The Key to Losing Weight for GOOD

Permanent weight-loss is tricky, studies find.

A multitude of researchers have reinforced what most of us already know.   Permanent weight loss is not easy nor is it common.    A UCLA analysis of 31 long-term diet studies showed a whopping 83% of dieters actually regained MORE weight than originally lost.

Another study compared 5 habits of 600 overweight people:  eating more fruit and vegetables; reducing dietary fat; increasing daily activity levels, boosting workouts and limiting portions.   

It found portion control had the strongest relationship to weight loss and maintenance.   It seems you do have to eat less to weigh less; but it also found that how you cut calories matters.   

A low-fat diet also "continues to be a key characteristic" of long-term success, says Suzanne Phelan, a Brown University Medical School psychologist who helped found the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR)*.  Low Carb and other hard-to-stick-to diets can lead to the dreaded yo-yo syndrome. 

The NWCR tracks long term success stories to identify key factors associated with more lasting weight loss.    The database reveals that in addition to limiting portions and fat, most of its “successful losers” eat breakfast daily and weigh in at least once a week.

So you’ve been meaning to drop a few pounds, but haven’t gotten around to eating less and exercising more.  Meal replacement smoothies or shakes may be the way to go. 

A Simple Way to Diet

Diet smoothies and other meal replacements can be a huge plus when you’re shy time, funds or energy to shop and prepare balanced, low calorie meals.  Constantly missing breakfast or eating junk for lunch?  Grab a calorie controlled, nutritionally sound smoothie instead. 

Australian researchers writing in the Journal of Nutrition found that meal replacements were effective and that study subjects using them were more optimistic about sticking with their plan.

Arguably, feeling good about your chosen weight-loss program is one of the most important keys to long term success.

Resources:  American Psychologist; April 2007; federally funded study lead by Dr. Everett E. Logue, of Summa Health System in Akron, Ohio;  the American Society for Nutritional Sciences Journal of Nutrition, Aug. 2004.