According to an investigation by researchers from the University of Texas at Austin, even though eating out often and consuming large portions of food in restaurants can contribute to excess calorie intake and weight gain, individuals can still lose weight while eating out. The study is published in the January/February issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

The researchers enrolled 35 healthy, preimenopausal women aged between 40 to 59 years old who eat out often to participate in the study. The women participated in a 6-week course called “Mindful Restaurant Eating”, a program designed to help individuals develop the skills needed in order to reduce fat and caloric intake when eating in restaurants.

The focus of the program was on preventing preimenopausal women from gaining weight when eating out, not losing weight. For this population it is important to maintain weight as gaining weight and increasing abdominal waist circumference is greater during the perimenopausal years – increasing the risk for developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Although the focus of the investigation was preventing weight gain, the team discovered that women in the intervention group:

  • lost considerably more weight
  • had less obstacles to weight management when eating in rest
  • had lower average daily fat and caloric intake
  • increased diet related self-efficacy

Dr. Gayle M. Timmerman, Ph.D, RN, lead researcher of the investigation explains:

“Although the intention of the intervention was weight maintenance and the majority of participants were not dieting with the intent to lose weight at the start of the study (69%), on average the intervention group lost 1.7 kg during 6 weeks. The number of times that participants ate out, as captured in the 3-day 24-hour recalls, did not significantly decrease from time 1 to time 2, indicating that participants were able to successfully manage their weight while continuing their usual, frequent eating-out patterns.

Overall, the participants in the intervention group reduced their daily caloric intake by about 297 calories after completing the intervention, which would explain their weight loss. Only part of the calorie reduction (about 124 calories) can be accounted for during eating out, indicating that fewer calories were also consumed at home.”

Dr. Timmerman concludes:

“Based on what we learned from this study, for those individuals who eat out frequently, developing the skills needed to eat out without gaining weight from the excess calories typically consumed at restaurants may be essential to long-term health.”

The investigation highlights the importance of creating novel solutions in weight maintenance; one of those solutions may be developing restaurant eating skills to control food intake in restaurant environments.

In an accompanying podcast, Gayle M. Timmerman, PhD, RN, goes over the results and implications of this investigation.

Written by Grace Rattue