A study has found that among overweight and obese adults, keeping daily calorie intake consistent and repeating similar meals led to greater weight loss.

On March 30 local time, MedicalNewsToday (MNT) cited a study analysing diet records of participants in a behaviour-based weight loss programme and reported that "consistency in eating" was more closely tied to weight loss results than "variety in diet."

Researchers looked at food diaries and weight measurement data logged in a mobile application by 112 overweight and obese adults with an average age of about 53. The analysis had two parts. It assessed how much each person’s daily calorie intake fluctuated and how often they repeated the same foods and meals over a week.

The results showed that the smaller the "calorie fluctuation range," the greater the weight loss. Charlotte Hagerman (샬럿 헤이거먼), a researcher at the Oregon Research Institute who led the study, explained that each 100-calorie increase in day-to-day variation tended to reduce weight loss during the study period by about 0.6 percent. She said, "Someone who eats the same calories every day (for example, 1,800 calories) is expected to lose about 0.6 percent more of their body weight during the study than someone who fluctuates by plus or minus 100 calories around the average." If the fluctuation range grows to around 500 calories, "the expected difference is about 3 percent," she added.

Repeating foods also proved advantageous in "what people ate." Hagerman said participants who repeated more than 50 percent of the foods they ate over a week lost 5.9 percent on average, while those who maintained a more varied diet lost 4.3 percent. The researchers suggested that simplifying diet choices and building a routine may have been linked to better outcomes.

The weekend intake pattern also drew attention. Participants who logged more calories on weekends than on weekdays tended to lose more weight. Hagerman said, "There is a common belief that during a diet you add a variety of foods to avoid boredom and reward yourself on weekends with a cheating day," and added, "But because this conflicts with existing research that consistency strengthens habit formation, the researchers wanted to formally test the two hypotheses."

Experts say the act of tracking itself can help create consistency. David Cutler (데이비드 커틀러), a family medicine specialist at Providence St. Johns Health Center interviewed by the outlet, said, "It is now supported by research that keeping a food diary, reducing food choices and being consistent in calorie intake increases the likelihood of successful weight loss." However, registered dietitian Monique Richard (모니크 리처드) stressed, "Rather than aiming to eat the same foods every day, it is more important to build an eating pattern that has variety built in."

The study suggests that consistency may be a more important factor than variety in weight loss. It also drew the view that rather than accepting a repetitive diet as the single right answer, it is more important to maintain consistency in calories and eating patterns while building a sustainable routine suited to the individual without harming nutritional balance.