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No one ever claimed that weight loss was easy, and there’s a lot of conflicting advice out there on the most effective way to go about this. However, research has generally shown that cutting back on daily calories and eating plenty of protein is a good solution.
Now, a new study offers specifics on just what you’ll need to be successful with this approach—and adds another nutrient to the mix.
The study, which was published in Obesity Science and Practice, found that hitting a certain calorie count while adding appropriate amounts of protein and fiber (a type of carb your body can’t digest that helps keep you regular) is the best combination for weight loss. Here’s exactly what the study found, plus why the mix is so helpful.
Meet the experts: Manabu T. Nakamura, PhD, is an associate professor of Clinical, Community and Molecular Nutrition at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Jessica Cording, MS, RD, is author of The Little Book of Game-Changers: 50 Healthy Habits For Managing Stress & Anxiety
What did the study find?
For the study, researchers had 22 people attend 19 dietary educational sessions over a year. The researchers also tracked changes in weight, diet, and body composition of study participants.
The participants were encouraged to follow the Individualized Diet Improvement Program (also called iDip), which uses data visualization tools and dietary education sessions to help people learn more about nutrition and ultimately lose weight.
At its core, iDip encourages people to increase how much protein and fiber they have, along with aiming to eat 1,500 calories or less a day. The participants followed a diet that consisted of eating about 80 grams of protein a day and 20 grams of fiber.
After a year, 41 percent of the study participants lost nearly 13 percent of their body weights. Ultimately, the researchers found that there was a “strong correlation” between how much fiber and protein the participants had and how successful they were with losing weight.
Were the results statistically significant?
There are a few caveats to note here. One is that this is a small study—it featured just 22 people. But the results were significant.
While people who closely followed the diet lost nearly 13 percent of their body weight, those who didn’t only lost about two percent of their body weight.
“Participants who were able to change their diet by following the advice lost weight, whereas those who couldn’t change [their] diet lost less weight,” study co-author Manabu T. Nakamura, PhD, an associate professor of Clinical, Community and Molecular Nutrition at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, tells Women’s Health.
Jessica Cording, MS, RD, author of The Little Book of Game-Changers: 50 Healthy Habits For Managing Stress & Anxiety, adds that the results aren’t shocking. “We know that both protein and fiber help you stay full,” she says. “That can help people feel more satisfied on a diet where they’re in a calorie deficit and it helps someone be consistent with that diet.”
While the 20 grams of fiber is less than the recommended 25+ grams of daily fiber, Cording points out that “it’s still more than plenty of Americans consume in a day.”
Will this affect my weight loss?
It should. The idea of cutting calories, eating more protein, and ramping up your fiber for weight loss isn’t new. However, this study gives very clear directions on how to do that to be successful.
“Our program did not restrict foods or food groups,” Nakamura says, noting that participants “could eat anything as long as a meal was balanced.” Nakamura says the success of the program was really a combination of calorie restriction, protein and fiber intake, and working with people’s taste preferences.
Cording stresses the importance of continuing to have foods that you love when choosing a weight loss eating plan. “Sometimes I see people who think that they have to only eat specific ‘healthy foods’ whether they like them or not,” she says. “But you’re more likely to reach your goals when you enjoy the food you’re eating.”
While this is a small study, Cording says she’s encouraged by the findings. “It was thoughtfully designed,” she says. “It would be great to see more studies like this.”
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