The doctor said you need to shed some pounds. Don't feel bad--you're not the only one.
According to federal statistics, more than two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight and more than one-third are obese. If you're not familiar with the lingo, the term "obese" roughly means you're toting around more body fat--relative to your height--than you should be. But no matter where you're tipping the scales, you need to follow the doctor's orders. Obesity-related conditions such as heart disease, stroke, certain types of cancer and Type 2 diabetes are among the leading causes of death.
The good news is that the battle of the bulge is winnable. Whether your weight-loss goal is 50 pounds or 150 pounds, losing just a small amount--5 percent to 7 percent of your total body weight--can improve your health by reducing your blood sugar and lowering your cholesterol and blood pressure.
Like too many Americans, you might need to lose a lot of weight. If so, make sure you lose it safely. From nationally known commercial programs that require you to attend meetings, weigh-in or buy their own line of foods, to the low-carb diets such as Atkins, most of the popular weight-loss programs are safe, according to James Hill, PhD, executive director of the Anschutz Health and Wellness Center at the University of Colorado.
"The ones that you have to be careful about are where there's a very low calorie intake," Hill says. "Those should be medically supervised. The other diets--the popular diets, the commercial diets--I don't worry about the safety of those. In the long run, the benefits of weight loss outweigh diet composition, so again, I think those are perfectly safe."
Hill says he worries about diet programs that require users to get injections of vitamins and other substances.
"Those we just have no data about," Hill says. "I can't tell you that they're unsafe, but I really like to see people using things that have been studied by researchers."
And keep in mind that when it comes to losing weight, fad diets might promise quick results, but staying on them longer than the prescribed time can limit your nutritional intake, harm your health and cause your diet to fail in the long run.
losing weight safely and keeping it off
According to federal statistics, more than two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight and more than one-third are obese. If you're not familiar with the lingo, the term "obese" roughly means you're toting around more body fat--relative to your height--than you should be. But no matter where you're tipping the scales, you need to follow the doctor's orders. Obesity-related conditions such as heart disease, stroke, certain types of cancer and Type 2 diabetes are among the leading causes of death.
The good news is that the battle of the bulge is winnable. Whether your weight-loss goal is 50 pounds or 150 pounds, losing just a small amount--5 percent to 7 percent of your total body weight--can improve your health by reducing your blood sugar and lowering your cholesterol and blood pressure.
Like too many Americans, you might need to lose a lot of weight. If so, make sure you lose it safely. From nationally known commercial programs that require you to attend meetings, weigh-in or buy their own line of foods, to the low-carb diets such as Atkins, most of the popular weight-loss programs are safe, according to James Hill, PhD, executive director of the Anschutz Health and Wellness Center at the University of Colorado.
"The ones that you have to be careful about are where there's a very low calorie intake," Hill says. "Those should be medically supervised. The other diets--the popular diets, the commercial diets--I don't worry about the safety of those. In the long run, the benefits of weight loss outweigh diet composition, so again, I think those are perfectly safe."
Hill says he worries about diet programs that require users to get injections of vitamins and other substances.
"Those we just have no data about," Hill says. "I can't tell you that they're unsafe, but I really like to see people using things that have been studied by researchers."
And keep in mind that when it comes to losing weight, fad diets might promise quick results, but staying on them longer than the prescribed time can limit your nutritional intake, harm your health and cause your diet to fail in the long run.
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