How to keep the weight off -- how to make changes to maintai

thedreamhazer

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/43638623/ns/today-today_health/

I found this article really interesting, and I wanted to share! Below is a chunk of the article, but there is more if you go to the link above!

"What works to keep the weight off?

The researchers analyzed survey responses from 926 people who were overweight (whose BMI was over 25) and had tried with varying degrees of success to lose weight and keep it off. The responses detailed whether they used 36 specific weight-control practices either in losing weight or keeping it off. They defined successful weight loss as losing 10 percent of body weight, and weight maintenance as keeping that 10 percent off for one year.

Sciamanna said one of the goals of the study was to find cognitive techniques, or things that people should think about. The idea is that these could help weight loss, but not be as difficult to do as dieting and exercise. He added, however, that dieting and exercise remain essential to weight loss, and thoughts alone wouldn't have an effect.

The researchers found two techniques that helped with weight maintenance (but not necessarily weight loss): reminding yourself why you need to control your weight, and rewarding yourself for sticking to a diet and exercise plan.

Robert Jeffery, director of the Obesity Prevention Center at the University of Minnesota, was skeptical of the study's results.

"Most of the stuff that [the study] looked at that is associated with weight loss and weight maintenance are very much the same," he said, explaining that differences may be more a matter not of what people do, but how diligently they do it.

He said the issue with sustained weight loss comes back to motivation.

"We have information on people who have successfully lost large amounts of weight and kept it up for a long time," Jeffery said. "They exercise a lot more than most people do, and they eat a lot healthier diets than most people do.

"It's possible to do, but for most people, it's going to require something different from what most people do, and that's the struggle," he said.

Jeffery was similarly skeptical of the role of cognitive techniques in weight loss because, "Those instructions stick about as well as the instructions to eat healthier foods. People can do it for a while, but in the long term they stop doing it and whatever benefits it has go away."

"We don't have a magic bullet to create motivation out of thin air.""


I think this a lot of what we already know, but nonetheless worth reading!

Kristy085

Thanks for the article...interesting!