Research

Energy balance

A dose-response relationship exists between reduced caloric intake and weight/BMI loss, where every 100 kcal/day decrease is associated with 0.16 kg weight loss and 0.06 kg/m2 BMI decrease.

To lose weight, focus on reducing your daily caloric intake by small, manageable amounts. The study shows that cutting just 100 calories a day leads to a measurable decrease in weight (0.16 kg) and BMI (0.06 kg/m2) over 12 months. This suggests that small, consistent changes are effective for weight management.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
with every 100 kcal/day decrease, we observed a 0.14 ± 0.05 kg weight loss (p = 0.004)... with every 100 kcal/day decrease, BMI decreased 0.06 ± 0.02 kg/m2 (p = 0.002).
Xiaochen Zhang et al. · Journal of Behavioral Medicine · 2025

Why this rating

Statistically significant dose-response analysis in a randomized trial, though the absolute weight loss was modest.

Source

The mediating role of social support in behavioral changes and weight loss outcomes among overweight Appalachian adults

Xiaochen Zhang et al. · Journal of Behavioral Medicine · 2025

DOI 10.1007/s10865-025-00555-0

rct · n=243
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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