Strategies for Keeping Lost Weight Off

Strategies for Keeping Lost Weight Off
New York Times Syndicate

01-10-08

Cox News Service ATLANTA -- Researchers are just beginning to recognize that losing weight and weight maintenance are two very different events. Anyone can go "on" a diet, but a diet is temporary whereas weight maintenance is permanent. After weight loss, people are waging a fight against biology (our bodies really want to gain that excess weight) and environment (we're surrounded by delicious foods and encouraged to eat large amounts of food). Drs. Holly Wyatt and James Hill have coined the term "energy gap" to describe the difference between calorie needs before and after weight loss. A 40-pound weight loss equals about a 300-350 calorie "energy gap," meaning that to maintain the smaller body, an individual has to permanently eat or increase activity to match 300-350 calories each day.

Here are the top eight strategies to maintain weight loss from research conducted on those individuals who have lost at least 30 pounds and kept it off for more than a year.

1. Eat more fruits and vegetables. Weight maintainers report eating nearly 4 servings of fruits and vegetables every day. Fruits and veggies are low in calories and high in water and fiber. That helps keep hunger at bay.

2. Eat more fiber. High fiber foods, like beans, whole grain breads and cereals, and fruits and vegetables are also hunger fighters.

3. Monitor carbohydrate and fat intake, but there is no "right" combination of these two nutrients. The macronutrient (relative amount of carbohydrate, protein and fat in the diet) is less important than previously thought. The key is to keep calories low and it doesn't seem to matter if the calories come from a bagel with light cream cheese or a slice of full-fat cheese on a half a bagel - just keep total calories low.

4. Eat breakfast every day. Breakfast causes you to eat less the rest of the day, helping to keep calories in check.

5. Monitor your weight. Keep vigilant by weighing yourself every day, keeping exercise logs, or measuring body fat at the gym.

Successful losers don't take any chances and let pounds creep up on them.

6. Halt the fast foods. People who eat fast food regain lost weight compared to those who drive away from the fast food window.

If you find yourself at the fast food counter, choose carefully and skip the fried food items like chicken, fish and potatoes.

7. Stay active. Bridge the energy gap by exercising at moderately high intensity (brisk walking, jogging, cycling, aerobic dance, etc.) 60 minutes every day. Weight maintainers burn about 2000 calories every week in physical activity.

8. Turn it off, the television, that is. More than 60 percent of people who have lost weight watch fewer than 10 hours of TV per week. The national average of TV viewing is 28 hours a week. Not only is TV watching a passive activity, people tend to mindlessly munch on high calorie foods when staring at the tube.

Chris Rosenbloom, Ph.D., R.D., is a professor of nutrition in the College of Health and Human Sciences at Georgia State University. She'll answer nutrition questions of general interest.