Keeping The Weight Off After A Very-low-energy Diet

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/184496.php

  Main Category: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness
Also Included In: Nutrition / Diet
Article Date: 06 Apr 2010 - 3:00 PDT

  

 
Simple advice can reduce the risk of weight regain after a very-low-energy diet: the secret to keeping the weight off is to switch back to normal food gradually, reveals a dissertation from the Sahlgrenska Academy, at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, which also contains new research results for patients who have undergone obesity surgery.

For 12 weeks a group of just over 260 patients swapped their normal food for a very-low-energy diet in the form of soups and milkshakes. 169 of the patients lost a lot of weight, averaging 16 per cent of their body weight. They were then divided into two groups so that they could switch back at different rates from the very-low-energy diet to energy reduced portions of normal food. One group completed the refeeding in a week, while the other took six weeks.

"After ten months the patients with the six-week refeeding period had gained 4 per cent in weight from their minimum weight, while the patients with the one-week refeeding period had gained eight per cent," says Lena Gripeteg, researcher at the Sahlgrenska Academy.

Very-low-energy diets have been used for many years in the health service to achieve rapid and safe weight loss in obese patients. While this treatment method is well-studied, there is a risk that patients will gain weight when they start to eat normal food again.

"We therefore want to look at the importance of different treatment advice on the transition from the very-low-energy diet back to normal food, and assess what actually works," says Gripeteg. "A simple tip that seems to work for patients is to revert slowly to normal food after losing weight on a very-low-energy diet."

Her dissertation also includes research results from the current national SOS (Swedish Obese Subjects) study, which has followed 2,010 patients who have undergone surgical treatment for obesity and 2,037 matched control patients for up to 20 years. It shows that men who have undergone obesity surgery are less likely to need a disability pension, while obese women are just as likely to need a disability pension whether they lose weight or not.

"On the basis of this study, we can't explain why there is a difference in the sexes," says Gripeteg. "It may well be that the underlying health problems differ between women and men, which could explain why there is a significant improvement in the ability to work in men, but no effect in women after surgical obesity treatment."

Source: University of Gothenburg

Hi Linda,

This is a good article.  I don't know how to maintain otherwise i would have done it years ago.

I got to maintenance and flailed around trying to do what I had always done... trying to make changes, hoping for success.

I am going to lose 10 lbs, and when I am done and ready to maintain, I am going to try this method.  It makes so much sence, and I know others here did something similar by adding just 100 calories at a time, to see how the scale reacted.

I am going to be much more careful this time, when I get to maintenance, I am going to experiment very carefully to determine what my body will allow me to eat, before I start to gain weight.

I am excited and less scared now...  I have a plan.

Thanks so much!

Cindy

Good info.  Thanks for posting Linda. 

Hey thanks for the info.....this is interesting!  Another "nugget" of info added to my "arsenal!"

Thank you for the information.  This is exactly what Dr. C asks his patients to do.  He says to add in calories very slowly and to keep weighing yourself to see where to stop.  This makes perfect sense to me.

Here's the link for the thesis:
http://gupea.ub.gu.se/handle/2077/21690

thankyou for posting that.

your post made me curious and i figured i'd should share :-)