(PCM) Worried about keeping the weight off? Losing weight and maintaining the loss gets more difficult as you age, but luckily, a new study has found 4 simple eating behaviors that can help older women.
A study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics of nearly 500 overweight or obese women, all in their late 50s, found that the most successful in losing weight and keeping it off were those who decreased desserts, sugary beverages and cheeses and meats (which were grouped together) and increased fruits and vegetables.
In the short-term, eating fewer desserts, eating fewer fried foods, drinking fewer sugary beverages, eating more fish and eating out less were linked with more weight loss. But fast-forward 4 years and not all of those behaviors are still linked with weight loss. This suggests you can only cut fried foods and eating out for so long, says study author Bethany Barone Gibbs.
“If you increased your fruits and vegetables by two servings a day [over whatever you ate before], that was associated with a three-pound weight loss at the end of four years,” she said. Decreasing sugary beverages by 16 ounces daily was also linked with about a three-pound loss.
Bottom line: Cut back on the dessert, sugary drinks, cheese and meats, and eat more fruits and vegetables!
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