Want to Lose Weight? Just Eat Less!

Researchers at Harvard have confirmed what we’ve really known all along. If you want to lose weight, eat less! That’s it.  Exercise helps too.  You can pick any diet – Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig,  Zone, South Beach, or Atkins.  It doesn’t matter because, as the researchers concluded, any diet that reduces your caloric intake will work.

The study, called “Pounds Lost” (short for Preventing Overweight Using Novel Dietary Strategies) was funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the NIH.   Researchers at Harvard University School of Public health relied upon overweight volunteers who enrolled for a two-year diet, activity and counseling program.   Participants were assigned to one of four diets that differed in proportions in three major nutrients. They were also given personalized calorie goals, and were required to do moderate-intensity physical activity for at least 90 minutes per week.

On average, they lost thirteen pounds at 6 months and also shrunk their waistlines by 1-3 inches by the end of the study.  Craving, fullness, hunger and diet satisfaction were all similar across the four diets that they enrolled in.

The researchers’ bottom line? Choose a weight loss approach that you think you can live with and stick to it.