This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Similar weight regain among gradual, rapid weight-loss diets
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Compared with losing weight quickly, slow and steady weight loss did not reduce how much or the rate of weight regain, according to recent study findings published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.
“Across the world, guidelines recommend gradual weight loss for the treatment of obesity, reflecting the widely held belief that fast weight loss is more quickly regained,” Katrina Purcell, BSc, of the University of Melbourne, Australia, said in a press release. “However, our results show that achieving a weight-loss target of 12.5% is more likely, and drop-out is lower, if losing weight is done quickly.”
Purcell and colleagues evaluated 200 adults aged 18 to 70 years with a BMI between 30 kg/m2 and 45 kg/m2 who were randomly assigned to a 12-week rapid weight-loss program on a very-low-calorie diet (450-800 kcal/day; n=97) or a 36-week gradual weight-loss program (n=103) to determine the effect of each program. Those participants who lost at least 12.5% of their body weight were placed on a weight maintenance diet for 3 years. Those who lost at least 12.5% of their weight were considered to have completed phase 1 of the study (n=179); phase 2 was completing the study.
Overall, 81% of participants in the rapid weight-loss group lost at least 12.5% of their body weight compared with 62% of the gradual weight-loss participants (P=.009). Among those in the gradual weight-loss group who lost at least 12.5% of their weight loss, hip circumference decreased significantly more vs. those in the rapid weight-loss group who lost at least 12.5% of their weight.
Similar weight regain was found among participants in both groups after the 3-year weight maintenance diet.
“To achieve weight loss similar to what could be achieve with bariatric surgery, medical treatment will need to combine methods to reliably achieve, and maintain, substantial weight loss,” the researchers wrote. “Our findings show 12.5% or more weight loss is more achievable if undertaken rapidly. A strategy to suppress hunger after weight loss and therefore prevent weight regain, such as pharmacotherapy that has long-term safety and efficacy, is still awaited (panel).”
In an accompanying editorial, Corby K. Martin, PhD, and Kishore M. Gadde, MD, of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., wrote that the study suggests that weight loss is not a slow and steady race.
“Clinicians should bear in mind that different weight-loss approaches might be suitable for different patients in the management of clinical obesity, and that efforts to curb the speed of initial weight loss might hinder their ultimate weight-loss success,” they wrote.
For more information:
Martin CK. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2014;doi:10.1016/S2213-8587(14)70153-6.
Purcell K. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2014;doi:10.1016/S2213-8587(14)70200-1.
Disclosure: See the complete study for a full list of the researchers’ financial disclosures.