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Health Wire: Cutting calories and group sessions are key to weight loss
A New England Journal of Medicine study finds that cutting calories — regardless of the balance of carbohydrates, proteins or fats — and attending group sessions help you lose weight.
Reducing calories helps you achieve weight loss, says a two-year study published in the February 26, 2009 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. But the study also found a connection between participants’ attendance at group counseling sessions and weight loss success.
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Dr. Nancy Snyderman M.D. (NBC’s chief medical editor) answers viewer questions about the study on The Today Show.
“At the end of the day it may be about cutting calories, but most people have difficulty doing that consistently in the long term,” said Karen Miller-Kovach, Chief Science Officer for Weight Watchers. One thing that has been found to help, according to researchers, was regularly attending counseling sessions. These people lost more weight than those who didn't.
Additionally, subjects most likely benefited from keeping track of their food intake using a Web based self-monitoring tool, she added.
Researchers randomly divided 811 men and women into four diet groups with different target nutrient compositions of fat, protein and carbohydrates. All diets were heart-healthy and replaced saturated fats with unsaturated fats and were high in fruits and vegetables and whole grains.
Subjects were encouraged to reduce calories by 750 per day; however, none ate less than 1,200 calories daily. They were also asked to participate in 90 minutes of moderate exercise each week.
Among the several groups in the study who were given a different nutrient profile to follow, there was no significant variation in rate of weight loss.
“There are a lot of popular diets out there that promote weight loss and it may be confusing to know which one will work best,” said one of the study authors Catherine Loria, Ph.D. of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, in a statement. “Our findings suggest that you should select a diet that will help you to reduce your calories while consuming heart healthy foods.”
Individual counseling was provided to participants every two months over the course of the study. Group sessions were also held three out of four weeks during the first six months of the study and two out of four weeks from six months to two years.
At study end, weight loss and waist circumference reduction were similar among the four diet groups. At six months, subjects lost an average of 13 pounds, and they maintained an average weight loss of 9-pounds at two years.
After a year, all groups began to slowly regain weight, but this gain was about 20% less than the average regain found in previous studies. At the end of the study, subjects experienced an average loss of two inches in their waistline.
Moreover, dieters who attended two thirds of counseling sessions over the course of the study lost about 20 pounds vs. the average weight loss of 9 pounds.
Because successful eating plans can emphasize a variety of carbohydrates, proteins and fats, they can be “tailored to individual patients on the basis of their personal and cultural preferences and may therefore have the best chance for long-term success,” the researchers concluded.
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