...and lose weight for good
As any veteran of the dieting wars can tell you, losing weight
isn't nearly as difficult as keeping it off over the long term.
"Whenever I take a
diet history, I get a litany of weight-loss plans and programs from experienced
dieters," says Molly Gee, M.Ed., R.D., a weight-loss counselor and
researcher at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Yet most dieters'
successes with these plans are short-lived and, annoyingly, the pounds quickly
return. Gee calls it the "then some" problem: "A lot of women
lose ten pounds, then regain it and then some. A few years later, they'll lose
fifteen pounds, but regain it and then some." Many clients, she says, have
entire wardrobes in several different sizes in their closets.
But it's more than just a
clothing issue, unfortunately. The consequences of weight cycling include an
increase in disease risk, and the habit can also lead to an undesirable
alteration in body composition that ups fat and decreases muscle. This bleak
picture explains why nutrition experts
advise you to shelve your yo-yo habits and break the cycle with long-term
strategies.
"Nearly all of the
successful losers in the National Weight Control Registry have been yo-yo
dieters," notes registry director James O. Hill, Ph.D., an obesity
researcher at the University of Colorado at Denver. "What people need to
learn is that if what you've done before isn't working, you need to try
something else."
Know Your Habits
The first step to breaking
the yo-yo pattern and creating a healthier approach to losing weight is to try
a little self-investigation. "It's important to look at your eating
behavior and identify your vulnerabilities," says Robert Kushner, M.D.,
medical director of the Wellness Institute at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in
Chicago.
He urges clients to graph
their weight changes and consider the life events that coincided with weight
gains or losses, such as pregnancy, a job or residence change, a new marital
status or a death in the family. It helps to understand the events or
circumstances in the past that prompted you to initiate a weight-loss program
or to abandon one that was helping you slim down.
"When you examine
your own weight-loss patterns, you can then identify potential methods and
tools that will work for you long term," says Dr. Kushner, author of Dr.
Kushner's Personality Type Diet.
Look Beyond the Numbers
Dr. Kushner urges clients
to concentrate on their behavior, not on the scale. In fact, he doesn't weigh
people in his program until the end of their first visit. Gee urges her clients
to focus on goals for their regular eating habits. For example, she encourages
strategies such as eating 250 fewer calories each day by passing on bread and
butter or cutting a couple of cans of soda from your diet, rather than fixating
on a goal of losing 40 pounds. And when you do look at your numbers, keep in
mind that experts agree that even a small weight loss should be regarded as a
success. Remember that maintaining a weight loss is a huge accomplishment, even
if you don't continue to lose additional pounds.
Forget About Fads
If you're a sucker for the
diet-of-the-moment, think seriously about resisting the urge. Instead of
hopping on the newest weight-loss bandwagon, fine-tune what you do regularly to
keep in shape. "Don't try to fit the latest exercise craze into your
lifestyle just because it's popular," says Gee. "If you've been making
an effort to take a daily walk, don't abandon your plan because it doesn't seem
new." Even if something is advertised as an effortless
40-pound-weight-loss wonder, fight the temptation to follow a fad.
Delight in the Day-to-Day
Small daily strategies can
make a big difference, says Dr. Hill. Walking 2,000 steps more or shaving just
two cookies' worth of calories from a snack can add up over time. Focusing on small lifestyle changes that you can do consistently will
bring more satisfaction than strict diets. "Add one or two healthy
behaviors to your regular routine, and you're done for the day," says Dr.
Hill.