The One Thing More Important for Weight Loss Than Your Diet

Reviewed By Danielle Glesne, RDN, LD, CDCES

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Losing weight can be a healthy and noble endeavor.

Bringing your weight to a healthy level has many benefits and may improve many areas of your life, including your physical health, mental health, and social life. And it’s no secret there are seemingly innumerable options when it comes to choosing a diet to help achieve your weight loss goals.

But no matter which diet you choose, research has shown one thing is more important for weight loss success than the diet you choose.

And that one thing is dietary adherence.

Dietary Adherence

Studies have shown that dietary adherence—the degree to which someone ‘sticks’ to a diet—is a more important factor in weight loss success than the diet itself. (PMID: 28696389)

Dietary adherence has also been shown to be an important predictor of long-term weight loss success in studies where individuals are all prescribed the same diet. (PMID: 21164500)

Put another way, sticking to a diet is more important than the diet you’re sticking to.

Seems simple enough, right? Just stick to your diet. But as many—if not most—dieters have learned, sticking to a diet is easier said than done.

Fortunately, research has also revealed ways to help increase dietary adherence during the weight loss process. 

3 Ways to Increase Weight Loss Success

Here are three evidence-based strategies to increase weight loss success by improving dietary adherence:

1. Manage Hunger

Hunger signals are normal during the weight loss process, as your body is telling you that something has changed from what it normally experiences. As your habits change, your body will send signals to alert the body that change is occurring. And that can be a good thing. But it can also be an annoying thing.

One force fighting against weight loss success is increased hunger. An increase in the drive to eat in response to energy restriction and weight loss is one of a range of compensatory responses that collectively oppose ongoing weight loss and promote weight regain. (PMID: 21677272)

There are several ways to manage or reduce hunger signals during weight loss. 

At the top of that list is ensuring you’re consuming an optimal amount of protein.

Studies have shown protein is more effective than fats or carbohydrates at keeping you feeling full, which can contribute to consuming fewer calories. (PMID: 8862477; PMID: 15466943)

One study in men with obesity showed consuming 25% of calories from protein increased their feeling of fullness, and reduced their late-night snacking desires by 50% and their obsessive thoughts about food by 60%. (PMID: 20847729)

In another study, women who increased their protein intake to 30% of total calories consumed 441 fewer calories per day and lost 11 pounds (5 kg) by simply increasing their protein intake. (PMID: 16002798)

This is one of the reasons my clients focus on optimal protein intake during the weight loss process. Prioritizing protein intake helps reduce hunger, as well as its many other metabolic benefits.

Other ways to reduce hunger with nutrition include:

• Eating foods high in fiber (PMID: 21676152)

• Eating solid food over liquid calories (PMID: 23815144)

• Eating slowly and mindfully (PMID: 21181579)

• Eating spicy foods (PMID: 22038945)

• Eating omega-3 fats (PMID: 24129365)

• Eating dark chocolate (PMID: 24000103)

• Eating ginger (PMID: 22538118)

• Drinking coffee (PMID: 23204152)

• Drinking more water (PMID: 23803882)
  

2. Keep a Food Log

Another way to increase weight loss success by improving dietary adherence is by self-monitoring food intake.

Keeping a food log has been shown as an effective, real-world strategy for improving dietary adherence, particularly for weight management. (PMID: 23587561; PMID: 22717334; PMID: 21185970)

In a systematic review of this topic, 15 studies that focused on dietary self-monitoring—whether on paper or using an electronic food log such as an app—found significant associations between self-monitoring of food and weight loss success. (PMID: 21185970)

Further, keeping a food log has been shown to be a strong predictor of dietary change, as well as being a strong predictor of maintenance of dietary change over the long term. (PMID: 7478309)

This is one of the reasons most of my weight loss clients use an app to track their food during the weight loss process. Tracking nutrition—properly understood and utilized—provides clients with a terrific learning environment while improving dietary adherence.

3. Keep the Diet (Reasonably) Similar to Regular Nutrition Habits

How different a diet is from a person’s regular nutrition habits is also a factor contributing to dietary adherence.

One study tested using the Mediterranean diet and found that adherence at both one and four years was associated with how similar the Mediterranean diet was to their usual diet. (PMID: 20962161)

Another study showed dietary adherence to one of four diets was higher in participants who were randomly assigned to a diet which more closely resembled their baseline diet. (PMID: 19246357)

This is one of the reasons I don’t dictate which foods clients can and can’t eat during the weight loss process. Focusing on a nutrition framework—as opposed to a specific eating plan—allows clients to keep their nutrition reasonably similar to their regular eating habits while making progress.

Questions?

If you’re on a weight loss journey, or need a place to start and a coach in your corner to help you achieve your goals, don’t hesitate to CONTACT ME.

I’m here to help.