Is dieting good for you?: Prevalence, duration and associated weight and behaviour changes for specific weight loss strategies over four years in US adults.

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This present study describes weight control strategies used by a heterogeneous sample of US adults and their associations with weight and behaviour change over time. A prospective cohort study. Participants for this study were 1120 US adults recruited from the community who enrolled in a three-year intervention study to examine methods for preventing age-related weight gain. Measured body weight and self-reported behaviours related to body weight (dieting practices, dietary intake and physical activity) were completed annually for four years. Over 70% reported using each of the following dieting strategies at least once in four years: increase exercise (82.2%); decrease fat intake (78.7%); reduce food amount (78.2%); and reduce calories (73.2%). Cumulative duration of use of these behaviours was brief (for example, even the most common behaviours were used only 20% of the time). Global reports of dieting were not predictive of weight change over time. However, a dose-response relationship was observed between reported duration of use of several specific weight loss strategies over the four years and change in behaviours and weight gain. These findings suggest that public health recommendations for weight control may need to place greater emphasis on persistence of weight control behaviours.