(PCM) Losing weight and keeping it off is not an easy task, as many Americans can attest to. The diet industry is a multi-billion dollar rip-off, confusing hopefuls with promises of fast weight-loss in the form of trendy fad diets and detox plans; don’t eat carbs, avoid dairy, eat by your blood type – who can keep up?
Fortunately, there are simple strategies that are proven to help provide a weight-loss boost: Eat regular meals, write down everything you eat, and avoid restaurants and takeout at lunchtime. That’s it!
A new study of 123 overweight and obese middle-aged women found that all of the above habits caused greater weight loss for the women over a one-year period. Women who ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner lost an average of 11% of their body weight, compared to just 7% among women who skipped meals. That extra 4 percent can cause a woman who weights 180 pounds to lose 20 pounds instead of 13.
Researchers aren’t exactly sure why skipping meals leads to weight gain, but research suggests missed meals can lead to snacking and overeating, and may alter the body’s metabolism.
Keeping a food journal was associated with losing 4% more body weight, and women who never ate restaurant lunches lost 3% more body weight than those who ate lunch out once a week.
“Knowing what you eat and controlling the portion sizes is key to any weight-loss diet,” says Anne McTiernan, M.D., the senior author of the study and a diet and exercise specialist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, in Seattle. And despite all those restaurant calorie-counting apps, we don’t always know how many calories are in those oversized restaurant meals. Studies show that people vastly underestimate the calories, which certainly doesn’t help with weight loss.
Keeping a food journal, which many celebrities swear by, is all about “accountability,” says McTiernan.
The study also found a few other behaviors that appeared to boost weight loss: Consuming fewer calories from fat and carbohydrates, and weighing and measuring food portions.