New research in this week’s issue of The New England Journal of Medicine reveals the secret to losing weight: you just have to pick a diet, any kind of diet that is healthy to your heart as well and stick to it. If you also get support from your family or an organized group, your chances to lose weight will double, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health said.

 

For the study, Frank M. Sacks, MD, a professor of cardiovascular disease prevention at the Harvard School of Public Health and his colleagues randomly assigned 811 people to one of four diet plans commonly used to lose weight: a low-fat, average-protein diet, a low-fat, high-protein diet, a high-fat, average-protein diet and a high-fat, high protein diet.

 

The calories from carbohydrates ranged from 35 percent to 65 percent. Protein was either 15 percent or 25 percent of calories. Each plan cut about 750 calories from a participant’s normal diet, but no one ate fewer than 1,200 calories a day.

 

The participants were also asked to engage in moderate-intensity activity for 90 minutes a week, with brisk walking acceptable.

 

After six months, they lost similar amounts of weight – 13 pounds on average, no matter the diet plan they were following. After two years, they maintained a 9-pounds loss. Also, they had improvements in heart-disease risk factors, including increases in the HDL (good) cholesterol, and decreases in LDL (bad) cholesterol and triglycerides (blood fats) at six months and two years. No matter their diet, people reported similar levels of fullness, hunger and satisfaction.

 

“There's no special diet that's better for weight loss than any other. As long as it's healthy for you -- high in unsaturated fats, high in whole grains and fiber, low in junk foods and high carb-junk foods, and low in fatty meats -- any of these variations will be fine for losing weight,” Sacks said.