FOUR SIMPLE STEPS for easy-does-it weight control:

HERE ARE FOUR SIMPLE STEPS for easy-does-it weight control:

1. Set “SMART” goals- that is goals that are Small, Manageable, Achievable, Realistic and Tangible. Any weight-loss process should start with a personal medical history that covers body weight and nutrition. Patients are asked to chart their weight fluctuations over the previous twenty years. With these measurements, they can find their adult weight that didn’t fluctuate more than 10 pounds over five years. Any weight goal should not be lower than the lowest weight a person has maintained for at least one year since age 21.

A48-year-old woman came to us saying she wanted to lose 50 of her 200 pounds; that way, she might be able to go off her hypertension medication. The woman held down two jobs and ate on a when-convenient basis. After considering her life style and medical history, we recommended that she lose just 15 pounds. We then helped her figure out a nutritious, three meal schedule. After losing those 15 pounds- only 7.5 percent of her weight- she was able to go without medication.

2. Take it off. To reduce, you must combine the three elements of long term weight control. First, follow a nutritionally balanced, healthful eating plan. Increase the fiber in your diet and cut your fat intake to 25 to 30 grams per day. If you’re selective about the food you choose, you can eat three meals a day and up to three low-fat snacks.

Next alter daily behavior that encourages overeating and a sedentary life-style. Use the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Plan social activities that don’t focus on food. Stand up and move around more at work.

Finally, plan some fitness activity. Depending on your physical condition, you might start with 20 minutes of walking three times a week and gradually double or triple that over a year. Any form of exercise is helpful- dancing, walking the dog, cleaning the floor. The key is doing it for at least 20 minutes. Frequency and duration are what matter- not pain and sweat.

Even if you start slowly, you’ll get quick results. Our center’s experience shows that losing 10 to 15 % of body weight will, in 7 out of 10 patients, improve heart function, blood pressure, glucose tolerance, sleep patterns and respiratory function. Researchers followed 787 people who were 10 to 60% overweight and had mild hypertension, and they found that the blood pressure of those who lost only 11 pounds went down as much as the pressure of those who had received medication only.

One explanation for this quick impact is that you are what you eat. It’s not just the pounds of excess body fat that cause all the trouble. It’s the high-fat calories that you consume every day to maintain those extra pounds. As soon as you cut out those additional high-fat calories, you’ll be healthier and happier.

3. Keep it off. Here’s the tough part. After trimming down, easy-does-it dieters spend at least six months adapting to their new weight. This gives the body time to adjust to the changes it has undergone in diet, exercise and life-style.

Don’t get caught in the trap of all-or-nothing thinking. An occasional lapse is normal. We recommend what we call the “R-K-O-System. Each day that you follow a program of low-fat diet and exercise is an “R” day of “regularly reducing.” Days when you want to just hold steady-eat a bit more, exercise slightly less- are “K” days, for “keeping it off.” Days when you splurge are “O” days, for “off.”

At the end of each day, mark an R, K or O on your calendar. The winning formula is to have your R days outnumber your K days, and your K days out number your O days.

4. Reassess. Those who should lose 100 or more pounds obviously need to lose more than ten percent of their body weight; they will require medical supervision, rapid weight loss and the use of special portion-controlled foods.

In most cases, however, people who are overweight can start an easy-does-it plan. Then, after they’ve maintained their new, slimmer bodies for six months they can consider a second cycle.

How do you decide whether you’ve lost enough weight? Feeling good is the first sign. Health-risk factors are an even better indicator. Before you go on an easy-does-it weight-loss program, have your doctor measure your cholesterol, body fat and blood pressure. The check with your physician at the beginning of the six month maintenance stage. After that, you can move forward on your own.

THE EASY-DOES-IT DIET is not so much a diet as an approach to weight loss and lifestyle. You don’t have to hit a magic number on your scale. You can achieve a healthy weight safely and permanently-if you just remember: EASY-DOES-IT!

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