Healthy Weight Loss:

The truth about healthy weight loss

While it would be nice to pop a pill and wake up 20 lbs lighter, the truth is that healthy weight loss takes time and effort, as well as a commitment to lifelong maintenance. The bottom line is that you need to burn more calories than you consume in order to lose pounds; in other words, eat less and move more. this doesn’t mean you have to starve yourself – healthy weight loss is about avoiding restrictive or “starvation” diets, and focusing instead on consuming better foods, controlling portion sizes, incorporating exercise, and examining the emotional and social factors that affect our weight. This can lead to changes in eating and exercise patterns that become part of a life style for maintaining a healthy weight over the long term.

Weight Loss Myths: Fact or Fiction?

MYTH: If you raise your metabolism, you can eat more and still lose weight!

FACT: Your metabolism controls how fast and in what way you burn the calories you consume. We burn calories throughout the day in many ways – from breathing and digesting to washing dishes or walking the dog. You need to burn more calories than you take in to lose weight – to lose one pound per week, you need cut or burn about 500 calories per day. Despite the claims of the diet pill manufacturers, you have very little ability to change your metabolism. But you do have the ability to help your body burn more calories by incorporating lifestyle changes, like more exercise.

MYTH: Carbs are evil!

FACT: Carbohydrates are actually lower in calories than fat – in one gram of carbohydrate, there is 6 calories, compared to the 9 in one gram of fat. The popularity of low-carb diets has made people crazy about counting carbs, but this is far less important than counting calories. The long-term effects of high-fat, high-protein diets are still unknown, but we do know that a diet high in good carbohydrates coming from whole grains, fruits, and veggies, provides adequate nutrition and can be ideal for weight loss. A balanced, low-fat diet, emphasizing portion-control, will help you lose weight with no risk of the unknown long-term effects related to fad diets.

MYTH: Fasting is a great way to lose weight.

FACT: Hollywood starlets swear by “fasts” or “cleanses” where they eat practically nothing for days. Starving yourself can help you drop a few pounds fast, but chances are you will regain that weight as soon as you start eating again, not to mention the numerous negative health effects a starvation diet can cause (gallstones, fainting, malnutrition...just to name a few.) Also, losing a lot of weight rapidly usually means you’re losing muscle and water rather than fat.

MYTH: To lose weight, stop eating fatty foods.

FACT: Fat-free does not mean calorie-free, and many fat-free versions of your favorite products have the same or more calories as the originals. This is because sugar has to be added to replace the flavor that is lost when the fat is taken out. Again, you need to watch your caloric intake in order to lose weight, so keep track of the foods you are eating, fat-free or otherwise.

MYTH: Sugar-free foods and artificial sweeteners are great for avoiding weight gain.

FACT: True, diet soft drinks and artificially-sweetened yogurts, ice cream and other snacks are often lower in calories. But sugar substitutes are associated with many negative side effects. Further, these sweeteners may actually have an adverse effect on dieters. For example, according to a recent study cited on WebMD, “artificial sweeteners may interfere with the body's natural ability to count calories based on a food's sweetness and make people prone to overindulging in other sweet foods and beverages”.

Is fat a friend or foe?

Recent science has proven that eating some fat is not only necessary for humans, but may help you lose weight. Along with benefiting nearly every organ in the body, fat also fills you up better than carbohydrates.

However, it is important to distinguish between good fats and bad fats. Good fats come from whole, natural, unprocessed sources. Fats turn bad when they are processed, or damaged by light, heat, oxygen or chemicals. A good example of this is partial hydrogenation, a process which gives oils longer shelf life, but in turn creates trans-fats, which are particularly harmful

Eating small amounts of natural fats coming from foods like avocados, nuts, and seeds can help you get full faster and provide the healthy fats your body needs.

See Healthy Fats to learn more about good fats and bad fats.

Emotional and social components of healthy weight loss

Food isn’t just used to satisfy hunger – it is also a common part of social interactions and a means of comfort and stress relief. How we eat is also partially dictated by how we were raised – “clean your plate – there’s children starving in Africa!” – and how the people around us eat. If your friends and relatives start packing on the pounds, you are more likely to do so as well.

So what’s a healthy dieter to do? First, consider how and when you eat. Do you only eat when you are hungry, or do you reach for a snack while watching TV? Do you eat when you’re stressed or bored? To reward yourself?

Try keeping a “food diary” – track everything you eat during the week, along with the emotions or circumstances that go along with your eating. Click here for a sample food diary that can show you your patterns and the areas you need to work on.

Recognizing your emotional triggers can help make it easier for you to make changes. Once you realize your own personal challenges to weight loss, you can work towards gradually changing the habits and mental attitudes that have sabotaged your efforts in the past.

Stress eating is a common problem; instead of self-medicating with food, try alternative means of stress relief.
See  Coping With Stress for tips and suggestions.

Mindful eating helps healthy weight loss

Mindful eating is the theory that paying attention to what you eat, savoring each bite, and choosing foods that are both nourishing and enjoyable can help healthy weight loss and maintenance. Being mindful about food also means eating until you are not quite full, but not one bite more—things that are hard to do if your attention is elsewhere.

Guidelines for healthy weight loss

• Find support from family, friends, a counselor, and/or support group. Share your experiences and listen to others; receive support and encouragement.
• Set realistic goals. Aim for a slow, modest weight loss and expect setbacks. Forgive yourself and resolve to start fresh the next day!
• Make sure to shop when you are not hungry. Create a shopping list to stick to, and store tempting foods in cabinets or drawers out of your sight.
• Plan your meals and snacks ahead of time. You will be less likely to binge and more inclined to eat in moderation if you have thought out healthy meals in advance, and eat when are truly hungry.
• Dish up smaller servings. At restaurants, eat only half your meal and take the rest home. For more on healthy choices while dining out, see Fast Food Nutrition.
• Drink lots of water.
• Incorporate 30 minutes of physical activity into your day. Engaging in some kind of physical activity – whether it be gardening, dancing, walking, playing golf or tennis – will enliven your physical and mental health and help to keep the extra pounds off. See the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Tips for Being More Active.

How do the popular weight loss plans compare?

Related Links for Healthy Weight Loss

General weight loss guides

Losing Weight: Start by Counting Calories – Covers the physiology of successful weight control. See also Nutrition and Weight Loss Q & As. (Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

How to Use Fruits and Vegetables to Help Manage Your Weight – Illustrated guide to healthy ways to lose weight. (National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion)

Weight loss Calculators and Portion sizes

Just Enough for You: About Portion Sizes – Offers tips for managing portion sizes at home, and when eating out. (Weight Control Information Network)

Body Mass Index – Calculator for figuring your own body mass index (BMI). (NHLBI)

Menu planner – Includes a Daily Calorie Calculator for figuring out your daily calorie intake. (NHLBI)

Emotions and eating

How to stop emotional eating – Ways to curb emotional eating from sabotaging your healthy weight loss efforts. (Mayo Clinic)

Emotional Eating Test – Do you have issues with food? Take this online test and find out! (Psychology Today)

Physical activity and exercise

Physical Activity for Everyone – A series of articles cover a variety of physical activities for all age groups. Provides recommendations for getting started. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Tips for Exercise Success and Just Move! Your Personal Fitness Center (American Heart Association)

Exploding 10 Exercise Myths – Profiles 10 common myths about exercise to help you get started on your way to health. (Nutrition Action Health Letter, Jan/Feb 2000)

Activity calculator – Simply fill in your weight and time you typically spend doing a task/exercise/work function, and this calculator tells you how many calories you burn for 222 different activities! (Fitness Jumpsite, written by two personal trainers)

Suzanne Barston, Jeanne Segal, Ph.D., and Robert Segal M.A contributed to this article. Last modified on August 27, 2007