Best Strategies for Losing Extra Pounds
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Yes, you can reach and maintain a healthy weight. Despite the discouraging news of failures in many diet programs and America's growing problem with obesity, researchers are finally beginning to pin down just which strategies work - and which fail - to help long-term weight control.
Let's start with the bad news. "You are what you weigh" is one of the more pervasive - and destructive - messages of contemporary American culture. But ironically, our preoccupation with the numbers on the scale and our excessive admiration for the slender figure seem to be leading to an increase in obesity. During the final two decades of the 20th century, the share of the adult U.S. population considered either overweight or obese jumped from 47 percent to 61 percent. Worse yet, the share weighing in as frankly obese rose from 15 percent to 27 percent during the same period.
Though many Americans have difficulty managing their weight, it's not for lack of trying. An estimated 50 million will go on diets this year, seeking advice from books, TV diet gurus, support groups, and clinical programs. Women's magazines report that 95 percent of their female readership is on a diet. Desperate dieters have turned the weight-loss business into a booming industry, with annual revenues of more than $33 billion. However, while some will succeed in shedding those extra pounds, some studies show that perhaps as few as 5 percent manage to keep them off. A report from the National Center of Health Statistics warns that "weight reduction through calorie-restricted dieting... ultimately [is] not very effective."
Hold on! Does this mean diets don't work? Of course not. "Diets do work. It's the maintenance programs that don't work," says Dr. Arthur Frank, Medical Director of the George Washington University Obesity Management Program. "Most people who do get involved with a weight-loss program stay with it. Most people who stay with it do, in fact, lose weight. The problem is that most people still have a difficult problem maintaining weight at the new lower level." The notion that diets don't work is a round-about way of saying that there are no magic ways to keep pounds off permanently; obesity is a chronic condition that requires lifelong attention.
Tip-Offs of Rip-Offs
When it comes to weight-loss schemes, the Food and Drug Administration warns you to be particularly skeptical of claims containing words and phrases like:
easy
effortless
guaranteed
miraculous
magical
breakthrough
new discovery
mysterious
exotic
secret
exclusive
ancient
In addition, the studies showing that most people regain the weight they lose may not apply to most of us. These studies have been done in clinical programs on people with the most severe weight problems. "Most people who are successful in losing weight do so on their own," says Dr. Xavier Pi-Sunyer, Director of the Division of Endocrinology and Nutrition at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital, New York, and Professor of Medicine at Columbia University. "They are seldom included in studies. We also have very little data about how people do one-on-one with a physician, dietitian, or nutritionist." So do-it-yourself dieters may have more reason to be optimistic about their chances for success.
Instead of a quick fix, self-starters tend to be motivated to change their overall eating patterns, with better long-term results. Still, the secret lies in finding the nutritional strategy that works best for you. "Adults and children with weight problems need tools for making better decisions about how to lose weight," says Judith Stern, ScD, RD, Professor in the Departments of Nutrition and Internal Medicine at the University of California, Davis. A healthy skepticism is a good place to start. Beware of claims of weight-loss miracles: "Lose weight while you sleep;" "Eat all you want and get thin;" "This secret method will work where others fail." If a diet claim seems too good to be true, it probably is.
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