I think that weight loss is simple. Note that I did not say it was easy. There's a big difference. It is important because of the increased incidence of arthritis, certain cancers, heart disease, gallbladder disease, diabetes, hypertension, and elevated cholesterol in obese individuals.
At the most basic level, ones change in weight is based on the amount of calories coming in and the amount of calories being burned off. With the exception of fluid retention, you will only gain weight if your caloric intake exceeds the number of calories you are burning off. Conversely, you will only lose weight if you burn off more calories than you take in.
There are 3500 calories per pound. Therefore to lose a pound you must burn off 3500 more calories than you are consuming. To achieve a one pound per week weight loss will require an average of eating 500 fewer calories per day, burning off an average of 500 more calories per day, or some combination of the two.
To lose 2 pounds of fat per week by diet alone would require a decrease of 1000 calories per day. This would be very difficult for most people and any faster rate of weight loss is unrealistic. More profound rapid weight loss claims usually are the result of temporary fluid loss and dehydration.
Looking at this long term is not as discouraging. Up to a 50 pound weight loss over the course of year can be targeted. It took a good while to get overweight and a year or more is not an unrealistic time frame to meet a target weight depending on the degree of obesity present.
Patients often complain that they can't lose weight even though they have a very low caloric intake. They need to learn that it is very difficult to lose weight with calorie restrictions alone. It seems that the body tries to conserve energy and if a significant decrease in calories is detected, the natural tendency is for the body to try and conserve energy by expending fewer calories.
Patients also complain that they are gaining weight year to year despite no change in diet and exercise habits. Unfortunately, as we age our metabolism slows down and we will gain weight unless an active effort is made to eat less and/or exercise more.
It is abundantly clear that genetics plays a large factor in determining one's weight. Not all of it is learned behavior creating poor eating habits. Everyone knows people that are couch potatoes and who eat an incredible amount of calories and are rail thin. We also know people who can seemingly gain weight just by looking at food. This is as unfair as it is undeniable.
A successful long-term weight loss plan involves lifestyle modification. Do not buy unhealthy food to tempt you in a moment of weakness. Nobody ever got fat eating carrots and celery sticks. Do not eat when bored or stressed. Ideally, eat only when hungry and not to the point of being full. Do not eat out of multi-serving cartons or bags.
Exercise aerobically daily. It is very enlightening to see how much walking or running is required to burn off the calories from one candy bar. Eat what you like, but eat less of it. Fad diets are by definition unlikely to be sustainable over the long run.
Weigh yourself weekly when trying to lose weight. A daily weight just leads to frustrations from the normal variations in hydration status.
Weigh yourself daily when trying to maintain your weight. Too much weight can be put on over the course of a bad week to not try and identify this earlier. If the weight is up 1-2 pounds over a day or two, be extra careful on the caloric intake until the weight has returned to baseline.
Of the two ways to lose weight, all medicines work by decreasing caloric intake. There is no medication that will increase your metabolism and allow you to lose weight without a change in your diet or exercise pattern.
In our society, it is harder than ever not to be overweight. A sedentary lifestyle is encouraged by the seemingly infinite channels on television as well as DVDs, computers and video games. Unhealthy fast food is heavily advertised, cheap, and tasty. Time constraints make it difficult to exercise and to shop and prepare healthy meals on a regular basis.
Progressive communities and lawmakers have recently attempted to tackle this issue in a variety of ways. Methods have included outlawing the use of unhealthy cooking fats, requiring caloric counts to be printed on restaurant menus, and banning the sale of soft drinks in public schools. I applaud all of these measures and wish that our locally elected officials had the intestinal fortitude to adopt these ideas.
Other more heavy handed measures that have been proposed include having a junk food tax and banning certain commercials. I am less comfortable with these options for a variety of reasons having more to do with my philosophy on the roll of government than on the desired results. I think I would be in favor of a mandatory showing of "Super Size Me" in high school health classes though.
But, as is typical of the American way of thinking, easy solutions are sought out. These often involve wishful thinking that the latest over the counter diet pill or weight loss diet will be the answer. For those with the means, surgery with liposuction or gastric banding is a tempting answer, but long term efficacy and safety issues remain.
Ultimately, the long term solution still involves eating less and exercising more. Weight loss can be simple as sugar and easy as (turning down a slice of) pie.
