So you are preparing to eat better and lose some weight. Good for you. But how can you get started? With the hundreds and hundreds of diets out there, how do you choose the best approach?
To find out, Webmd turned to James O. Hill, PhD, director of the Human Nutrition Center at the University of Colorado in Denver. Many Hill surveys focused on the habits of people who can achieve what we all want: stable and sustained weight loss. So how do these people lose weight and how do they keep it? Hill has some answers.
Weight Loss Nutrition Plan - Starting a Weight Loss Plan that Works: Expert Q&A With James O. Hill PhD
Before attempting to make changes to your habits, you first need to see where you are now. Find out what your body mass index (BMI) is. See how it compares one to a healthy weight. Start keeping a record of what you eat every day and how much exercise you get.
Now people say, "Why bother? I already know what I'm eating now!" But you really do not. Eating is something we do every day without really paying any attention. Once you start writing it, you can learn things you've never knew about your habits. You could be drinking five pops a day and you will have no idea. Taking stock from where you now gives you a notion of what you need to change. The next step is really important. You have to make a long-term commitment. If you will change your habits to eat and exercise, you will not be done after six weeks or six months or six years. You have to decide that you are motivated to make changes that will last for the rest of your life.
Basically, almost any diet plan will work for weight loss. Go to a bookstore and buy any diet book. This will give you tips on how to eat less and you can lose weight. But the problem is that almost none of them works for maintaining weight loss.
If you want to lose weight, I do not think it matters as you do or plan you use. But to keep it, you will probably have to use different strategies.
I co-founded the national registration of weight control, which accompanies about 6,000 people who have, on average, lost 70 pounds and remained for seven years. What we are doing is try to learn how these people can do this. Which strategies really work? We find some common factors. People in the registry tend to do much physical activity. They tend to eat a low fat diet and pay attention to the general calories. They are self-monitor: they weigh and maintain periodic diets. And they have breakfast every day.No. If you cut into your calories, you can lose too much weight without making a lick of exercise. But you absolutely need to exercise to maintain the weight of slack. I tell people who, if they are not prepared to substantially increase their physical activity, they should not bother to try to lose weight. You will have no lasting benefit. Exercise is the key.
My recommendation is shoot for about an hour a day. We find that people who have successfully maintained lost weight tend to exercise for 60 to 90 minutes daily.
Now, people will say: "60 to 90 minutes a day? This is terrible!" But people in the national weight control registry maintained a mean weight loss of 70 pounds. I think a lot of people would say that giving up an hour a day to accompany 70 pounds is not a bad deal.
The good news is that you can spread exercise throughout the day. You do not have to do it all at once. Most people still have some planned exercise at a specific time every day. For example, they do a walk or a bike ride shortly after work every day.
You can also try to use a step counter, which I think is a wonderful tool. They give you immediate feedback and facilitate the goals. We found that people in the national weight control registry have an average of 11,000-12,000 steps per day, which works for about five to six miles. But when you're just starting, take it slowly. Work up to one hour a day slowly in 15-minute increments.
Enter your physical activity will never be easy. Even the people who are doing this for years will tell you that they still need to force themselves to leave every day. But if you want to keep weight, exercise has to be a priority.
To lose weight, you can go on a 1,200 or 1,400 calorie diet. Eating this value will work very well for weight loss. The problem is that although you can eat 1,200 calories for a few months, you can not eat so forever. You will not be satisfied with such a few calories and will not be able to keep it.
So I have a radical idea. I think you should eat as many calories as you can. But the only way you can eat more calories is if you balance them with greater exercise. The more exercise you do, the more you can eat.
People have no problem getting motivated in the short term. A person will think, "Gosh, I go to a wedding in six weeks - I have to lose some weight." And when you get to lose weight, it can be pretty easy. You get a lot of positive feedback because everyone is telling you how good you are.
But over time, you get decreasing returns. You stop receiving compliments because people are accustomed to their new appearance. So you have to rely on internal motivation, which is much more difficult. So that's why it's so important to get weight loss with a real commitment to make changes forever. It's not easy. But we discovered that the more you keep the weight, better your probabilities. People report that, after maintaining weight for three years, their probability of continuous success is quite high.
We have found that although all kinds of diets help people lose weight, people who keep you from outside tend to eat a high fiber diet, moderately low fat.
But the most important, you should eat foods that you will be able to eat your whole life. You have to be realistic. If you like ice cream and go on a diet that makes you give up, this diet probably will not work for you.
There are some prescription diet pills that can help some people. But they are not for everyone and they are not magical bullets. Weight will not melt when you start taking them. In fact, these medications do not do much on your own - you still have to do diet and exercise.
If you are interested, you obviously can not take them alone. Your doctor can help you decide if they make sense to you.
I always tried to do a physical activity a priority, so my research just reinforced that. If anything, it made me realize how important it is to eat breakfast every day.
