Participants in the self-directed weight loss program lost significant weight by adhering to a personalized, flexible diet plan and consuming more protein and fiber.
Over the 25-month study, the most successful participants, 41% of the total, lost an average of 12.9% of their body weight by following a personalized plan that prioritized nutrition education and sustainable change.
Successful Eating Strategies
The study found that participants who were most successful in losing weight over 25 months in a self-guided dietary education program consumed more protein and fiber. Personalization and flexibility were also key factors in creating a plan that dieters could stick to long term.
A study published in the journal Obesity Science and Practice found that successful dieters (41 percent of participants) had lost 12.9 percent of their body weight after one year, while the rest of the study had lost just over 2 percent of their starting weight.
Individual dietary improvement program
The dieters were participants in the Individualized Dietary Improvement Program (iDip), which uses data visualization tools and intensive dietary education sessions to increase dieters’ macronutrient knowledge and help create safe, effective weight-loss plans tailored to each individual, said study leader Manabu T. Nakamura, professor of nutrition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
“Flexibility and personalization are key to creating a program that maximizes dieters’ success in losing weight and keeping it off,” Nakamura says. “Maintaining a healthy weight requires achieving sustainable changes in eating habits that vary from person to person. iDip’s approach allows participants to experiment with different eating cycles, and the knowledge and skills they gain while losing weight provide the foundation for sustained weight maintenance.”
The pillars of iDip are increasing protein and fiber intake while limiting daily calorie intake to under 1,500 calories.
Data visualization tools and dietary guidelines
The iDip team created a proprietary two-dimensional quantitative data visualization tool that plots the protein and fiber density per calorie of foods and provides target ranges for each meal, based on the Dietary Guidelines published by the US Institute of Medicine. Starting with the foods they habitually eat, dieters created a personalized plan to increase their protein intake to approximately 80 grams and fiber intake to approximately 20 grams per day.
Correlation between protein, fiber intake and weight loss
The researchers tracked participants’ eating habits and weight using a Wi-Fi-enabled scale and found a strong inverse correlation between the percentage of fiber and protein consumed and weight loss while dieting.
“This study strongly suggests that to maximize the safety and effectiveness of weight-loss diets, dieters need to simultaneously increase protein and fiber intake while reducing calories,” said lead author Mindy H. Lee, a University of Illinois alumna who was then a graduate student and registered dietitian in the iDip program.
The role of protein in maintaining lean body mass
Nakamura said maintaining lean body mass is very important when losing weight, especially when using weight-loss drugs.
“Injectable weight-loss drugs have become increasingly popular recently,” Nakamura says, “but using these drugs when food intake is severely restricted can cause serious side effects, such as muscle and bone loss, unless protein intake is increased during weight loss.”
A total of 22 people who enrolled in the program completed it: 9 men and 13 women. Most of the dieters were between the ages of 30 and 64. Participants reported having previously tried to lose weight more than once. They also had a range of comorbidities: 54% had high cholesterol, 50% had skeletal problems, and 36% had high blood pressure and/or sleep apnea. Additionally, the study found that dieters reported being diagnosed with diabetes, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, cancer, and depression.
How Depression Affects Weight Loss
The seven dieters who reported being diagnosed with depression lost significantly less weight (about 2.4% of their starting body weight) compared with non-depressed participants (8.39% of their starting body weight).The team found no significant differences in weight loss between participants with other comorbidities, between younger and older participants, or between men and women.
Body composition analysis showed that dieters lost an average of 7.1 kg of fat and minimal muscle mass over the six-month period, while maintaining lean body mass. The study found that of those who lost 5% or more of their starting body weight, 78% of the weight lost was fat.
Long-Term Fat and Weight Loss Results
Overall, participants’ body fat mass decreased from an average of 42.6 kilograms at the start of the program to 35.7 kilograms by month 15. Similarly, dieters lost about 7 centimeters around their waists by month 6, and a total of 9 centimeters by month 15, the team found.
The research team tracked the protein and fiber intake of people as they dieted and found a strong correlation between protein and fiber intake and weight loss after three and 12 months.
“This strong correlation suggests that participants who were able to achieve sustainable dietary changes within the first three months continued to lose weight thereafter, whereas participants who struggled to implement sustainable eating patterns early on had little success changing their diet in the following months,” Nakamura said.
The research team hypothesized that this correlation may also be related to the early weight loss success of some dieters, which may have enhanced motivation and adherence to the diet plan.
Reference: “Eating Changes Correlate with Weight Loss Outcomes in Novel Dietary Weight-Loss Programs,” Mindy H. Lee, Annabelle Shaffer, Nouf W. Alfouzan, Catherine C. Applegate, Jennie C. Hsu, John W. Erdman, Manabu T. Nakamura, May 27, 2024, Obesity Science & Practice.
DOI: 10.1002/osp4.764
Co-authors on the study are Jenny Xu, PhD, clinical professor of nutritional sciences and physician at Carle Illinois College of Medicine; John W. Erdman Jr., professor emeritus of nutrition and food science; medical student Annabelle Shafer; Katherine C. Applegate, postdoctoral researcher at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology; and graduate student Nouf W. Alfozsan, all at the University of Illinois.
The project was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Biotechnology at the National Institutes of Health.
