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Research oversimplifies weight-loss formula; key is finding your right fit with exercise, calories
By Tracy Wheeler
Beacon Journal medical writer
Published on Tuesday, Aug 26, 2008
How many times can we hear it: eat less, exercise more.
If you want to lose weight, though, it's really just that simple.
Or is it?
What goes unanswered in that formula is exactly how much less we should eat and how much more we should exercise.
Most of us have operated under the U.S. surgeon general's recommendation that a half-hour of exercise a day, on most days of the week, is good enough.
But a new study out of the University of Pittsburgh seems to indicate that a half-hour isn't enough. To lose weight and keep it off, women may need to exercise nearly an hour a day, five days a week, while also limiting their daily diet to 1,200 to 1,500 calories.
''I can hear people letting out a huge sigh now,'' said Cathy Burke, coordinator of Akron General Medical Center's bariatric center. ''They're going to throw their hands up and say, 'How am I going to do it?' The general impression will be, 'There's just no way.' ''
Don't get frustrated, though.
While the study has been held up as proof that the surgeon general's recommendation is wrong, it's not that simple.
For starters, the 201 women in the study were solidly obese, with an average body mass index (BMI) of 32, said Ellen Glickman, a professor of exercise science at Kent State University. To reach a BMI of 32, a 5-foot-5-inch woman would have to weigh 192 pounds.
When a person carries that much extra weight, Glickman said, it will take more activity to lose it and keep it off. So to reach a normal BMI, the 5-5, 192-pound woman would have to lose 42 pounds, compared with just 12 pounds for a woman who's 5-5, 162. (To check your BMI, go to http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/.)
The point is this: the women in the study might have needed 55 minutes of exercise a day, five days a week, but that doesn't mean everybody does.
For many people, 30 minutes a day of low- to moderate-intensity exercise is enough to maintain a healthy weight, Glickman said.
However, for those who find themselves in the area of a 32 BMI, the study backs up what Burke has heard from her patients, who are considering bariatric surgery.
''I hear this story every day. Our patients have lost hundreds of pounds before they come to see us,'' she said. ''It's a matter of keeping it off.''
So if 55 minutes of exercise a day and a 1,200- to 1,500-calorie-a-day diet sounds difficult, well, it is.
''It's disheartening to know the results aren't what we'd like them to be,'' Burke said, ''but I'm not surprised at all by these findings, quite honestly.''
Pace is difficult
Few of her patients are able to keep up the necessary pace, eventually gaining back whatever they lost. The study proves that too.
Just 25 percent of the study participants managed to lose 10 percent of their weight and keep it off for two years — and these women were even getting support most people don't get, such as phone calls and face-to-face meetings with the researchers.
If 75 percent of them can't do it, who can?
Again, Glickman said, don't get frustrated.
No one should go from sitting on the couch to running two miles a day. Start slowly. Do something you enjoy. Cut out calories where you can. And increase your intensity as you go.
One pound of fat equals 3,500 calories. So, for every 3,500 calories you cut from your weekly total — by reducing the calories you eat and increasing the calories you burn by exercising — you'll lose one pound.
It's the first law of thermodynamics: energy in equals energy out. However, if energy in (calories from food) is out of balance with energy out (burning calories through exercise), the excess energy is going to be stored. And guess how the body stores excess energy. As fat.
So the goal is to put less energy in and force more energy out. Or put another way, eat less and exercise more.
One way to burn an extra 1,000 calories a week is to walk two miles a day, Glickman said. (Walking one mile equals 100 calories.)
Work your way up
If you reduce your daily diet by 200 to 300 calories a day, that's a total reduction of more than 2,000 calories a week.
And cutting those calories might be easier than you think, she said. Switch from whole milk to skim or 1 percent milk. Switch from regular soda to diet.
Then find something you like to do, and do it.
''Enjoy whatever you do. Just do something, I don't care what it is,'' she said. ''Walk your dog. It's summertime, it's beautiful, go for a walk.''
Use headphones to listen to music, watch TV while on the treadmill, start an exercise routine with a friend or neighbor.
''If you're not going to enjoy it, you're not going to do it,'' she said.
Once you pick something you enjoy, focus on stretching the duration and frequency.
''As people get more fit,'' Glickman said, ''they'll walk longer or faster, they'll start jogging, or they'll intersperse walking and jogging.''
Don't think you can do it?
Crystal Weaver didn't think she could, either.
But Weaver, 37, of Seville has lost 74 pounds over the past nine months. She's cut her carbohydrate intake, cut out soda altogether, and exercises four days a week for 30 to 45 minutes.
Just by jettisoning her six to eight cans of Coke each day, she's slashed her daily diet by 582 calories to 776 calories a day.
She made all these changes last year when she joined ''The Weight is Over'' program in Wadsworth, which mimics The Biggest Loser TV show with competitions and prizes.
Still, Weaver said, ''it continues to be a day-to-day struggle to make the right choices. I'll be honest, once the (Weight is Over) season ended in April, I probably put on 7 pounds. I went a little crazy.''
Once the second season got under way three weeks later, she returned to her healthy ways.
''The biggest thing for me is having other people around me to stay on track,'' she said. ''It provides some accountability.''
Mary Morgan, 52, of Akron, has taken a similar approach, watching her carbs and working out three or four days a week. She's down to 130 pounds, after losing 15 in the past year.
Now that she has a routine, Morgan said, ''I find it easy because I love to exercise.''
And that's the key, Glickman said. Exercise needs to become an integral part of your life, just like brushing your teeth.
''It's every day for the rest of your life,'' she said. ''It's not just reaching your goal and stopping.''
Tracy Wheeler can be reached at 330-996-3721 or tawheeler@thebeaconjournal.com.
How many times can we hear it: eat less, exercise more.
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