• Country

What Makes a Difference When Losing Weight? Protein, Fibre, and Flexibility

By Jiri Kaloc

A new study shows that a diet plan that helps you increase your fibre and protein intake while keeping calories low delivers sustainable long-term results. Let’s take a closer look.

Researchers from the University of Illinois included 22 people in their study to determine factors that influence weight loss. All 9 men and 13 women reported they had made two or more prior attempts to lose weight. They also all had some comorbidities, 54% had high cholesterol, 50% had skeletal problems and 36% had hypertension or sleep apnoea.

All participants attended 19 dietary educational sessions during the 12-month period which included prescribed homework. The researchers then measured changes in their weight, diet, and body composition.

Over 7 kg of fat mass lost

The body composition analysis at 6 months showed that participants lost on average 7,1 kg of fat while maintaining their lean body mass. Overall, the participants maintained a reduction of 6,9 kg of fat mass at the 15-month mark. The dieters also reduced their waists by about 7 cm at the 6-month mark and by 9 cm at 15 months. The most successful dieters from the group lost 12,9% of their body weight. What was the key to such successful long-term results?

Individualized Diet Improvement Program

The participants used an Individualized Diet Improvement Program (iDip), which uses data visualization tools and intensive dietary education that enabled them to create a personalized and effective weight-loss plan for themselves.

“Flexibility and personalization are key in creating programs that optimize dieters’ success at losing weight and keeping it off. Sustainable dietary change, which varies from person to person, must be achieved to maintain a healthy weight. The iDip approach allows participants to experiment with various dietary iterations, and the knowledge and skills they develop while losing weight serve as the foundation for sustainable maintenance,” explained the leader researcher, Prof. Manabu T. Nakamura.

Based on the dietary guidelines issued by the Institutes of Medicine, the iDip team created a tool that shows protein and fibre densities of foods per calorie and provides a target range for each meal. Starting with foods they habitually ate, the participants created an individualized plan, increasing their protein intake to 80 grams and their fibre to 20 grams daily while staying under 1500 kcal.

Fibre and protein improve weight loss and protect muscle and bone

The research team found an interesting connection. The more fibre and protein the participants ate, the better weight loss they achieved.

“The research strongly suggests that increasing protein and fibre intake while simultaneously reducing calories is required to optimize the safety and efficacy of weight loss diets,” said first author Mindy H. Lee.

They also observed that increased protein allowed participants to maintain their lean body mass such as muscle and bone tissue.

“Recently, the popularity of injectable weight loss medications has been increasing. However, using these medications when food intake is strongly limited will cause serious side effects of muscle and bone loss unless protein intake is increased during weight loss,” said Nakamura.