Small Change, Big Weight-Loss Payoff
By Karen Berney

We are a fat nation obsessed with losing weight.

According to a 1999 Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study, 35 percent of
America's adults (75 million) are slightly or moderately overweight, and 26
percent (56 million) are obese or grossly overweight. Anyone up to 30
pounds above the target weight for their body size is overweight, says the
CDC, and another 30 pounds over target weight is considered obese.

The CDC notes that half of us are trying to lose weight, not only through
diet and exercise but by using commercial weight-loss products and services
worth $33—$50 billion a year.

There may be a better way: eating 100 less calories a day. We put on 1.8 to
2.0 pounds each year, calculated professor James Hill of the University of
Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, in an article published in
Science (February 7, 2003).

How can we prevent this weight gain? Since each pound is equivalent to
3,500 calories, creating a deficit of about 100 calories daily — the
equivalent of 10 potato chips — should allow us to stop gaining at least 1
pound each year, contends Hill.

Take in Less Than You Need
But losing weight is different from not gaining weight, points out
Katherine Tallmadge, a registered dietitian and spokesperson for the
American Dietetic Association in Washington, D.C. Assuming your body needs
2,000 calories a day to meet its energy requirements — the average for most
women — and you consume 300 fewer calories than 2,000 daily, you could shed
30 pounds a year. That's because your body will take the extra 300 calories
it needs for energy from stores of fat.

Now, that may sound extreme, but, Tallmadge, like Hill, believes "small
changes can make a big difference." Consider this: By halving that 200- to
300-calorie nightly snack, you could drop 15 pounds a year. Step up your
level of activity by walking around the office instead of shooting out
emails nonstop and you could strip away another 100 calories daily, or 10
pounds a year.

How to Knock Out Calories
Of course, if it were that easy, you wouldn't be reading this now. So how
do you hunker down and continuously knock out those 200 to 300 calories a
day? The often-repeated formula is to combine eating less calories with
regular cardiovascular exercise (see Get Fit in As Little As Two Hours a
Week and weight training (see The Three Exercises You Must Do for a Tighter
You). Do all three, and you're guaranteed to melt away fat. But be
forewarned: Your body can only metabolize a certain amount of fat — 1 to
1.5 pound(s) a week — on a low-calorie diet, says Tallmadge. At some point,
the fat will turn to muscle, which is why you want to build muscle when
losing weight.

"You don't have to feel like you are on a diet or depriving yourself when
eating fewer calories to lose weight," says Tallmadge, author of Diet
Simple. She has rarely met a woman who cannot lose weight and keep it off
on 1,800 calories a day, she says, especially if she eats a good breakfast.

It's All About Planning
Tallmadge's No. 1 weight-loss tip is to plan. You have to grocery shop with
a list in hand so you can prepare the tasty breakfast above, or bring your
600-calorie lunch to work. Otherwise, you're going to grab Chinese takeout
or a burger and mistakenly plough through a 1,000-calorie dinner and 1,800
calories a day.

Save food preparation time by buying frozen fruits and vegetables. Not only
is frozen more convenient, but the food can actually be more nutritious
than fresh produce, Tallmadge says. Frozen foods are picked when ripe and
frozen immediately, whereas fresh produce is often picked early, so it can
sit longer on grocers' shelves.

Storing prepared meals in one-serving-size plastic containers also aids in
controlling portion size in the land that prizes super-sized, biggie
everything!

Stick With It
A surefire way to stick with fewer calories each day, says New York City
dietitian Julie Walsh, is to maintain a written record of what you eat and
when you eat it. Nothing piles up the calories faster than "mindless
eating," which is when you consume food — not because you are hungry, but
because your body is fatigued or your mind is bored. Simply becoming
conscious about your eating habits can jolt new eating behavior, says
Walsh.

To reinforce new eating habits, Walsh suggests that you weigh yourself
about once a week. Since so many women live in mortal fear of stepping on
the scale, the knowledge that the dreaded event is approaching can help
keep your eating in check.

Finally, stay happily engaged and busy with work, hobbies, friends and
family, advise both Walsh and Tallmadge. The truth is, when you have a
fairly wonderful life, you're not as interested in overeating.