Are you someone that counts and monitors every calorie in an attempt to lose weight? Do you avoid fat for fear of getting fatter? I’m here to enlighten you….that thought process is archaic and does not work especially if your goal is weight loss. In reality, 
who can live like that, and enjoy life.
Are you someone that blames ‘getting older’ as the cause of your increased belly fat? Although hormones shift as we age and encourage weight gain, you can boost your metabolism and balance your hormones naturally through diet, the right type of exercise and lifestyle modifications.
A study published in the June 23, 2011 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine revealed that certain foods and lifestyle behaviors are what lead to the middle-age belly bulge. This 4 year study involved 120,877 well-educated men and women who were healthy and not obese at the start of the study. On average, the participants gained one lb. every year, however some gained much more, ~4 pounds in one year, while a few managed to stay the same or even lose weight.
Although the information from the study isn’t breaking news, they confirmed these factors that influenced weight gain or weight loss:
- Increase physical activity. People who increased their physical activity gained less weight than non-exercisers. However, if you are fairly active and fail to pay attention to your diet, you will still gain weight! Bottom line, even if you exercise, you cannot ignore your diet and continue to eat or drink whatever you want and expect to lose weight! Finally in the research, what I’ve been teaching for the last 20+ years: for the best fat loss results interval and resistance training are the winners for fat loss versus endless hours of aerobic exercise.
- Highly processed foods do not satisfy hunger. Eating refined, processed crap actually increases your appetite which equals added pounds, elevated blood sugars and a nice spare tire or muffin top. If health is your priority and you want to lose weight, eat more of these foods.
- Get your sleep! People who slept <6 hours a night or >8 hours gain the most weight.
- Limit television time. Increased TV-watching led to an average weight gain of one-third of a pound for every hour of TV watching per day.
- Monitor your food choices. It’s no surprise that these foods were linked to the most weight gain:
| French fries (>3 lb) | processed meats (0.93 lb) |
| potato chips (1.7 lb) | sweets and desserts (0.41 lb) |
| potatoes (1.28 lb) | refined grains (0.39 lb) |
| sugar-sweetened beverages (1lb) | other fried foods (0.32 lb) |
| unprocessed red meat (0.95 lb) | 100-percent fruit juice (0.31 lb) |
- Include more vegetables, leafy greens, fruits and nuts. The participants who lost the most weight consumed at least 3 servings of dark leafy greens or vegetables every day.
- Contrary to conventional advice and what most people believe, eating fat does not make you fat. Weight loss was greatest among people who ate more healthy fats (nuts, seeds, avocado, wild salmon and olive oil).
- Limit alcohol intake. Just one drink a day caused .41 lb. increase in weight. No significant effect was found among those who had one glass of wine a day, but increases in other forms of alcohol packed on the pounds.
Although stress reduction was not mention in this particular study, managing your stressors must be factored in for anyone with increased fat in the mid-section.
Researchers found that the kinds of foods people ate had a larger effect overall than changes in physical activity. Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health and lead author of the study, said in an interview, “This study shows that conventional wisdom –- to eat everything in 
moderation, eat fewer calories and avoid fatty foods --- IS NOT the best approach. And, what you eat makes quite a difference. Just counting calories won’t matter much unless you look at the kinds of calories you’re eating. The notion that it’s O.K. to eat everything in moderation is just an excuse to eat whatever you want.”
Even though the information from this study is not a news flash, I love how this study shows that small changes applied for diet and nutrition, healthy lifestyle modifications and exercise will result in profound changes in body weight. It’s the same concept I wrote about in my book, The Power of 4; implement two healthy changes each week, and every week thereafter you add two more healthy habits. This is something anyone can do if they really want to avoid or reverse disease, lose weight, and look and feel their best ever! The time is now to take control and responsibility for your choices. Resolve to Make Health a Priority in your Life.
Sources: Mozaffarian D., Hao T., Rimm E.B., Willett W.C., Hu F.B. N Engl J Med 2011; 364:2392 – 2404
Copyright © 2011 Paula Owens
