To Your Health
May, 2023 (Vol. 17, Issue 05) |
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The Right Way to Lose Weight
By Editorial Staff
If you're trying to lose weight and find yourself overwhelmed not only at the prospect of doing so, but also at the myriad strategies to choose from, you're not alone. And what happens if (as is so often the case) if the strategy you choose to pursue doesn't "work" within the time frame you feel it should? Believe it or not, there's a "right" way to lose weight: here it is, courtesy of new research that examined the behavior patterns of people who achieve clinically significant weight loss.
Researchers have made it simple: Eating a healthier diet and doing more exercise lead to weight loss, while skipping meals and taking prescription diet pills do not. (This study was conducted prior to the widespread use of Ozempic and similar medications for weight loss, which do appear to work, at least in the short term – albeit with a variety of short-term side effects, and unknown dangers in the long term.) These two simple changes resulted in clinically significant weight loss, defined as at least 5% of body weight among the more than 20,000 adults in the study.
Participants who lost weight to this degree reported higher diet quality (higher protein intake, lower intake of refined grains and added sugar) and more moderate and vigorous physical activity compared to participants who did not achieve clinically significant weight loss. Findings appear in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
While acceptance of body weight and body differences is a goal individuals and society should strive to embrace, the reality is that an abundance of research clearly links excess weight / high body-mass-index (and the health behaviors that often contribute to it) to poor health outcomes. You might accept your body for what it is, but you're also accepting the health consequences that may come with it if you don't do something to change. If your weight is putting your health at risk, do something about it. As this study suggests, ramping up your diet and exercise is a great place to start.
