Taking a break from dieting may improve weight loss
In findings published today in the International Journal for Obesity , School of Health Sciences researchers showed in a randomised controlled trial, that taking a two-week break during dieting may improve weight loss. The study, funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council ( NHMRC ) of Australia, investigated the body's 'famine reaction' to continued dieting and its impact on weight loss in men with obesity. During the study, two groups of participants took part in a 16-week diet which cut calorie intake by one third. One group maintained the diet continuously for 16 weeks while the other maintained the diet for two weeks, then broke from the diet for two weeks eating simply to keep their weight stable, and repeated this cycle for 30 weeks in total to ensure 16 weeks of dieting. Those in the intermittent diet group not only lost more weight, but also gained less weight after the trial finished. The intermittent diet group maintained an average we...