Mindfulness training may help lose weight

Mindfulness training may help people stick to weight-loss diet and shed kilos, a study has found.

Researchers at the McGill University in Canada examined 19 studies conducted over the past decade.

Mindfulness interventions in these studies involved either formal meditation, informal mindfulness strategies that focused on eating activity, or some combination of these two approaches.

They found that interventions based on mindfulness proved "moderately effective for weight loss" and "largely effective in reducing obesity-related eating behaviours."

Initially, when compared to participants treated with diet and exercise-based "lifestyle-change" interventions, those who received mindfulness training lost less weight by the end of the programme, according to the study published in the journal Obesity Reviews.

The researchers found that mindfulness participants had continued to lose weight, bringing their average weight loss to 3.5 per cent of their initial body weight, while those in the "lifestyle-change" programs regained some weight.

The findings are "encouraging" and "highlight the potential of using mindfulness training to support weight loss," said Kimberly Carriere, from the McGill University.