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Tag: calories

Published on Leave a comment on Study Finds Calorie Intake More Important Than Timing of Meals For Weight Gain or Loss

scale, weightThere has been a debate going on for a while about what is better for weight loss: intermittent fasting (eating only during designated time periods, without calorie counting) or actually cutting back calories. One recent study examined this issue and found that...drum roll.... the frequency of meals (and calories) a person eats every day is more important for weight loss than intermittent fasting.

Main finding: Large or moderately sized meals (no matter when eaten) were associated with weight gain over the 6 year period of the study, while eating fewer, small meals were associated with weight loss. In other words, the number of meals eaten each day and meal sizes (calories), and not their timing, was most important in determining weight gain or loss.

The results did not support intermittent fasting (time-restricted eating) as a weight loss strategy. Instead, focus on calorie intake. Bummer... You didn't think it would be easy, did you?

Excerpts from Science Daily: Reducing total calories may be more effective for weight loss than intermittent fasting

The frequency and size of meals was a stronger determinant of weight loss or gain than the time between first and last meal, according to new research published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open access, peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association. ...continue reading "Study Finds Calorie Intake More Important Than Timing of Meals For Weight Gain or Loss"

Published on Leave a comment on Lose Weight If You Can’t Smell Your Food?

The following is a study with weird results, really weird results. And it makes me think of all the times I've heard people joke: "just smelling food makes me gain weight", because we all knew it wasn't true. But what if it was true? .... The results of this study done in mice are that actually smelling the food one eats results in weight gain, and not being able to smell the food results in weight loss - even if both groups eat the same amount of food. And the "supersmellers" (those with a "boosted" sense of smell) gained the most weight of all.

What? How could that be? Yes, the study was done in mice, but perhaps it also applies to humans (the researchers think so). The researchers think  that the odor of what we eat may play an important role in how the body deals with calories - if you can't smell your food, you may burn it rather than store it. In other words, a link between smell and metabolism. Excerpts from Science Daily:

Smelling your food makes you fat

Our sense of smell is key to the enjoyment of food, so it may be no surprise that in experiments at the University of California, Berkeley, obese mice who lost their sense of smell also lost weight. What's weird, however, is that these slimmed-down but smell-deficient mice ate the same amount of fatty food as mice that retained their sense of smell and ballooned to twice their normal weight. In addition, mice with a boosted sense of smell—super-smellers—got even fatter on a high-fat diet than did mice with normal smell.  ...continue reading "Lose Weight If You Can’t Smell Your Food?"