Unfortunately, many of us put the pounds right back on. So, while losing weight is difficult, it might be even more difficult to maintain our weight loss. Many times we regain our lost pounds because we haven't truly learned better eating habits or we slowly fall back into our unhealthy eating habits even though we know better. One of the reasons many of us gain excess weight in the first place is our over-consumption of energy dense foods. Energy dense foods are generally those that are high in calories and low in nutrients. When we eat these foods to often, we increase our chances of consuming too many calories and not getting adequate nutrition. Though the link between energy dense foods and body weight is well established, the energy density of diets consumed by individuals that have successfully maintained their weight loss is uncertain.
Nutrition researchers recently analyzed the diets of 97 overweight individuals, 85 normal weight individuals, and 105 weight loss maintainers[1]. The weight loss maintainers were individuals that had lost at least 10% of their initial body weight and maintained their loss for at least 5 years. Three 24-hour dietary recall questionnaires were used to determine dietary habits and calculate dietary energy density in all three groups of volunteers. A number of differences in dietary habits between individuals maintaining weight loss and normal and overweight individuals were noted, including compared to normal weight (1.6 kcal/gram) and overweight (1.83 kcal/gram) individuals.
Individuals that had successfully maintained weight loss consumed about 5 servings of vegetables per day, while normal and overweight individuals only consumed 3.5 - 4 servings per day.
Similarly, whole grain consumption was greater in weight loss maintainers (2.2 servings per day) than in normal (1.4 servings per day) and overweight (1.3 servings per day) volunteers.
Individuals successfully maintaining their weight loss were also found to consume fewer calories from fat and to consume more fiber than normal and overweight subjects.
Weight loss maintainers actually ate more food, but less calories, than overweight individuals.
These results paint a very informative picture of the eating habits of individuals that have successfully maintained weight loss for at least five years. It is clear from this study that successful weight loss maintenance can be achieved by eating fewer energy dense foods and replacing them with more nutritional foods like vegetables and whole grains. Reducing the energy dense foods in our diets can lead to an overall decrease in our calorie intake. I found it truly fascinating that by replacing energy dense foods with nutrient dense foods, the weight loss maintainers were actually able to eat more food while still limiting their calorie intake. Making the choice to minimize the amount of energy dense foods in our diet appears to be a critical step to keeping the weight off.
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