A novel research has found that allowing people interested in following diet to reduce are not able to shed as much weight as the ones who are assigned a particular diet.

Obese clinic patients at a Veterans Affairs medical center in North Carolina were allowed to choose a diet plan of their wish. It was found that they lost less weight than obese patients assigned to follow a specific diet.

Study's lead researcher Dr. William S. Yancy of Duke University and the Durham VA Medical Center said that from the research, one thing becomes clear that option to choose actually disrupts weight loss.

For the study, the researchers conducted an experiment in which they recruited 207 participants from May 2011 and June 2012 from clinics affiliated with the VA medical center. Average age of dieters was 55 years old.

Out of the total, 105 were assigned to a so-called choice group. They were allowed to pick between a low-carbohydrate diet and a low-fat diet. And, the remaining 102 were assigned to a 'comparator' group and assigned to one of the two diet plans by the study researchers.

Both the groups received counseling over telephone as well as in the groups. People in the choice group were allowed to switch their diet at the 12-week mark if they were unhappy with their first choice, but only five chose to make the change.

After 48-week study, participants in the choice group lost around 12.6 pounds on an average. Members of the comparator group had lost around 14.7 pounds on an average.