Keeping the Weight Loss Off After a Low Calorie Diet

Have you ever gone on a low-calorie weight loss diet only to regain all the weight you lost? Or even worse, put on more weight than before you started your diet? The secret to keeping the weight off is to gradually introduce normal food after you're done dieting, according to new research.

Scientists from Sahlgrenska Academy, at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden studied patients who underwent surgery for obesity and studied 260 patients for 12 weeks who converted back to real foods after a low-calorie diet of soups and shakes. 169 patients lost lots of weight and averaged 16% of their body weight. They were then divvied into two groups - one group introduced energy-reduced portions of normal food while the other group started eating normally after a week. The first group took six weeks to get back to a normal caloric intake.

"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.

Low-calorie diets have been safely used for several years in the health industry as a rapid way to achieve weight loss. The downside risk is that patients often regain the weight they've lost after they start eating normally again. This simple tip of slowly reverting back to normal food seems to help maintain the weight loss.