The Science of Slimming
Getting rid of all those unwanted pounds is as simple as calories in, calories out. It's also as mysterious and complex as the workings of the human mind
So what constitutes a "successful" weight loss? "The old concept of an `ideal weight' is losing credibility," says Yale psychology Prof. Kelly Brownell. "We know that modest weight loss can produce impressive health benefits." For example, studies of weight-related illnesses show that a loss of just 7 percent of body weight--if it is maintained--reduces the incidence of diabetes by 58 percent. And losing 10 pounds lowers blood pressure in people who are borderline hypertensive.
Reducing the national waistline requires a major shift in thinking about weight control. Gone are the days when weight control was instinctual, when food was scarce and humans had to be active just to survive. "We're never going to go back to an environment where we don't have to worry about weight," says James Hill, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado. "We're not going to give up our cars and our remotes. And we have all these biological mechanisms relating to appetite and hunger that encourage eating."
As a result, says Hill, "we have to use our brains to restrict those instincts." This requires a conscious commitment to controlling eating and increasing physical activity. And--here's the really hard part--it's not for a week, but for a lifetime. Americans are only beginning to accept this new paradigm. Though most want to lose weight, only 1 in 5 is actually eating fewer calories and exercising for 30 minutes or more each day. "Essentially," Hill adds, "we have to teach people to override their biological instincts with their cognitive abilities."
Kenny Roberts and his best friend, Rick Marks, are learning to make the best of the new realities. Roberts, 42, and Marks, 43, grew up together in Oxon Hill, Md. They also grew out together. In early 2002, Kenny weighed 340 pounds and Rick was at 292. "Just trying to bend over to tie my shoes was a life-threatening experience," Marks remembers. When his doctor suggested he lose weight, Marks asked "How?" He got no answer.
Fewer than half of obese adults report that their physicians even advise them to lose weight. And in a survey of overweight women, more than 75 percent said their doctors, like Marks's physician, helped them only a "slight amount" or "not at all" with weight control.
Roberts, like Marks, suffered from a variety of health complaints: difficulty breathing, numbness in his hands, dizziness. His epiphany came one day in his office when he couldn't speak and his entire left side went numb: "It scared the bejeezus out of me."
Always overweight, Roberts was teased as a child and became the brunt of family jokes as an adult. When a friend took him to a Weight Watchers meeting, he says, "I hid in back and didn't say a word." But he kept going, and in a month, lost about 10 pounds. When Marks saw him, he told his friend, "Sign me up."
Now Weight Watchers is their "boys' night out." After each meeting, they adjourn to a local bar and eatery for their one splurge of the week. "This is really the highlight of my week," says Roberts. Without realizing it, the men had hit on a strategy researchers now know dramatically improves success: diet with a friend. In one program, participants who joined with friends lost 33 percent more weight in 10 months than those who tried to go it alone, and 66 percent (compared with 24 percent of the solo dieters) kept the pounds off. One new tool to reduce diet isolation is E-mail behavioral counseling. When combined with an Internet tutorial, dieters corresponding with a psychologist via E-mail lost twice as much weight as those dieting alone.
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