Psychology Today: 5 Steal Forces in Weight Loss

[uyis11]

This article caught my eye today at the library on my lunch break. Pretty interesting stuff.

Good excerpt:
"Barrett suggests taking a cue from the members of the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR), a self-selected group of more than 5,000 successful weight-losers who have shed an average of 66 pounds and kept it off 5.5 years. Some registry members lost weight using low-carb diets; some went low-fat; others eliminated refined foods. Some did it on their own; others relied on counseling. But when it came to keeping weight off over the long term, they had one thing in common: vigorous exercise for at least an hour most days of the week. Most also participated in at least one other activity or sport. "People in the NWCR exercise a lot," says Barrett. She estimates they burn an extra 2,800 calories a week."

I was pretty surprised to see that. The article goes on to say that just slight life style changes may not be enough to lose weight and keep it off. Weight loss requires drastic sustained changes. Read the whole article, it was really good.

 

[allyphoe]

Stupid non-science Psychology Today and their fallacious reasoning. People who did A before now do B, therefore if you want to do A, you should do B. Exercise alone is an excellent way to maintain weight. It's a lousy way to lose weight, in large part because of their first point - your body wants you to be fat. Without a dietary component, you're going to be fitter, but not lighter.

Plus they claim that you can eat 2 apples for 150 calories. I buy average-sized apples from the loose bin (as opposed to in a bulk bag of itsy bitsy apples), and going by the scale, those suckers are 125 calories per.

 

[Korrie]

The article goes on to say that just slight life style changes may not be enough to lose weight and keep it off. Weight loss requires drastic sustained changes.

While I agree that to aquire any sucessful weight loss, changes must be sustained....I do beg to differ that they need to be "drastic changes" Its been prooven over and over that small steps lead to big results.

 

[uyis11]

I don't think the article was intending to convey the message that vigorous exercise is the end all be all to weight loss. The article just made the point that those that were successful all included that component as well as some varied type of diet. Basically, diet alone is not enough. Not exercise alone is enough.

I agree that both diet and exercise are severely dependent on each other for weight loss, but daily exercise is necessary for long term low weight maintenance. On the other hand, caloric deficit for the rest of your life will probably kill you.

Curious, do you have something against psychology?

 

[maleficent]

if a person realized that they had one hour of vigorous exercise a day to look forward to for the rest of their life (and i'm sure they aren't counting sex ) that'd seem pretty overwheling and would make a lot of people throw their hands up and say why even bother...

30 minutes a day is a much more realistic number - while keeping calories in check.

 

[Korrie]

On the other hand, caloric deficit for the rest of your life will probably kill you.

hense the small steps, as opposed to dramatic ones

 

[maleficent]

If you've ever tried to lose weight—be it 5 pounds or 50—you don't need to be told the human body resists weight change. We're each born with a predetermined set point—a weight range that typically spans about 10 to 20 pounds—and the further we push our weight away from it, the more intensely the body fights its way back. Hence the yo-yo effect: You diet and lose weight, only to gain it all back once you stop your diet. The culprit isn't lack of willpower, it's evolution.

How about the problem is that the person chose to diet and didn't make it a lifestyle change - so they lost the weight and went back to their old habits that caused them to gain the weight to begin with.

Psychology Today usually has some interesting articles -I really think they're missing the mark on this one..

 

[wordslinger]

Am I a freak because I actually enjoy exercising for an hour? Seven days a week? At first I would have laughed at myself for even fathoming an hour, an hour can be pretty tiresome. I just wonder how my old self would react to my present self.

 

[maleficent]

you aren't a freak - but it is time consuming...

 

[wordslinger]

I think subconsciously I know that once the fall semester starts my time for exercise will go down the tubes-- I'm cramming it all in now. I did manage to fit in six days of decent exercise during my semesters the previous academic year. Hopefully I can keep that up.

 

[allyphoe]

Curious, do you have something against psychology?

I've actually got a degree in psych; I was research track and decided spring of my senior year that I couldn't stomach another umpteen years of school. Psychology Today isn't psychology; it's fluff meant for laypeople, written by journalists with an interest in psych.