As long as the go-to meals and snacks are well-rounded, they may help with weight loss more than a flexible, varied diet.<\/p>\n
“Maintaining a healthy diet in today’s food environment requires constant effort and self-control,” says<\/a> lead author and health psychologist Charlotte Hagerman from Drexel University.<\/p>\n “Creating routines around eating may reduce that burden and make healthy choices feel more automatic.”<\/p>\n For the study, Hagerman and colleagues analyzed the self-reported food logs of 112 overweight or obese adults who were enrolled in a structured behavioral weight-loss program.<\/p>\n In the first 12 weeks of the program, participants who ate the same meals and snacks, as well as those with day-to-day calorie consistency, tended to lose more body weight than those who chose different foods, or whose calorie intake fluctuated more widely.<\/p>\n Specifically, those who stuck to a more routine weight-loss diet lost 5.9 percent of their body weight on average, whereas those with a more varied diet lost 4.3 percent.<\/p>\n That’s a small overall difference, but one that could be significant, especially in the long run if this weight loss is maintained.<\/p>\n The study authors calculate that for every hundred-calorie difference in a participant’s day-to-day diet, weight loss decreased by 0.6 percent over the study’s 12-week period.<\/p>\n The research is small and insufficient to overturn evidence suggesting that a diverse diet<\/a> holds health benefits<\/a> for most people. And, of course, it’s important to talk to a doctor before making any major changes to your diet.<\/p>\n However, it is one of the first studies to use real-time food tracking data to explore how routine eating aids<\/a> weight loss across multiple months.<\/p>\n The findings suggest that the constant variety of food we are surrounded by, day in and day out, may be hampering some weight-loss regimens.<\/p>\n “If we lived in a healthier food environment, we might encourage people to have as much variety in their diet as possible,” explains<\/a> Hagerman.<\/p>\n “However, our modern food environment is too problematic. Instead, people may do best with a more repetitive diet that helps them consistently make healthier choices, even if they might sacrifice some nutritional variety.”<\/p>\n The current study did not consider the nutritional quality of the diets participants were eating. This means that they could have been losing weight by eating an unhealthy diet.<\/p>\n However, participants were enrolled in a behavioral weight loss treatment program, in which they worked with coaches to determine their daily calorie intake and weekly weight-loss goals.<\/p>\n There were two ways participants could approach their goals: They could either keep a consistent daily calorie intake, or they could prioritize a weekly average, ‘saving’ some calories for special occasions.<\/p>\n Those who logged their food choices on the most days, which is highly predictive of weight loss, still lost more weight if they had a more routine diet.<\/p>\n Related: A 30-Year Study May Have Found The Single Best Diet For Healthy Aging<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Researchers can’t say for sure whether that weight loss is really caused by a more routine diet, but the association has them wanting to know more.<\/p>\n “Even a healthy diet high in variety may increase points of decision-making, making it more cumbersome to calculate calories, versus having go-to meals with pre-calculated calories,” hypothesize<\/a> the study authors.<\/p>\n Sounds like a randomized clinical trial<\/a> in the making.<\/p>\n![\"Meal](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-1500854984-642x428.jpg\")
(Johner Images\/Johner Images Royalty-Free\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"Subscribe](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Generic-Health-Promo-Final-642x273.jpg\")
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