Reader Survey Results
What's the best way to lose weight and keep it off forever? We posed that question to
Prevention magazine readers--men and women throughout the nation who are committed to keeping themselves healthy, slim and fit. We asked for weight-loss strategies that really work, and more than 6,000 readers answered the call.
The gist of the responses and the basic philosophy of this book is this: If you make small changes in your diet, daily activities and behavior, without drastically overhauling your life, the numbers on your bathroom scale will gradually go down for good. That's terrific news if you've been trying for years to starve off and sweat off those extra pounds.
The fact is, you don't have to quit red meat cold turkey. You can have a sliver of cheesecake once in a blue moon. And you don't have to spend hours in the gym every day. All of that flies in the face of the traditional ways of weight loss, where a main meal might consist of an undressed salad and a naked chicken breast, or worse, a low-cal meal-replacement "shake" with no identifiable flavor whatsoever.
Cutting-edge weight-loss researchers agree: That old approach just doesn't work. "Dieting isn't the way to lose weight, because in people's minds dieting means skipping meals, depriving yourself and designating 'forbidden foods,'" says John Foreyt, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Medicine and director of the Nutrition Research Clinic at Baylor College School of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and co-author of Living without Dieting. Sure, you'll probably shed the pounds short-term. But chances are you'll balloon back up in the long run.
Of course, to lose weight you must create a calorie deficit. You can do that by taking in fewer calories, by burning more calories through activity or by doing both at the same time. The Prevention reader survey suggests--and the latest weight-loss research confirms--that doing both is the best way to lose weight long-term.
"Most of the data show that people who have lost weight will just not keep it off unless they've made some significant changes in their physical activity," says Steven N. Blair, P.E.D. (doctorate in physical education), director of epidemiology and clinical applications at the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research in Dallas. But that calorie deficit doesn't have to be big--only about 500 calories a day. And it's amazing how easy that is. Switching to diet soda, walking instead of taking the car--simple substitutions like these can make a big impact on the scale and on your health.
The 20 weight-loss strategies identified by those surveyed add up to a top-notch weight-loss program. This campaign against the scale can help you lose weight the right way and be more likely to keep it off. In fact, if you begin to put these strategies into effect immediately, you can lose a good ten pounds within the next three months.
Fine-Tuning Your Diet
Reducing the amount of fat in your diet was the number 1 successful weight-loss strategy by far: 65 percent of those surveyed gave it top priority. That makes perfect sense, because fat contains more than twice as many calories as carbohydrates or protein. Plus, fat is more readily stored in your body, while those other foods are more easily converted to and burned off as fuel.
What's surprising is that cutting calories--the old-school way of weight loss--ranked only at number 3 and cutting back on sweets (another refrain from previous dieting days) was even farther down the list, at number 5. It's not that reducing calories and sweets isn't important. But if you concentrate on fat, you'll probably make a big dent in the other two as well, because fat and sugar often come together in foods, says F. Xavier Pi-Sunyer, M.D., professor of medicine at Columbia University and director of the Obesity Research Center at St. Luke's - Roosevelt Hospital Center, in New York City.
How do you cut fat and calories? For one thing, you make a practice of reading labels--number 9 on the list of top strategies (on page 104). The fat content of most foods is easy to find, thanks to improvements in product labels. Products that don't pass muster--that have too many grams of fat per serving--should never make it from the grocery store shelves to your kitchen. (Keeping problem foods out of the house was number 6 on the list of strategies.)
Eating low-fat or nonfat foods (number 11 of the top 20) is something you can do to substitute for your favorite decadent desserts, creamy salad dressings and spreads. But make sure you swap them portion for portion--otherwise, you could actually gain more calories than you lose. For example, if you swap a piece of raspberry-cheese pastry for a fat-free slice, you cut a whopping 15.9 grams of fat and 65 calories from your meal. But if instead of eating one slice of the skinny version you eat two, you actually add 205 calories to your daily total. So go easy on the serving size.
Number 12 on the list of top successful weight-loss tactics is reducing your intake of meat. Meat is one of the major sources of fat in American diets, especially saturated fat, which also ups your risk of heart disease. "But keeping some meat in your diet isn't bad--you just have to watch the portion size," Dr. Pi-Sunyer says. Once in a while, indulge in a steak if you want, but instead of the 12-ounce T-bone, order the 4-ounce fillet, and cut off the excess fat. Round out your weekly diet with leaner meats, such as baked or broiled turkey and chicken, and fish (many of which contain heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids).
When you turn your nose up at fat, you tend to fill up on other, more healthy food and drink. Indeed, the number 4 tip was increasing water intake. Experts say that often, when you think you're hungry, you're really thirsty. So first try to douse that urge to eat with a glass of H2O. (Aim for eight eight-ounce glasses of water a day.)
Eating more high-fiber foods like cereals, vegetables, fruits and beans ranked number 8 on the top 20 list, and filling up on starchy foods like whole-grain breads, pasta and rice is likewise a diet-smart rule to follow. "Those foods tend to be low-fat, so they drive you to a lower-calorie diet," Dr. Pi-Sunyer says. "They're also bulkier, so smaller amounts of them might fill you up more." Research suggests that it takes your body longer to digest fiber-dense foods, so they help keep your blood sugar levels stable. That helps you avoid the severe blood sugar peaks and valleys that may trigger your appetite.
Eating smaller but frequent meals, number 16 of the top 20, may also have the same blood sugar - stabilizing effect. That means snacking can be okay, as long as your idea of a midafternoon treat is low-fat, complex-carbohydrate fare like pretzels, fruits and nonfat or low-fat yogurt. But reducing or eliminating between-meal snacks like handfuls of honey-roasted peanuts or bags of M&M's is a must if you're to lose weight (strategy number 20).
Top 20 Weight-Loss Strategies
Losing weight is not enough. Keeping it off is more than half the game. Here, from more than 6,000 weight loss "experts"--real people who have figured out what works for them--are the techniques that make all the difference. 1. Reduce fat intake. 2. Exercise regularly (any kind of exercise). 3. Reduce total calories. 4. Drink more water. 5. Eat fewer sweets. 6. Keep problem foods out of the house. 7. Walk for fitness. 8. Increase high-fiber foods. 9. Read food labels for fat and calories. 10. Keep a food diary. 11. Eat low-fat or nonfat foods. 12. Cut back on meat intake. 13. Enjoy exercise. 14. Increase your self-esteem. 15. Plan what you'll eat. 16. Eat smaller but frequent meals. 17. Have a support group. 18. Do aerobics. 19. Become more conscious of why you eat at certain times. 20. Eliminate or reduce between-meal snacks. |
Exercising Your Options
It's no surprise that being more active earned the number 2 spot among weight-loss strategies that work. But activity doesn't necessarily mean exercise in the classic sense--donning a sweat suit and hammering through a daily hourlong walk, run or weight workout at the gym. "These things are fine, but many people have trouble fitting them into their schedules," Dr. Blair says.
It may be more convenient for you to put in 30 minutes of brisk vacuuming, mopping or leaf raking instead of brisk walking--and consider that part of your workout for the day. Although research hasn't shown how such lifestyle workouts compare with more fitness-oriented workouts, anything that gets you moving, no matter how hard you're working, helps you burn calories. "Your muscles don't know whether they're digging in the garden or whether you're on the fanciest weight machine in the gym," Dr. Blair says.
So when walking for fitness (our number 7 strategy) or taking an aerobics class (number 18 on the list) isn't possible, you've got a whole host of options. Take the active way out whenever you can. Use the stairs, wash your dinner dishes by hand or go on a house-cleaning binge. Combine these lifestyle workouts with your favorite fitness activity, whether it's swimming, cycling, hiking or walking. Try to accumulate about one hour of activity daily--it can provide you with about 300 calories of the 500-calorie deficit you're trying to achieve each day.
Perhaps the best thing about having so many exercise options to choose from is that you're more apt to find something you like. Enjoying exercise--number 13 of the top 20--means you're likelier to stick with it, Dr. Blair says.
Psyching Yourself Thin
Increasing your self-esteem ranked number 14 in the top 20. But isn't a higher opinion of yourself a result of losing weight, not a way to lose weight? Not necessarily, explains Dr. Foreyt.
"You do not get true life's joy from focusing on the bathroom scale," he insists. "It's more important to focus on relationships with other people, being more productive at work, being more organized, and viewing life as a series of opportunities and growth experiences." That--along with small steps to change your diet and increase your activity--can help you feel as though you're more in control of your life and your weight problem. And when that happens, weight loss may not seem like such a chore. "The long-term weight-loss successes are people who change their lifestyles for themselves, not because their high school reunion is coming up or because they want to fit into a pair of size-ten jeans," he says.
You can enhance that feeling of control by using self-monitoring techniques, such as keeping a food diary (number 10) and planning what you're going to eat (number 15). When you record what you've eaten, jot down how you were feeling and what you were doing at the time--"Your Perfect Weight Success Diary," on page 275, will show you how. This simple routine will help you become more conscious about why you're eating--number 19 of our weight-loss top 20.
"Often, what drives your eating is not hunger but feelings--boredom, anger, tension, stress or hostility," Dr. Foreyt points out. Handling these feelings, instead of feeding them, can not only help you lose weight but also help you create a healthier emotional lifestyle. Whether it's an organized group of fellow dieters, an understanding family or a close friend who's also on the weight-loss track, having a support group--the number 17 weight-loss strategy--can help you stay motivated. What's more, it can enhance your sense of well-being to an even greater extent than the number of pounds you ultimately lose.
"Our weight is such a trivial part of our lives, but so many of us judge ourselves by what the scale says," Dr. Foreyt says. "Being skinny doesn't mean you'll be happy."
