Which is best way to keep obesity at bay?
Indo-Asian News Service
Washington, Dec 9 (IANS) Severely obese patients who lost weight by changing their diet and exercising may be as successful as those who lost weight after bariatric surgery and then retaining it.
While weight loss and maintenance were comparable between the two approaches, patients who relied on non-surgical methods had to work harder over a longer duration to maintain their weight losses, said researchers from Miriam Hospital’s Centres for Behavioural and Preventive Medicine.
“Our findings suggest that it’s possible to maintain large weight losses through intensive behavioural efforts, such as changing your approach to eating and exercise, regardless of whether you lost weight with bariatric surgery or through non-surgical methods,” said co-author Dale Bond, Miriam Hospital’s Centres.
“Behavioural modifications and lifestyle changes are critical components to long-term weight loss maintenance.”
Researchers matched each surgical patient with two non-surgical patients through the National Weight Control Registry. All participants – 315 total – lost an average of 60 kg and had maintained their weight loss for an average of 5.5 years at the beginning of this two-year study.
Individuals were surveyed at both the start of the study and at the one-year follow-up about weight-maintenance behaviours (including food records and physical activity levels) and various psychological factors (such as dietary restraint, feelings of hunger and food cravings, stress and depression).
Weight-related information was collected at both the one and two-year follow-up, according to a Miriam press release.
There were no significant differences in the caloric intake or the amount of weight regained between the surgical and non-surgical groups; both regained an average of about two kilos each year.
These findings were published online in the Journal of Obesity.