Weight loss in obese women has positive outcomes

Ignoramus4980 wrote:
For years, experts have worried that dieting might lead to depression,
binge eating and eating disorders in obese women, but a new study
shows that's not the case.

I don't think many people have worried about a *direct* link between
diets and eating disorders. Direct link, as in, you go on a diet, you
binge. The worry is more along the line that a diet culture could be
linked to eating disorders. I mean, when you listen to teenage girls,
they obviously know everything about diets and the like. Just yesterday,
I was listening to some radio interviews, and a girl explaining that she
managed her weight just fine. She would pig out for a couple of weeks,
of anything, no matter how fattening. And then, she would fast for a
week, drinking only water. She was finding this perfectly normal, and so
were her girlfriends. She said it worked so well she had never been on a
diet. When I shop in the supermarket, I hear a lot of conversations from
teenagers along these lines - like feeling guilty about buying fattening
food, yet planning to eat all of it.
We're now in a culture where being on a diet is becoming the norm. I
don't think the problem is from a single well done diet. The problem is
from people going on a diet a year for their whole life. Or from people
unable to just enjoy food without feeling guilty over it.

Women who lost weight on two different calorie-cutting diets reported
fewer symptoms of depression than non-dieters who didn't lose,
according to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of
Medicine.

But the protocole was unlike what most of the diets look like. Actually,
the very fact that this was part of an experiment is a huge bias. Many
dieters, especially the ones who will fall to eating disorders and yo-yo
dieting, are into magical thinking. This means they can derive
considerable willpower from a "guru" (doctor, real guru, group,
celebrity diet...). A research team makes a wonderful guru...

For 65 weeks, researchers followed 123 middle-aged women who weighed
an average of 214 pounds; none had binge-eating symptoms or
significant signs of depression at the start of the study.

Then, it doesn't answer the question about aggravating the symptoms in
people with already developped disorders.
Also, middle-aged women are probably at the most stable of the lot. I
wonder if the study would have found similar results in teenagers or
young adults.

All participants attended weekly group treatment sessions lead by a
psychologist during the first 20 weeks, then every other week until
week 40. They attended follow-up sessions at week 52 and
65.

Now, how many dieters do that? How many get *any* kind of psychological
support? Maybe that's the real discovery of the study : proper
psychological support can prevent, or at least lessen, eating disorders
during a diet.
I'm having psychological support as part of my weight loss, and it does
provide a *huge* help.

Participants were encouraged to walk 30 minutes a day most days of
the week. Assessments were done regularly.

Which means that they did exercise, but in a very moderate fashion.
Which is probably the best form of exercise for obese sedentary people
who just get started. Again, this is pretty rare among many dieters.
This level of exercise is probably optimal for stress control, it's
enough to lower the stress level, but not intensive enough to up it.

? At week 40, the women in the meal-replacement group had lost an
average of 24 pounds; traditional dieters dropped 18 pounds; the
non-diet group lost 2 pounds.

Considering the caloric difference, I would say traditionnal diet seems
to win. Eating replacement meal over real ones is not worth the 6
extra pounds IMHO.
I'm quite surprised by the non-diet group low level of performance.
Maybe it has to do with the psychological support not being specifically
tuned for them (they did get some, right?). A proper non-diet approach
is a *lot* of work, just not the same one as regular dieting.
I would also be curious about seeing the long term results. Some
non-diet approach work very slowly on some people, because they are
completely disconnected from their own feelings. Yet, they can take off
after a year or two.

? Women in both dieting groups reported significantly greater
reductions in symptoms of depression at week 40 than the non-dieting
group.

That's also surprising. I would be curious about the exact protocol and
kind of psychological support. From discussing with people on that kind
of approach, weight loss is hard to achieve, but many experience great
relief from it. I mean, for some people, staying obese (but keeping a
stable weight) while eating whatever they want in a guilty free manner
is already a huge improvement over getting fatter and fatter on yo-yo
diets. For some women, the goal is merely to stay 240lbs rather than
gain 20lbs a year.

? Women in all three groups experienced decreases in hunger and urges
to overeat.

The weird thing is that it did not trigger significant weight loss in
the non-diet group. But maybe this is because the study is only of
limited duration, and this is a kind of horizon effect.

"These findings should reassure overweight and obese adults who are
trying to lose weight that dieting does not have harmful behavioral
consequences," says lead researcher Thomas Wadden, director of the
university's Weight and Eating Disorders Program.

Provided they follow the kind of diet that was tested during the study :
- Controlled by researchers (which probably involved proper nutritionnal
values)
- Psychological support
- Moderate but sustained exercising
- Reasonnable diet (i.e., no going on 600 kcal a day on Slim Fat)
I'm not sure the majority of dieters (outside of that newsgroup) do that...

But, he says, the
findings don't address the potential dangers of aggressive dieting in
adolescent girls and young women of average weight.

Which is what a bunch of dieters in that age group just do... That's my
main problem with the study. It tests a moderate diet in a
psychologically stable group with correct psychological support. I would
expect the risk to be at its lowest. It doesn't prove much about what
goes on in the typical dieting population (normal or slightly overweight
teenagers or young adults who go on a crash diet without any kind of
medical support).

Ignoramus4980 wrote:
For years, experts have worried that dieting might lead to depression,
binge eating and eating disorders in obese women, but a new study
shows that's not the case.

I don't think many people have worried about a *direct* link between
diets and eating disorders. Direct link, as in, you go on a diet, you
binge. The worry is more along the line that a diet culture could be
linked to eating disorders. I mean, when you listen to teenage girls,
they obviously know everything about diets and the like. Just yesterday,
I was listening to some radio interviews, and a girl explaining that she
managed her weight just fine. She would pig out for a couple of weeks,
of anything, no matter how fattening. And then, she would fast for a
week, drinking only water. She was finding this perfectly normal, and so
were her girlfriends. She said it worked so well she had never been on a
diet. When I shop in the supermarket, I hear a lot of conversations from
teenagers along these lines - like feeling guilty about buying fattening
food, yet planning to eat all of it.
We're now in a culture where being on a diet is becoming the norm. I
don't think the problem is from a single well done diet. The problem is
from people going on a diet a year for their whole life. Or from people
unable to just enjoy food without feeling guilty over it.

Women who lost weight on two different calorie-cutting diets reported
fewer symptoms of depression than non-dieters who didn't lose,
according to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of
Medicine.

But the protocole was unlike what most of the diets look like. Actually,
the very fact that this was part of an experiment is a huge bias. Many
dieters, especially the ones who will fall to eating disorders and yo-yo
dieting, are into magical thinking. This means they can derive
considerable willpower from a "guru" (doctor, real guru, group,
celebrity diet...). A research team makes a wonderful guru...

For 65 weeks, researchers followed 123 middle-aged women who weighed
an average of 214 pounds; none had binge-eating symptoms or
significant signs of depression at the start of the study.

Then, it doesn't answer the question about aggravating the symptoms in
people with already developped disorders.
Also, middle-aged women are probably at the most stable of the lot. I
wonder if the study would have found similar results in teenagers or
young adults.

All participants attended weekly group treatment sessions lead by a
psychologist during the first 20 weeks, then every other week until
week 40. They attended follow-up sessions at week 52 and
65.

Now, how many dieters do that? How many get *any* kind of psychological
support? Maybe that's the real discovery of the study : proper
psychological support can prevent, or at least lessen, eating disorders
during a diet.
I'm having psychological support as part of my weight loss, and it does
provide a *huge* help.

Participants were encouraged to walk 30 minutes a day most days of
the week. Assessments were done regularly.

Which means that they did exercise, but in a very moderate fashion.
Which is probably the best form of exercise for obese sedentary people
who just get started. Again, this is pretty rare among many dieters.
This level of exercise is probably optimal for stress control, it's
enough to lower the stress level, but not intensive enough to up it.

? At week 40, the women in the meal-replacement group had lost an
average of 24 pounds; traditional dieters dropped 18 pounds; the
non-diet group lost 2 pounds.

Considering the caloric difference, I would say traditionnal diet seems
to win. Eating replacement meal over real ones is not worth the 6
extra pounds IMHO.
I'm quite surprised by the non-diet group low level of performance.
Maybe it has to do with the psychological support not being specifically
tuned for them (they did get some, right?). A proper non-diet approach
is a *lot* of work, just not the same one as regular dieting.
I would also be curious about seeing the long term results. Some
non-diet approach work very slowly on some people, because they are
completely disconnected from their own feelings. Yet, they can take off
after a year or two.

? Women in both dieting groups reported significantly greater
reductions in symptoms of depression at week 40 than the non-dieting
group.

That's also surprising. I would be curious about the exact protocol and
kind of psychological support. From discussing with people on that kind
of approach, weight loss is hard to achieve, but many experience great
relief from it. I mean, for some people, staying obese (but keeping a
stable weight) while eating whatever they want in a guilty free manner
is already a huge improvement over getting fatter and fatter on yo-yo
diets. For some women, the goal is merely to stay 240lbs rather than
gain 20lbs a year.

? Women in all three groups experienced decreases in hunger and urges
to overeat.

The weird thing is that it did not trigger significant weight loss in
the non-diet group. But maybe this is because the study is only of
limited duration, and this is a kind of horizon effect.

"These findings should reassure overweight and obese adults who are
trying to lose weight that dieting does not have harmful behavioral
consequences," says lead researcher Thomas Wadden, director of the
university's Weight and Eating Disorders Program.

Provided they follow the kind of diet that was tested during the study :
- Controlled by researchers (which probably involved proper nutritionnal
values)
- Psychological support
- Moderate but sustained exercising
- Reasonnable diet (i.e., no going on 600 kcal a day on Slim Fat)
I'm not sure the majority of dieters (outside of that newsgroup) do that...

But, he says, the
findings don't address the potential dangers of aggressive dieting in
adolescent girls and young women of average weight.

Which is what a bunch of dieters in that age group just do... That's my
main problem with the study. It tests a moderate diet in a
psychologically stable group with correct psychological support. I would
expect the risk to be at its lowest. It doesn't prove much about what
goes on in the typical dieting population (normal or slightly overweight
teenagers or young adults who go on a crash diet without any kind of
medical support).

"Ignoramus4980" wrote in message
...

Absolutely not... And drinking those concoctions does not teach to
deal with real food.


No, but the classes, counseling, and maintenance sessions provided by a
reputable plan do - but please don't let facts interfere with your
uninformed opinions.

Jenn

"JMA" wrote in message
...

"Ignoramus4980" wrote in message
...

Absolutely not... And drinking those concoctions does not teach to
deal with real food.


No, but the classes, counseling, and maintenance sessions provided by a
reputable plan do - but please don't let facts interfere with your
uninformed opinions.

Jenn

But that would mean he couldn't be a Drama Queen any longer....

Martha