What Works for Permanent Weight Control

A recent publication examined what works for permanent weight control and what not. The study came from the Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., AdventHealth, Fla. and the University of Alabama, Birmingham, Ala.

320 sedentary adults who were overweight or had obesity were treated by monitoring alone or by doing “small change approaches”. Both groups were observed for 3 years. The “small change approach” consisted of increasing their activity by 2000 steps per day and by limiting their food intake by 100 kcal per day. The researchers measured the weight, waist circumference and cardiorespiratory fitness of all the subjects.

The results at 3, 6, 12 and 15 months from the start showed significant reductions in weight. However, by 24 and 36 months the subjects had regained body weight.

Results of the study

Results from both groups, the non-intervention group and the small change group, were stacked against each other. There was no significant difference in terms of weight loss between 24 and 36 months into the trial. The researchers concluded that the approach of small change interventions failed.

Another approach to permanent weight loss

Valter Longo, a professor at UCLA, California has established that the fasting mimicking diet can help people to lose the last pounds that are difficult to lose. Patients do a 5 day semi-fast for 5 consecutive days, once per month. They eat three meals per day, but the total daily calorie consumption is only 500 to 800 calories. The calorie deficit leads to a reduction in body mass index between 0.3 and 0.9 for every monthly fasting mimicking diet. I have followed Dr. Longo’s fasting mimicking diet since December 2017. This allows me to keep my body mass index between 21.0 and 22.0.

Conditions that respond to the FMD

The following list shows some of the conditions that respond favorably to the FMD.

• Obesity, because of the weight loss effect
• Diabetes: insulin resistance becomes lower and blood sugar levels drop.
• High blood pressure reduced: many patients were able to reduce their medications or discontinue them
• Prevention of heart attacks and strokes
• Pain conditions improve as all kinds of pain disappears, an effect for which there is no explanation at this point
• Autoimmune diseases like MS and rheumatoid arthritis improve, likely because of the effect of increased stem cell circulation
• Prevention of heart attacks because of reduction of LDL, triglycerides and CRP
• Cancer cure rates improved by protecting normal cells and bone marrow function
• Longevity improved in mice with a 3-fold increase of their life span. Telomere length in humans was increased. Increased stem cells will find defective areas that need repair. This effect opens up a new chapter in medicine.

The above was previously published here.

Discussion

The 3-year study that I mentioned at the beginning of this article showed that for the group that made “small changes” for 2 years there was a slight weight loss with a reduction of 100 calories per day. However, the patients got tired of dieting and regained their lost weight between 2 and 3 years. In contrast, the fasting mimicking diet requires a 1200 to 1500 calorie reduction for 5 days of each month. After a few months the patient becomes highly aware what leads to weight gain and what not. I use electronic body composition scales daily where I can determine weight, fat percentage and muscle percentage. It also records calories consumed and the body mass index (BMI).

Watching your fat percentage and BMI

I record all this data in a little booklet. Once per month I see that the fasting mimicking diet lowers my body mass index by 0.3 to 0.9 points. There is the negative experience of eating ice cream or a New York cheesecake that within one day shows as an increase in fat and the BMI. On the other hand, it is encouraging to see your elevated BMI melt away in only a few days every month. This motivates you over the years to cut out the big diet offenders and to keep your eating portions smaller. Also, you value the neutral effect of berries and vegetables.

What Works for Permanent Weight Control

Conclusion

An interesting diet study of 3-year duration showed that small caloric reductions of 100 calories per day are ineffective over a longer period of time. In this study the effect of small caloric reductions wore off after two to three years. On the other hand, I experienced the effects of the fasting mimicking diet (FMD) of Dr. Longo for more than 4 years. This helps me to keep my body mass index (BMI) in the 21.0 to 22.0 range. Without the FMD I would slowly slip into the overweight category. Following the FMD every month and recording the body composition scale values daily keeps me motivated to watch what I eat resulting in persistently low BMI values. Knowing that this is also a key to health keeps should keep anybody motivated.