Influence of weekend lifestyle patterns on body weight

Nutrition & supplementation related research
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galapogos
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Influence of weekend lifestyle patterns on body weight

Post by galapogos »

Time to rein in post 300 nutrition? :cry:

Influence of weekend lifestyle patterns on body weight

OBJECTIVE:
To determine whether alterations in diet and/or activity patterns during weekends contribute to weight gain or hinder weight loss.

METHODS AND PROCEDURES:
Randomized, controlled trial comparing 1 year of caloric restriction (CR) with 1 year of daily exercise (EX). Subjects included 48 healthy adults (30F, 18M) aged 50-60 years with BMI 23.5-29.9 kg/m(2). Body weight was measured on 7 consecutive mornings for a total of 165 weeks at baseline and 437 weeks during the 1-year interventions. Daily weight changes were calculated for weekends (Friday to Monday) and weekdays (Monday to Friday). Daily energy intake was estimated using food diaries; daily physical activity was measured using accelerometers. Both measures were validated against doubly labeled water (DLW).

RESULTS:
At baseline, participants consistently gained weight on weekend days (+0.06 +/- 0.03 kg/day, (mean +/- s.e.), P = 0.02), but not on weekdays (-0.02 +/- 0.02 kg/day, P = 0.18). This was attributable to higher dietary intake on Saturdays and lower physical activity on Sundays relative to weekdays (both P < 0.05). During the interventions, both CR and EX participants were in negative energy balance on weekdays (P < 0.005). On weekends, however, CR participants stopped losing weight, and EX participants gained weight (+0.08 +/- 0.03 kg/day, P < 0.0001) due to higher dietary intakes on weekends. This helps to explain the slower-than-expected rate of weight loss during the interventions.

DISCUSSION:
Alterations in lifestyle behaviors on weekends contribute to weight gain or cessation of weight loss on weekends. These results provide one explanation for the relatively slow rates of weight loss observed in many studies, and the difficulty with maintaining significant weight loss.

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Canuck eh
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Re: Influence of weekend lifestyle patterns on body weight

Post by Canuck eh »

Or ramp up the other six days of the week?

Oh wait, I think I see the problem.

Seriously, looking at the last graphic, they draw upon the mismatch in for simplicity's sake calories in vs. calories out. It just means we let Elliott do all the programming....

xarope
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Re: Influence of weekend lifestyle patterns on body weight

Post by xarope »

I do feel that letting the body fluctuate rather than stay in homeostatis is likely better for weight loss. After all, we all know that you can't expect to consistenly lose 1kg of weight every single month, for 12 months.

Conversely, isn't it strange how we can dramatically change diets on a yearly basis, yet for most people they never particularly fluctuate dramatically in weight? Take this example: if I ate a small packet of nuts extra each day (let's say 20g, regardless of constitution of carbs/protein/fats), would not the expectation be that after 365 days I should gain ~7kg? And yet, this doesn't happen. IMHO the body has a "sticking" point, and you have to work quite hard (whether in terms of diet, exercise or lifestyle change) to move that sticking point...

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galapogos
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Re: Influence of weekend lifestyle patterns on body weight

Post by galapogos »

Agree with the set point thing, but that can be changed. In fact, a recent study also showed that people who diet and manage to keep their weight off longer, find it easier to maintain...or something like that.

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