that they ultimately lose more," he said.
"Being obese is so damaging to the body that if you lose weight slowly, then over a year you may not reduce the risks to your health by a great deal. This study provides further evidence that the more weight you can lose, the better, and even if some weight is regained, bigger losers are the winners in terms of reducing their long term health risks."
Tagged in Health