The trick to losing weight is to learn how to eat appropriat

I recommend everyone to read the below statement from Active.com's very own nancy Clark:

http://www.active.com/nutrition/Articles/The_Biggest_Loser.htm

The unfortunate message perpetuated by The Biggest Loser is “eating is cheating.” False. Eating satisfies a physiological requirement for food. Just as people need to sleep, urinate, and breathe, they also need to fuel their bodies, ideally with appropriate portions of healthful foods. Yet, you don’t need to eat a perfect diet to have a good diet. There's little harm in enjoying a slice of pizza or piece of birthday cake. The E in eating should stand for Enjoyment, not for Excruciating hunger.

The E in Exercise should also stand for Enjoyment. When exercise feels like punishment for having undesirable body fat, the day will come when that dieter no longer feels like whipping his or her body into shape and instead reverts to lazing on the couch. The Biggest Losers lose-out in the long run, because extreme diets (either on TV or in your life) teach nothing about sustainable eating and exercise practices that can be enjoyably maintained for the rest of one’s life. What about moderation, balance, quality of life?

So how does a person lose undesired body fat? Not by dieting! We know that diets do not work. If diets did work, then every person who has ever been on a diet would be lean. We know from research that students who dieted in middle school still struggled with weight in high school. None of their efforts to lose weight resulted in the desired outcome. (1) Rather, diets linked with hunger, denial and deprivation of favorite foods set the stage for binge eating and weight gain. Hence, the question arises: Do diets contribute to the obesity problem? Perhaps. The first six months of food restriction tend to result in fat loss. But then, the fat generally creeps back (if not rapidly returns)—plus more.

It’s time to take a different look at how to lose weight. A new task force on obesity suggests people chip away at losing undesired body fat by eating just 100 calories less per day (and for non-exercisers, moving 100 calories more). (2) This contrasts to the Biggest Loser approach of skimping on breakfast, nibbling on salad for lunch, and exercising exhaustively on fumes—all unsustainable efforts that require enduring extreme hunger. How about eating just a little bit less at the end of the day: two fewer Oreos, one less can of soda pop, a smaller snack while watching TV? How about trade-in grueling workouts to burn off calories for meaningful ways to move your body throughout the day: training for a fun event, biking to work, playing with the kids, running with a friend. The rigor of hard training can lose it’s glow; even athletes need rest days and an “off season.”

Food for Thought

I repeat: Eating is not cheating! The trick to losing weight is to learn how to eat appropriately—a difficult task in an obesity-producing society. A sports dietitian can help you create a personalized food plan that embraces food as one of life’s pleasures. You can find this weight management expert using the referral network at www.SCANdpg.org.

People who eat appropriately tend to be thin; dieters tend to be heavy. Clearly, the eating approach to weight management paves the road to success. To manage to eat wisely, we need to learn how to manage stress, get enough sleep, exercise our bodies enjoyably, and take care of our souls. Curiously, this self-care has little to do with food...