Weight Loss: One Step at a Time
Diana Davis, RD, LDN

It has been widely reported that our nation is facing an obesity "epidemic." The impact of the ever-expanding American waistline is both personal in terms of the emotional and health issues faced by individuals who have tried and failed repeatedly at weight loss, and a national healthcare crisis as we see this legacy handed down to our children and grandchildren.

Schools and other local agencies are being mandated to provide health education programs which are intended to increase opportunities for physical activity in school and in the community, as well as to teach nutrition and healthy eating habits to our youngest generation. Perhaps the most important lessons for today's families will be the ones we learn together at home.

Losing weight is achieved by eating fewer calories than would be required by metabolism to maintain the current weight. Weight loss is enhanced and maintained with regular, daily physical activity. Although you can lose weight by diet alone, it is unlikely that you will keep the weight off without becoming a much more active person.

There are many different approaches to weight loss. Diets which are very restrictive in foods allowed and very low in calories produce the fastest weight loss results. These diets are not recommended because they frequently require avoidance of whole groups of healthy foods such fruits, milk, and whole grains. The more restrictive the diet, the more difficult it will be to follow for the rest of your life. Such restrictive approaches to weight loss are frequently followed by rebound weight gain. Often the weight gained is greater than the amount of weight lost.

A healthier approach to weight loss is one which creates a moderate reduction in calories by including smaller portions of all food groups normally eaten, combined with moderate intensity daily physical activity. The following small steps represent general guidelines for weight loss through healthy eating… one step at a time.

Step One: Begin by keeping a daily food diary for your current, usual eating habits. The purpose of this step is an honest evaluation of the way you normally eat. Examine your food diary for nutrition. Do you typically eat or drink: 2 to 3 servings from the milk group? 2 to 3 servings of fruit? 3 or more servings of vegetables? 6 servings of whole grain or high fiber starches? And not more than 6 to 8 ounces of lean protein daily? Then, look at the food diary to identify the number of calories contributed by sweets, fats, and alcohol, as well as the frequency of restaurant meals in one week.

Step Two: Select 1 eating habit that you would like to change. This may be a nutrition goal you want to work on (eating more veggies or fruits) or a source of excessive calories you want to reduce (eating restaurant meals less often). Write a specific goal stating how you will improve your eating habits. For example, "I will decrease restaurant meals from 4 times per week to 3 times in the next week," is one example. Your goal should represent a small realistic change that you know you will be able to accomplish.

Step Three: Continue keeping a record of everything you eat or drink and, if possible, count your calories. There are several websites on the internet that can make this task easier. For example: www.calorieking.com has an extensive database of foods that you can search for calorie and other nutrition information; www.fitday.com and www.calorie-count.com both offer free food record programs you could use to track the calories and other nutrients in your healthy diet. Tracking calories is more effective method for weight control than just counting carbs or counting fats as you will be counting calories from all sources. Other health habits you will want to monitor include: ounces of water consumed, minutes of physical activity or number of steps on a pedometer or step meter.

Step Four: As you continue writing down your foods and beverages and counting your calories, you will see that simply making small changes in food portions and eating healthier foods reduces the number of calories eaten. By eating 250 to 500 calories less each day than you would have eaten in the past, will promote ½ to 1 pound of weight loss each week. Combining a healthy lower calorie meal plan with a gradually increasing exercise plan will increase the potential weight loss and long term maintenance of weight loss. If you are using a pedometer to keep track of your activity level, set a goal of increasing your number of steps gradually from baseline. Each 2,000 steps is approximately equal to 1 mile. A reasonable activity goal is to increase steps by at least 100 each day until you are walking 8,000-10,000 steps daily.

Step Five: Establish a plan for regular weight checks; once a week is recommended. Checking your weight more frequently can be discouraging as you will see daily fluctuations related to changes in water weight. Intake of high sodium (salty) meals will usually result in a higher body weight as excessive sodium intake causes fluid retention. Whenever your weight plateaus or "gets stuck," it is time to become more vigilant with steps one through four. It is likely that you have allowed portions and calories to creep back up a little, or that you have not been consistent with your exercise and activity plan.