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Obesity
Facts
Is there some magic potion or secret to losing weight and keeping it off?
Is there a short cut to taking weight off?
Why is it so hard to loose weight?
Why do I always gain the weight back?
If you are one of the 127 million people that are over weight in the US
you may be asking those questions.
Research suggests that people most successful in long-term weight loss eat a
diet low in fat and high in carbohydrate, regularly monitor their weight and
food intake and engage in high levels of physical activity, about one hour each
day. Maintaining a high level of physical activity is an important key to
long-term weight loss maintenance. Find ways to increase physical activity.
Being more active during the day and looking for opportunities to walk more
helps burn additional calories.
Maintaining weight loss is difficult because it is hard to make permanent
changes in behavior. It's easy to eat less and exercise more for a few days or
a few weeks, but the key is making permanent changes. Any successful program
must balance a healthy diet with regular physical activity.
Although many people who lose weight may eventually gain it back, it doesn’t
happen to everyone. The National Weight Control Registry has been working to
show you can keep the weight off. The registry's database has information about
the weight-control behaviors of more than 3,000 American adults who have lost
an average of 60 pounds and have kept it off for an average of six years.
These successful weight losers report four common behaviors. They eat a
low-calorie, low-fat diet, they monitor themselves by weighing in frequently,
they are very physically active, and they eat breakfast. Eating breakfast every
day is contrary to the typical pattern for the average overweight person who is
trying to diet. They get up in the morning and eat little or no breakfast and a
light lunch. Then they get hungry and consume most of their calories late in
the day. Successful weight losers have managed to change this pattern.
Six years after their weight loss, most of the registry's successful losers
still report eating a low-calorie, low-fat diet. They also exercise for about
an hour or more a day. Records indicate that more than 70 percent of the
registry's weight losers became overweight before age 18.
To be successful at losing weight, you need to change your lifestyle, not
just go on a diet, experts say. This requires cutting back on the number of
calories you eat by eating smaller amounts of foods and choosing foods lower in
calories and fat. It also means being more physically active.
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