6 Proven Tips from Successful Dieters to Lose Weight and Keep It Off

Interested in knowing the best nutrition and lifestyle modifications to help you lose weight and advance your health? A team of leading obesity researchers has pinpointed the six behaviours that make a difference.

Even though a lot of people are finding success with new GLP-1 drugs, lasting success requires changes to one’s lifestyle and consistently healthy eating habits. According to a study of the biggest and longest clinical trial concerning diet and weight loss—ccalled the POUNDS Lost trial—tthere was broad variation in terms of how much weight people lost or gained, based on different ratios of fat, protein, and carbohydrates.

There were four groups among the 811 people participating in the trial. The diet prescribed to one was minimal in fat and protein. A different person was on a diet enriched with fat and protein. The third group remained on a caloric plan high in fat but limited in protein, and the fourth group maintained a diet that was low in fat but abundant in protein. The four groups received different instructions regarding their carb consumption, varying from 35 percent of the calories in their meals to a diet that was 65 percent carbohydrates. Each of the four eating styles was rich in calories but minimal in saturated fat.

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Pennington Biomedical Research Centre, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital conducted the research.

The researchers found at the end of the two-year trial that the members of each diet group lost very close numbers of weight, with an average of 6.6 to 8 pounds.

The study authors found that the overweight and obese adults who experienced the greatest weight loss during the study had a number of common characteristics.

1. They ate more protein.

People who considerably ramped up their protein consumption lost far more weight than those who made no changes. At the close of the trial, those consuming high levels of protein had lost on average 16.5 pounds—three times as much as the lowest protein group’s losses.

The reasons? An increased intake of protein is thermogenic. A lot more calories go into digestion and absorption of protein than of fat and carbohydrates in our bodies. Protein also plays a role in increasing our sense of satiety. George A. Bray, emeritus director of the Pennington Biomedical Research Centre in Louisiana, is a co-author of this study and says that when you increase your protein intake, you tend to eat less food.

2. They consumed more fiber.

Participants who boosted their fibre consumption the most in the first six months of the study lost about 23 pounds—close to double the reduction in weight seen among people who added little fibre to their diet.

Fibre allows food to take a more leisurely path from your stomach to your intestines, helping you to experience fullness. This too encourages the liberation of appetite-suppressing hormones, especially GLP-1, which is the hormone mimicked by Ozempic and Wegovy, commonly embraced diabetes and weight-loss treatments.

3. They cut back on ultra-processed foods.

Those who ate the least amount of ultra-processed foods dropped 18.2 pounds on average throughout the study, with people who ate the most ultra-processed foods losing about 11.6 pounds. Clinical data shows that people tend to overeat considerably when they feed themselves ultra-processed foods—like cookies, sweetened breakfast cereals and soda.

Foods that are ultra-processed carry additives that can lead individuals to eat more, and they are generally less nutritious than fruits, vegetables, grains, beans and other whole foods.

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4. They embraced variety.

Those who consumed a greater variety of nutrient-rich foods lost much more weight and had larger decreases in waist size and body fat, according to the researchers. The participants increased their intake of foods that included whole grains, berries, melons and citrus fruits, as well as low-fat milk, yoghurt, and dark-green and orange vegetables. The researchers believed that people with a broad range of healthy food choices found it easier to keep to their diet, feeling more joy and less deprived.

5. They walked and exercised more.

During the study, everyone received a pedometer and encouragement to exercise. In their findings, the researchers indicated that the greater the increase in daily step counts, the greater the weight and body fat loss. Participants who had the most significant increases in physical activity sustained their weight loss over the two-year trial, while those who had smaller increases in activity ended up gaining back the weight they lost.

6. They got better sleep.

People with insomnia and other sleep troubles were three times more likely not to see weight loss success. Prior studies have shown that those who suffer from insufficient sleep can experience hormonal and brain changes that trigger a craving and overconsumption of foods abundant in fat and sugar.

The results from the POUNDS LOST study show that making these behavioral changes can have a tremendous influence on your health by rapidly shedding weight, lessening your waistline and cutting body fat levels.

The researchers took encouragement when they identified that those who were best at losing weight and sustaining their results had behaviours in common. Bray pointed out that the fairly easy nutrition and lifestyle shifts they recognized can be done by almost anyone and are applicable to many different diets.