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The Effects of Eating Periodicity on Weight Loss

There is some evidence that eating periodicity is inversely associated with the onset of obesity. Eating periodicity in obese individuals engaging in weight loss efforts has not been well studied. The purpose of this study was to examine the pattern of eating periodicity in obese adults engaging in weight loss efforts, and to examine the relationship between eating periodicity and subsequent changes in body weight.
Seventy five sedentary overweight adults were recruited to participate in this study. Individuals were considered eligible if they were 18 to 55 years of age with a body mass index of 25.0 to 39.9 kg/m2. The subjects for this study were part of a 20-week sub-investigation of an ongoing 18-month clinical weight loss trial. Subjects were weighed at 0, 12, and 20-weeks, and were instructed to complete daily food logs that included the frequency of eating episodes.
Analysis revealed significant weight loss of -6.3 ± 4.3 kg (-6.6 ± 4.2 %) from baseline to week 12 (n=63; p < 0.01), with weight loss of -8.6 ± 5.8 kg (-9.2 ± 5.8 %) observed from baseline to week 20 (N = 55; p < 0.01). Analyses indicated significant inverse correlations between total meals and snacks consumed and absolute body weight change at 12- and 20-weeks (-0.39 and -0.40, respectively, p<0.05), indicating that an increase in meal periodicity was associated with a lower body weight. However, eating periodicity was not significantly associated with absolute or relative magnitude of weight loss.
This study demonstrated a significant, inverse correlation between meal periodicity and absolute body weight. These findings may be important because they may suggest eating periodicity can influence body weight by allowing for the maintenance of a lower body weight.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-11212005-161235
Date01 December 2005
CreatorsMohr, Christopher R
ContributorsBetsy Nagle, PhD, Bret Goodpaster, PhD, Amy D. Otto, PhD, RD, John M. Jakicic, PhD
PublisherUniversity of Pittsburgh
Source SetsUniversity of Pittsburgh
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
Sourcehttp://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-11212005-161235/
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