This is a study that found that using alternating diet styles worked well for weight loss, even over the long term. They used the ketogenic diet (very low carbohydrate), low carbohydrate diet and the Mediterranean diets. The link at the bottom of this article, will take you to the full text article and you can read all about how it is done, as as well as the expected results.
Long Term Successful Weight Loss with a Combination Biphasic Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet and Mediterranean Diet Maintenance Protocol
Nutrients. 2013 Dec; 5(12): 5205–5217.
Published online 2013 Dec 18. doi: 10.3390/nu5125205
PMCID: PMC3875914
Antonio Paoli
Abstract
Weight loss protocols can only be considered successful if they deliver consistent results over the long term—a goal which is often elusive, so much so that the term “yo-yo” is used to describe the perennial weight loss/weight regain battle common in obesity. We hypothesized that a ketogenic Mediterranean diet with phytoextracts (KEMEPHY) combined with the acknowledged health benefits of traditional Mediterranean nutrition may favor long term weight loss. We analysed 89 male and female obese subjects, aged between 25 and 65 years who were overall healthy apart from being overweight. The subjects followed a staged diet protocol over a period of 12 months: 20 day of KEMEPHY; 20 days low carb-non ketogenic; 4 months Mediterranean normocaloric nutrition; a second 20 day ketogenic phase followed by 6 months of Mediterranean normocaloric nutrition. For the majority of subjects (88.25%) there was significant loss of weight (from 100.7 ± 16.54 to 84.59 ± 9.71 kg; BMI from 35.42 ± 4.11 to 30.27 ± 3.58) and body fat (form 43.44% ± 6.34% to 33.63% ± 7.6%) during both ketogenic phases followed by successful maintenance, without weight regain, during the 6 month stabilization phase with only 8 subjects failing to comply. There were also significant and stable decreases in total cholesterol, LDLc, triglycerides and glucose levels over the 12 month study period. HDLc showed small increases after the ketogenic phases but over the full 12 months there was no significant change. No significant changes were observed in ALT, AST, Creatinine or BUN. The combination of a biphasic KEMEPHY diet separated by longer periods of maintenance nutrition, based on the traditional Mediterranean diet, led to successful long term weight loss and improvements in health risk factors in a majority of subjects; compliance was very high which was a key determinant of the results seen.