Most dieters have one rule: The faster they can lose weight, the better. Now, science has one more tip to get down to that weight goal in a jiffy. (You can also try these 42 fast, easy tricks for major weight loss.)
Lead author Dr. Hana Kahleová, director of clinical research at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington DC, and her colleagues spent six months following weight loss among 74 type 2 diabetes patients. Their new study, published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, aimed to determine the most effective diet for weight loss, a conventional diabetic diet or a plant-based, vegetarian one.
Half of the participants were randomly assigned to the conventional diet group, while the other half were assigned to the vegetarian diet group. Both diets reduced participants’ calorie intake by 500 calories per day, and all meals were provided to the participants. Halfway through the study, an aerobic exercise program was added to the participants’ dietary regimen.
The researchers then checked in on the participants’ progress zero, three, and six months into the study, using MRI scans to measure changes in fat composition.
Their results: Although both groups consumed the same amount of calories per day, the plant-based vegetarian diet group lost nearly twice as much weight as the conventional diet group, on average—13.7 pounds as compared to 7.1 pounds. Moreover, the vegetarian group showed greater reductions in muscle fat than their counterparts on the conventional diet.
“What we found is that a plant-based vegetarian diet is a helpful tool for anyone who is serious about staying healthy and lean, especially as we age,” Dr. Kahleová told Medical News Today. She called this result “a metabolic reboot, especially for people who struggle with extra weight, a sluggish metabolism, or type 2 diabetes.”