Weight Loss Issues

The National Weight Control Registry stores information volunteered by people who have lost 30 pounds or more and kept it off for at least a year. Among the important observations from the registry are:

• 90% changed their diets and increased physical activity
• 55% used a formal program (such as Weight Watchers) or professional help (e.g. a dietitian)
• Nearly 90% limited intake of some class of food (e.g. high fat or calorie foods)
• 44% limited the quantity they ate
• 92% exercised at home, 40% with a friend and 31% with a group
• Walking was the most common form of exercise
• Two thirds had been overweight as children
• More than 90% had tried to lose weight before

The key overall findings are that:

• More than 80% used more exercise
• More than 60% used a stricter diet
• 85% experienced improvements in their overall health and quality of life.

Goals

Succeeding with weight loss depends upon having reasonable goals. People are more likely to reach goals that are sensible, and experience suggests that the weight loss they achieve in this way is more likely to prove maintainable. Losing even just 5 to 10 percent of your weight can help improve your health in significant ways.

Slow weight loss of 1-2 pounds per week is the safest course for most overweight people. More rapid weight loss can sometimes be appropriate for the severely obese, but such weight loss programs should be carried out under a physician's supervision.

A good set of rules to follow in weight loss is:

• Check with your doctor to make sure that lowering your calories and increasing exercise are safe for you.
• Follow a calorie-reduced, balanced diet that leads to a 1-2 pound loss per week.
• Make time in your day for some form of physical activity. Start by taking the stairs at work, walking up or down an escalator, parking at the far end of a lot instead of cruising around for the closest spot. Then, gradually add some form of regular physical activity that you enjoy. Walking is an excellent form of physical activity that almost everyone can do.

Diet Therapy

Diet therapy involves reduction in your calorie intake by learning which foods are best, selecting correct portion sizes and learning about optimal food preparation.

Keeping a food diary first helps you to see what and how much you eat and drink. Once you are on a plan to modify your habits, the diary can also serve as a continuing guide to you as you make your daily choices.

How much to eat is not always so simple a question to answer. Although you will need to eat fewer calories if you are to lose weight, the degree to which you restrict your intake may best be determined with some professional input. "Low-calorie" diets involve the ingestion of from 800 to 1400 calories per day and are best suited to those with a BMI over 27 or those with BMI of 25 or more, but with co-morbid conditions (e.g. high blood pressure, diabetes). "So-called "very low" calorie diets allow intake of less than 800 calories per day and are intended for those whose BMI is over 30, or those with co-morbidities whose BMIs are greater than 27. Any individuals who use diets that restrict them to less than 1000 calories per day are best advised to do so under physician guidance. Such diets can lead to other health problems including nutritional deficiencies.

One of the things that many feel is essential in successful dieting is "portion control." Everything in our society is "super-sized," and one must become sensitive to the threat that oversized meals represent. It can be quite an eye-opener to learn about appropriate serving sizes for the things we eat.

It is particularly important that people be careful with the use of "fad" diets that promise rapid weight loss in short periods of time. These prescriptions most often lead to loss of water weight rather than fat, and can severely deplete the body of essential elements because they do not provide the balance needed for sound nutrition. If the claims of a diet seem too good to be true, it is because they are! Remember that many studies have shown that consistent and persistent weight loss do not result from any of these diets. (Read more about fad diets.)

Once of the essential tools you will need going forward if you are to lose weight and maintain your healthier shape is a greater knowledge of what foods contain and what components to avoid or restrict. Reading labels is an important habit to form as you shop and separate the lower calorie items from those rich with potentially harmful ingredients. Foods that contain lots of processed carbohydrates are generally poor choices, and foods with high fat content will have many more calories than other foods that are more rich in protein or complex carbohydrate.

Among the resources you may find of use are:

• Sample Reduced Calorie Menus
• Menu Planner
• Interactive Healthy Eating Index

Exercise

Regular physical activity is essential to the maintenance of health, and unfortunately, Americans are less active today than ever before. Busy schedules, labor saving devices, high technology transportation and electronic entertainment have all led to a more and more sedentary life style. While they are a great convenience, elevators, escalators and remote controls have helped to make us fatter and less fit.

Daily activity is crucial to weight loss as well as to weight loss maintenance. It is generally felt that all adults should incorporate 30 minutes of sustained exercise into each day to maintain health, but this level of activity may not be sufficient to generate significant weight reduction. ( The Surgeon General's Report on Activity and Health).

Obese people can find it particularly difficult to start an exercise program because of the great stresses their weight places upon them. A number of common-sense behavioral changes can help ease such people into a more daily active life:

• Let your doctor know you plan to start a new program.
• Start slowly and gradually increase the intensity of exercise.
• Choose exercises that you enjoy and that are easy to add to your daily routine
• Think about simple changes in habit that can add to your activity level (e.g. take the stairs instead of the elevator).
• Read for more ideas about getting moving.

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the amount of energy that your body expends in a day when you engage in no activity. (It is the energy you need just to lie in bed and survive.) When you calculate your BMR and add it to the energy you use for your daily activities, you can see how many calories you can take in just to stay balanced. In order to lose weight, one clearly needs to expend more calories than one takes in.

• Calculate Your BMR
• See Energy Spent With Activities

Behavioral Therapy

Set The Right Goals

• Don't just focus on weight loss alone as your goal, but on the lifestyle changes that will lead to it. Select two or three goals that are specific, attainable and forgiving. Don't just plan to "exercise more," but plan to "walk for 30 minutes 5 or six times a week." Your success with this goal is easily monitored.

Step By Step

• Behavioral therapists suggests something called "shaping." This means selecting a series of cotter goals that bring you closer and closer to the long term goal. Hence, don't cut your fat calories to 30% right away, but first to 40%, and then to 35%. The se consecutive goals (together with their consecutive rewards) will keep you committed.

Self Monitoring

• Monitoring your own behavior and keeping a record can be a powerful incentive for you to keep it up. For example, if you exercise records show that your sessions are becoming longer and more frequent, this can prove a great encouragement to you. Monitoring your weights is best done with a chart or graph, rather than with numbers. Day to day individual weights mean relatively little, but the overall pattern revealed by a chart will be much more instructive.

Avoid Eating Cues

• Monitoring your own behavior may reveal to you what cues often lead you to unplanned and unwanted eating. If your diary shows that you often eat empty calories while watching television, don't keep food out and visible around your entertainment area.

Let Yourself Feel "Full"

• Changing the way you go about eating can make it easier to eat less without feeling deprived. It takes 15 or more minutes for your brain to get the message you've been fed. Slowing the rate of eating can allow fullness signals to begin to develop meal's end. Eating lots of vegetables can also make you feel fuller. Setting an eating schedule can be helpful if you tend to skip meals and overeat later.