Simplifying your diet by regularly eating the same meals and keeping your calorie intake consistent may boost weight loss, according to a study. Researchers found that people who followed predictable eating routines for 12 weeks lost more weight than those who ate a wider variety of meals.
Study leader Dr Charlotte Hagerman, of the Oregon Research Institute in the US, said: “Maintaining a healthy diet in today’s food environment requires constant effort and self-control. Creating routines around eating may reduce that burden and make healthy choices feel more automatic.”
Some 112 adults who were overweight or obese were recruited for the study and asked to keep detailed food logs.
They recorded everything they ate using a mobile app and weighed themselves daily.
Researchers then evaluated how structured each person’s diet was by analysing caloric stability (how consistent their calorie intake was) and dietary repetition (how often they logged the same meals and snacks).
Those who frequently ate the same foods lost an average of 5.9% of their body weight, compared with 4.3% among those who ate a wider variety of foods.
The researchers stressed that their study could not prove that consistent eating habits were the reason why some people lost more weight.
However, they said the findings suggest that simplifying food choices and having a steady calorie intake may help people maintain healthy habits.
Dr Hagerman added: “If we lived in a healthier food environment, we might encourage people to have as much variety in their diet as possible.
“However, our modern food environment is too problematic. Instead, people may do best with a more repetitive diet that helps them consistently make healthier choices, even if they might sacrifice some nutritional variety.”
The findings were published in the journal Health Psychology.
