Health
Study reveals one simple eating habit that may help boost weight loss
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Losing weight might be as simple as sticking to the meals you know, a new study found.
People who ate the same meals more often lost more weight during a 12-week weight-loss program, according to a new study published in Health Psychology.
“Maintaining a healthy diet in today’s food environment requires constant effort and self-control,” lead author Charlotte Hagerman of the Oregon Research Institute said in a statement.
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“Creating routines around eating may reduce that burden and make healthy choices feel more automatic.”
Experts say maintaining muscle after 50 may require more protein than the minimum federal guideline. (iStock)
Hagerman and fellow researchers from Drexel University and the Oregon Research Institute analyzed food logs from 112 adults who were overweight or obese who tracked their meals in an app and weighed themselves daily, according to the study.
The researchers measured “routinized” eating in two main ways —how much participants’ daily calorie intake fluctuated and how often they repeated the same meals and snacks over time, according to the paper.
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Those whose diets included more repeated foods lost an average of 5.9% of their body weight compared to 4.3% for those whose eating patterns were more varied, according to a press release from the American Psychological Association.
A man shows how much weight he has lost by holding out the waist of his jeans, symbolizing his successful diet. (iStock)
People who kept their daily calorie intake more consistent also lost more weight, according to the researchers.
Liza Baker, a Vermont-based nutrition expert and founder of Simply: Health Coaching, said the findings line up with what she has seen firsthand in more than a decade of working with clients.
“Removing the mental load of ‘What’s for breakfast, lunch or dinner?’ can make the wellness journey much more sustainable,” Baker told Fox News Digital.
A breakfast of oatmeal porridge with summer berries. (iStock)
She said repeat meals can reduce decision fatigue and make it easier for people to stick to healthier habits, especially when they are packing lunches, cooking at home and following a simple routine.
Baker said people do not necessarily have to repeat every meal to see benefits.
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“One can start by eating one meal that is repetitive, usually breakfast or lunch,” she said. “As results start to show, it’s then more conducive to increasing to two to three repetitive meals a day.”
At the same time, experts cautioned that the findings do not prove cause and effect. The study was observational, meaning it found an association between routine eating and greater weight loss but could not show that repetition alone caused the better results, according to the researchers.
Consistency — not variety — may be key when it comes to weight loss, researchers found. (iStock)
Baker also warned that repeat meal plans can backfire if they are not nutritionally balanced or if they trigger perfectionism.
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“Unless someone is well-versed in nutrition, setting up a repeat meal plan can quickly become a nutritional nightmare that leads to becoming deficient in one or more nutrients,” she said.
The study authors similarly noted that too little variety could come with trade-offs. Future research is needed to determine whether a more repetitive diet should be actively recommended as a weight-loss strategy, they said.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the study’s authors for comment.
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People who incorporate strength training into their weekly routines may be more likely to live longer, according to a new study.
Researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health analyzed data from 147,374 adults and found that people who engaged in moderate amounts of resistance training had a lower risk of dying from several major causes, including heart disease and neurological disease.
The findings were published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
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People who performed between 90 and 119 minutes of resistance training per week had a 13% lower risk of death from any cause compared to those who did no strength training.
The same group also experienced a 19% lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease and a 27% lower risk of death from neurological diseases, most of which were related to dementia.
A new study found that adults who regularly engage in moderate strength training may live longer. (iStock)
Researchers found that the greatest benefit occurred when resistance training was combined with aerobic exercise.
Adults who regularly participated in both forms of exercise had up to a 45% lower risk of death than those who did little aerobic activity and no resistance training.
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However, more exercise was not necessarily better.
The study found no additional reduction in mortality risk beyond about 120 minutes of resistance training per week.
The research followed participants for up to 30 years and repeatedly tracked their exercise habits over time, giving researchers a more complete picture of long-term behavior.
Researchers found that the greatest health benefits were seen among people who combined weightlifting with aerobic exercise. (iStock)
Josephine Hunt, an educational leader, former group fitness instructor and founder of The Resilience Revolution based in New Jersey, who was not involved in the study, said the findings support a growing body of research linking strength training to healthy aging.
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“The conversation about longevity often focuses on living longer, but I believe the more important goal is maintaining the strength, mobility, independence, and vitality to fully participate in life as we age,” Hunt told Fox News Digital.
Hunt said resistance training helps preserve muscle mass and bone density, improves balance and supports overall physical function as people get older.
For women, she noted, strength training becomes especially important after menopause, when muscle mass and bone density can decline more rapidly.
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“Resistance training is not about bodybuilding, appearance, or achieving a certain physique,” Hunt said.
Experts say longevity is not just about living longer, but staying strong, mobile and independent with age. (iStock)
“It is about preserving the ability to live life on your own terms.”
She added that strength training can help people remain independent, recover from illness or injury, travel more easily and stay active later in life.
Researchers noted that the study has limitations.
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While the findings suggest a connection between strength training and a lower risk of death, the study cannot prove that lifting weights was the reason participants lived longer.
The study also relied on self-reported exercise habits and primarily included white, middle-aged and older health professionals, which may limit how broadly the findings apply to the general population.
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A new “living bandage” could soon revolutionize how doctors treat serious injuries by accelerating the healing process, according to new research reported by SWNS.
The high-tech patch was developed by researchers at Rice University in Texas. It acts like an around-the-clock mini factory, continuously delivering healing proteins directly to different types of wounds, the same source noted.
Caring for chronic wounds is often a challenge for doctors, as it’s difficult to deliver steady, localized signals that tell the body to repair its own tissue, the researchers said.
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The body naturally relies on small chemical messengers called cytokines to control inflammation and healing. However, traditional treatments like ointments or injections usually fail, as fragile proteins break down too quickly or wash away from the injury site.
To solve the problem, the research team created a cell-based patch that stays on top of the wound. Inside the device, scientists placed engineered cells programmed to manufacture and secrete three specific healing cytokines, known as IL-10, IL-12 and Transforming Growth Factor-beta.
A living bandage patch delivers healing proteins from engineered cells to accelerate wound healing, according to new research by American scientists. (Jared Jones/Rice University/SWNS)
These cells are safely housed inside protective material that acts like a shield — letting vital nutrients and therapeutic proteins pass through to the skin while keeping the body’s immune system from attacking the engineered cells inside.
The system also uses a special hydrogel that helps the patch blend naturally with the wound, SWNS reported. It may be updated eventually, the research team indicated, to work alongside electronic components.
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In lab tests on rodents and pigs, the patch successfully accelerated wound healing. By analyzing the genetic material of the cells, the researchers confirmed the treatment successfully activated the processes needed for tissue repair.
Professor Omid Veiseh, faculty director of the Rice Biotech Launch Pad and leader of the laboratory development, said the animal trials showed strong potential for the approach.
“By maintaining a consistent presence of these signaling molecules at the wound site, we can more effectively engage the body’s natural healing response,” the scientists said. (iStock)
“The findings show how continuous, localized cytokine delivery can support key biological pathways involved in tissue repair,” Veiseh said, according to SWNS.
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“By maintaining a consistent presence of these signaling molecules at the wound site, we can more effectively engage the body’s natural healing response.”
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He said genetic analysis “revealed coordinated upregulation of genes associated with tissue regeneration and immune modulation, providing a mechanistic basis for the functional improvements observed.”
Researcher Elizabeth Kelley of Rice University holds a cytokine-secreting patch designed to accelerate wound healing by delivering healing proteins from engineered cells continuously. (Jared Jones/Rice University/SWNS)
The platform is fully customizable, so the engineered cells can easily be adapted to produce different combinations of proteins and growth factors, depending on what each individual patient needs.
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Study co-author Christian Schreib, Ph.D., noted that “the ability to tune both the type and timing of cytokine delivery opens the door to more precise control over the healing process.”
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Schreib said that “future work will focus on expanding the flexibility of the platform, including approaches such as optogenetic control” — using light to control cell activity — “to regulate cytokine secretion in real time.”
The technology is still in an early stage and has not yet been tested on human patients.
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Further research is needed to understand how the technology will be used on humans.
The study was published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering.
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