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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2016 Jun;24(6):1230-7.
doi: 10.1002/oby.21481.

Randomized clinical trial of portion-controlled prepackaged foods to promote weight loss

Cheryl L Rock  1 , Shirley W Flatt  1 , Bilgé Pakiz  1 , Hava-Shoshana Barkai  1 , Dennis D Heath  1 , Kim C Krumhar  2
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Randomized clinical trial of portion-controlled prepackaged foods to promote weight loss

Cheryl L Rock et al. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2016 Jun.

Abstract

Objective: Providing portion-controlled prepackaged foods in a behavioral counseling intervention may promote more weight and fat loss than a standard self-selected diet.

Methods: The primary aim was to test whether providing portion-controlled prepackaged lunch and dinner entrées within a behavioral weight loss intervention promotes greater weight loss at 12 weeks compared to self-selected foods in adults with overweight/obesity. Other aims were to examine effects on biological factors, fitness, and meal satisfaction. One-half of those assigned to prepackaged entrées were provided items with a higher protein level (>25% energy) as an exploratory aim.

Results: Participants (N = 183) had a baseline weight of 95.9 (15.6) kg (mean [SD]) and BMI of 33.2 (3.5) kg/m(2) . Weight data at 12 weeks were available for 180 subjects. Weight loss for regular entrée, higher protein entrée, and control groups was 8.6 (3.9)%, 7.8 (5.1)%, and 6.0 (4.4)%, respectively (P < 0.05, intervention vs. control). Intervention participants lost more body fat than controls (5.7 [3.4] vs. 4.4 [3.3] kg, P < 0.05).

Conclusions: A meal plan incorporating portion-controlled prepackaged entrées promotes greater weight and fat loss than a standard self-selected diet, with comparable meal satisfaction. Initial weight loss predicts long-term weight loss so these results are relevant to likelihood of longer term success.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: No other potential conflicts of interest are reported.

Figures

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