Losing weight
is easy.
Keeping it off is not.
Why else would people be searching, time
and time again, for that "perfect" diet?
The bad news: One-third to two-thirds of
dieters end up gaining more weight than they lost on their diets, says an
article published in an issue of the American Psychologist.
But don't lose heart. Here's the flip side
of that pancake, er, coin: Long-term weight maintenance is possible, says an
article in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Accordingto research, about 20 percent
succeeded at long-term weight loss. But it doesn't just happen automatically.
You need to look past the initial dieting phase and incorporate some
strategies, after the weight comes off, to increase the odds that it will STAY
off.
And it's possible.
In writing other articles about weight
loss, I've come across a lot of research and
interviewed a lot of experts. It's clear that there are successful
losers.
Losing weight is so much more than just the
food you eat (or don't eat). In a very comprehensive article appearing in The
Lancet, the authors detail three important things to be aware of in your effort
to lose weight:
1. Make small lifestyle
changes. There are so many—here are just a few
Don't
underestimate the influence of friends. Research
shows that your chance of becoming obese increases by 57 percent if a close
friend is obese. (Yes, obesity is somewhat contagious.) But the opposite holds
true, too: hang out with healthy friends and their habits can rub off on you.
Consider
a food journal. It can help monitor what you eat,
reduce mindless eating and consume fewer calories. A large weight-loss
maintenance trial found that dieters who kept a record of their food intake
lost an average of 18 pounds over six months—as opposed to dieters who didn't
keep a journal (they lost only nine pounds).
Use
smaller plates. Bigger isn't always better, and can
lead to overeating. Use a 9- or 10-inch salad plate for your meal, rather than
a standard size, larger dinner plate. You not only consume fewer calories, but
you'll feel just as full. Research proves it!
Get
enough sleep. When you are sleep deprived, your
hormones become imbalanced, your hunger cues get mixed up, and your body's
glucose metabolism can change and cause you to hoard calories and store them as
fat.
Drink
water. It can help fill you up before and
in-between meals. And many people, research suggests, may confuse hunger with
thirst. Try drinking a glass of water if you still feel hungry after you're
finished eating. You may find that you're not really hungry at all.
2. Sustainable diet
What you're eating in an effort to lose
weight has to be sustainable. Take for example, a fad diet like the cabbage
soup diet. Sure, you'll lose weight, because you're restricting your calories
by eliminating choices. Cabbage soup for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Easy—until you re-enter "real" eating, and you're grabbing everything
in sight, because (1) You miss real food like crazy and have all sorts of
cravings; (2) You haven't really taught yourself how to eat to keep the weight
off (you've only learned how to lose it in the short-term); and (3) You go out
to a restaurant, go to someone's house for dinner, go on vacation,
and—surprise!—there's no cabbage soup.
Extreme diets ultimately fail. (Think: The Biggest Loser. So many gained
the weight back because the diets were too extreme, and the weight was lost too
fast, say experts. And who can truly exercise seven hours a day—really?)
Your best choice? A high-quality diet that
you will stick to. "What we eat is as important as how much we eat,"
notes obesity expert Scott Kahan, MD, director of the National Center for
Weight and Wellness in Washington, D.C. "There's no scientific evidence to
support the belief that one diet is any better than any other," he adds.
3. Exercise
Yes, it helps keep you healthy and strong,
and lowers your risk of many chronic diseases. But it's also associated with
long-term success in the weight-loss department.
What's your average day like? Do you sit a
lot? Yeah, thought so. Many of us do—unless we have jobs that require us to be
on our feet a lot. Face it, we live in a highly sedentary culture. Some
estimates say that Americans sit for an average of 13 hours a day (and that
doesn't include sleeping for an average of eight hours a night!)
Another tidbit I came across in my
research: Most Americans have to sit all day at work—and they are not happy
about it. But, that same survey also found that when people do get up from
their desks, more than half "use food as an excuse."
Doesn't bode well for weight loss, does it?
One rather obvious lifestyle change: Stand
more! Besides its advantages in helping with your posture and increasing your
blood flow, standing helps burn extra calories.
I know—sometimes it's not possible. So,
besides standing, be aware of some other easy-to-incorporate lifestyle changes,
like:
Taking the stairs instead of the elevator
Getting off the bus or subway a few stops
ahead of your destination
Placing your printer away from your desk
Turning your TV watching time into a
workout
Choosing the farthest spot in the parking
lot
If you already exercise, you're definitely
on the right track. It's a very valid strategy, for sure. When polling its
members, the National Weight Loss Registry found that 90 percent of successful
losers exercised on average about one hour each day.
Unlike with food and portions, when it
comes to exercise, more might be better.
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