| Fast Weight Loss: "Small Change" Approach May Be Best Way |
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| Written by Richard L. Lipman M.D. |
| Wednesday, 15 April 2009 12:45 |
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Small Changes in Food and Exercise Produce Maintainable Weight Loss: Overweight People Should Stop Beating Themselves Over the Head and Feeling Guilty When They are Not Spending Hours Exercising or Eating all the "Right" Foods. "Small changes in both food and exercise may be easily attainable and successful" reports Dr. James O. Hill, the author of the Step Diet, founder of the National Weight Control Registry and a strong proponent of the "100 calorie a day" plan. He argues that attempting large scale changes in food and adding hours of exercise simply are unattainable for the vast majority of overweight people. He presents these concepts in the February issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition for the Joint Task Force of the American Society for Nutrition, Institute of Food Technologists, and International Food Institute.
The findings of three massive weight loss studies following tens of thousands of people, done under the supervision of the most well known experts in the field came to the same conclusion: long term, maintainable weight loss is only possible if the individual makes small, but significant changes in his diet and adds a little exercise daily. Over the last 5 years researchers have found, what most overweigh people already knew, that no one can remain on a weight loss plan that includes limiting a single food group, counting or adding something or making extreme changes in their diet for than a few months. Both the food and exercise must be what he likes and fits into his daily routines. The problem has been to identify what are the most important foods/beverages changes and how to go about adding "small changes" in exercise. The small food change: The 100 Calorie Secret offers a simple system to find the excess calories each dieter is consuming in units of 100 calorie seach and make some simple changes without even noticing the difference. Substitutig just a single soda or glass of juice for a zero calorie beverages reduces excess daily calories by 150 calories which leads to a 15 lb. weight loss in a year. The small increase in activities:
Dr James Levine of the Mayo Clinic's NEAT concept offers a similar easy way to add a little exercise without disrupting the day's activity. He notes that walking just 1 mile , about 2000 steps, decrease chance of dying in next 10 years by 46%.
Small Changes in Food(the 100 Calorie Secret) + Small Changes in Exercise(NEAT) every day= permanent weight loss.
Dr. Hill notes, “The continued rise in obesity in most countries suggests that current
programs and initiatives designed to combat obesity have not been successful in reversing the obesity epidemic… There has been little long-term success in treating established obesity through lifestyle change, perhaps because of the large permanent changes in diet and physical activity required to keep weight off.”
Dr. Hill's research has focused recently on making small changes, in both food and exercise. He goes onto say, “supporting data show that small reductions in conscious energy intake and increases in physical activity can reduce excessive weight gain. The opportunity exists for the … private sector to gradually "ratchet down" some of the environmental factors that have contributed to excessive energy intake and the declining rates of physical activity can be successful in reducing obesity rates."
What are these small changes Dr Hill and others say we need to make?
Small Changes in Exercise-The NEAT Concept:
Dr. James Levine from the Mayo Clinic has described any extra activity everyone does, not associated with exercise, as NEAT- for non-exercise activity thermogenesis. The difference between obese people and thin people may be the difference in their daily NEAT. He has done a series of complex studies measuring the amount of physical movement in thin and obese people over a 10 day period. Thin people are on their feet moving( this does not include any exercise) two hours more per day than obese people and burn 1000 - 2000 calories more a day. Some of this maybe related to job activities but most is simply related to how thin people carry on their day's activities. They just sit much less than obese people.
Dr Levine notes that when obese people lose weight by calorie reduction, they still do not move during the day as their thin counterparts. He does not relate this to a genetic difference in obese people since this change has occurred too quickly in our evolution, but simply to a change in environment--the clickers, the remote control, the computers all encourage inactivity. More interesting is his observation that it is they unconsciously increase their NEAT to make up for the increase calories.
Should Obese People Simply Give Up?
Of course not. What they should do is quit beating themselves on their head, feeling quilty and inadequate when they see thin people exercise and move around all day. Dr Levine's solution:
He advocates small amounts of extra movement built into every day's activity. It's easy to visualize how small changes in this type of non formal activity can produce small amounts of exercise that is painless and not disruptive to the day's usual activities. Such changes might include taking the stairs instead of the elevator. He is not talking about having to walk half a dozen flights at a time which for many people becomes a chore that probably will not be sustainable over the long term. Simply, get off the elevator a floor below you destination and take the steps up the last flight. Other ideas including parking on the opposite side of a parking lot at the office, school or mall or taking a 10 minute break in the office several times a day.
 All of this activity adds up over the day, when days become weeks and weeks months, the weight loss can be very significant.
Various exercises that can be done in an office setting without disrupting the day's routine. On the left is Dr. James Levine from the Mayo Clinic walking slowing on a treadmill while doing office chores.
Walking just a mile a day extra = 46% reduction in dying in next 10 years!
Small Changes in Food -The 100 Calorie Secret Connection:
While the exercise changes are easy to visualize, but much harder to do, the food change are far more difficult to visualize but easy to accomplish once recognized.
The 100 Calorie Secret offers the reader a simple way to find the foods and/or beverages which contribute the most to the dieter's weight gain as well as which are the easiest to change. The concept again, just like the exercise, is to make the few changes as painless as possible. For example, a single glass of a soft drink or orange juice daily for a year results in a 12 lb. weight gain, substituting a zero calorie beverage like Crystal lite or diet soda results in a 12 lb. weight loss. Small easy changes, big results.
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| Last Updated on Tuesday, 18 August 2009 02:22 |
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