For weight-loss success, look at dieting in a different light

By Lavinia Rodriguez, Special to the Times
In Print: Saturday, April 23, 2011

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It's so frustrating to go on a diet and lose weight, only to regain it. Frustrating, but common — studies show 90 percent of dieting attempts fail. What can we do to improve our chances?

Despite overwhelming evidence that most diets fail, ever more people are vulnerable to quick weight-loss promises that won't work in the long run. Most of these people have histories of going on and off diets, over and over again. Diets may be one of the few things that intelligent people will keep trying even after repeated failures.

The problem is that people usually confuse weight loss with fat loss. Actually, the faster the weight is lost, the more likely it is that the weight lost is water or muscle, not fat. But it's fat that people want to lose, and they want to lose it for good — not to gain it all back and have to start dieting all over again.

So don't just go on yet another diet. First, stop and think.

If you have a long history of on-and-off dieting it's time to face the fact that what you've been doing doesn't work.

Maybe you've tried a bunch of diets with different names, like the Low Carb Diet, the Blood Type Diet, the Grapefruit Diet. But consider what was similar about them. Did they eliminate particular foods completely? Did they emphasize fast weight loss? Did they not include exercise?

Preparing yourself psychologically in this way will keep you on the right track to successful weight loss and maintenance, not just this summer but every summer from here on out.

Lavinia Rodriguez is a Tampa clinical psychologist who specializes in weight management. She can be reached at (813) 240-9557 or drrod@fatmatters.com.

REALITY CHECK FOR YOUR LAST DIET

If you want this next weight-loss attempt to be your final effort because it actually works, try these tips:

• Focus on the behaviors (portion control, increased activity, better nutrition) that help you lose fat, rather than achieving a weight goal number.

• Make sure that you include consistent aerobic exercise in your plan.

• Don't set a time limit for your goal. Instead, keep your mind focused on the forest (the rest of your life) instead of the trees (an upcoming wedding or bathing suit season).

• Don't go on a rigid, stringent, fad diet of any kind. If it sounds depriving, you need to consider something else.

• Make sure that the eating and exercise plan you go on is one that you can follow for the rest of your life. For example, are you really going to be able to keep buying expensive food through the mail?

• Your body has genetic limits. You don't know if your body will be able to reach the ultimate weight goal you have in mind. Instead, keep doing what will make you leaner and healthier and let your body take care of the weight. It will show you what its best weight is.

• Take time to keep your fridge stocked with easy-to-prepare, nutritious alternatives. Get rid of those foods that don't fit a healthy lifestyle and fill the fridge with luscious, colorful, fresh foods. It may require a stop at the grocery store more often but fresh food actually requires less cooking — or even no cooking — which saves time in the end.

• Reinforce, compliment and pat yourself on the back often. Stop the criticism and judgment altogether. The psychology of weight management is a key factor that is usually ignored. If you don't do the right things emotionally, psychological barriers will continue to get in your way.

You don't want to put all that effort into losing weight only to regain it — and more. Let's do it differently this time.

[Last modified: Apr 22, 2011 04:30 AM]