The weight-loss industry in the United States is worth its share in billions of dollars. An impressive number, but unsurprising statistic, being that one in three Americans suffers from obesity. This is only the tip of the scale because the number does not account for all the ranges in between, from the overweight to the fad dieters who struggle with the same fifteen pounds. According to PRWeb.com, there are approximately 75 million dieters in the United States at any given time.

That’s a lot of people struggling with the same question. When did losing weight become so complicated? According to a recent New York Times article, two new studies have shown that exercise alone will not necessarily result in weight loss. Exercise cannot only be insignificantly effective in the fight against fat—it can actually lead to weight gain. Muscle weights more than fat.

Perhaps it’s a question of overestimating not only our workouts, but also ourselves. That euphoric feeling of satisfaction so brutally earned can lead us into thinking that, certainly, that second piece of cheesecake cannot be all that bad. We earned it.

What the studies showed is a fact easily forgotten amongst the Dukan diets and Insanity workouts that claim to resolve, but rarely keep in mind, the simplicity of weight loss: Weight loss is simple math. You only need to burn more calories than you consume: calories in, calories out. This may seem to oversimplify a daunting struggle, but it can be helpful to keep in mind and maintain realistic goals. You can work yourself to death, but if you are still eating more than you consume, then all that effort is moot. Exercise should not be used to compensate for past or future indulgences.

It turns out that contrary to popular belief, exercise can actually lower your metabolism. Our bodies can become accustomed to exercise. For example, you may be burning a large number of calories, but if your metabolism slows down, you may actually be burning less than you thought. You will lose fewer calories, rather than if your metabolism stayed the same.

What all of these findings best seem to illustrate is that moderation is key. Eating in moderation and exercising in moderation should eventually lead to weight loss. It may not be as fast as only drinking spicy lemonade for seven days, but it is far more effective and easier to stick to.

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Boston, U.S.A. — A new study published June 26 in the “Journal of the American Medical Association” challenges the notion that “a calorie is a calorie.” The study, led by Cara Ebbeling, Ph.D., associate director and David Ludwig, MD, director of the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center Boston Children’s Hospital, finds diets that reduce the surge in blood sugar after a meal–either low-glycemic index or very-low carbohydrate–may be preferable to a low-fat diet for those trying to achieve lasting weight loss. Furthermore, the study finds that the low-glycemic index diet had similar metabolic benefits to the very low-carb diet without negative effects of stress and inflammation as seen by participants consuming the very low-carb diet.

Weight re-gain is often attributed to a decline in motivation or adherence to diet and exercise, but biology also plays an important role. After weight loss, the rate at which people burn calories (known as energy expenditure) decreases, reflecting slower metabolism. Lower energy expenditure adds to the difficulty of weight maintenance and helps explain why people tend to re-gain lost weight.

Prior research by Ebbeling and Ludwig has shown the advantages of a low glycemic load diet for weight loss and diabetes prevention, but the effects of these diets during weight loss maintenance has not been well studied. Research shows that only one in six overweight people will maintain even 10 percent of their weight loss long-term.

The study suggests that a low-glycemic load diet is more effective than conventional approaches at burning calories (and keeping energy expenditure) at a higher rate after weight loss. “We’ve found that, contrary to nutritional dogma, all calories are not created equal,” says Ludwig, also director of the Optimal Weight for Life Clinic at Boston Children’s Hospital. “Total calories burned plummeted by 300 calories on the low fat diet compared to the low carbohydrate diet, which would equal the number of calories typically burned in an hour of moderate-intensity physical activity,” he says.

Each of the study’s 21 adult participants (ages 18-40) first had to lose 10 to 15 percent of their body weight, and after weight stabilization, completed all three of the following diets in random order, each for four weeks at a time. The randomized crossover design allowed for rigorous observation of how each diet affected all participants, regardless of the order in which they were consumed:

• A low-fat diet, which reduces dietary fat and emphasizes whole grain products and a variety of fruits and vegetables, comprised of 60 percent of daily calories from carbohydrates, 20 percent from fat and 20 percent from protein.
• A low-glycemic index diet made up of minimally processed grains, vegetables, healthy fats, legumes and fruits, with 40 percent of daily calories from carbohydrates, 40 percent from fat and 20 percent from protein. Low glycemic index carbohydrates digest slowly, helping to keep blood sugar and hormones stable after the meal.
• A low-carbohydrate diet, modeled after the Atkins diet, comprised of 10 percent of daily calories from carbohydrates, 60 percent from fat and 30 percent from protein.

The study used state-of-the-art methods, such as stable isotopes to measure participants’ total energy expenditure, as they followed each diet.

Each of the three diets fell within the normal healthy range of 10 to 35 percent of daily calories from protein. The very low-carbohydrate diet produced the greatest improvements in metabolism, but with an important caveat: This diet increased participants’ cortisol levels, which can lead to insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease. The very low carbohydrate diet also raised C-reactive protein levels, which may also increase risk of cardiovascular disease.

Though a low-fat diet is traditionally recommended by the U.S. Government and Heart Association, it caused the greatest decrease in energy expenditure, an unhealthy lipid pattern and insulin resistance.

“In addition to the benefits noted in this study, we believe that low-glycemic-index diets are easier to stick to on a day-to-day basis, compared to low-carb and low-fat diets, which many people find limiting,” says Ebbeling. “Unlike low-fat and very- low carbohydrate diets, a low-glycemic-index diet doesn’t eliminate entire classes of food, likely making it easier to follow and more sustainable.”

Other coauthors of the study include Henry Feldman and Erica Garcia-Lago from Boston Children’s Hospital, Janis Swain from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, William Wong from Baylor College of Medicine and David Hachey from Vanderbilt University. The study was funded by The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases, the National Center for Research and Resources, the National Institutes of Health and the New Balance Foundation.

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It’s a new year, and many Americans are dieting with new resolve. To help them, U.S. News & World Report has released its second annual Best Diets rankings. The centerpiece of Best Diets 2012 is U.S. News’s first-ever ranking of Easiest Diets to Follow. Dieters who choose a diet at or near the top of this list are more likely to succeed in staying on their diet for the long haul.

Any diet can promise weight loss, but it’s those that dieters can stick with all year — and year after year — that prove successful. Of the 25 diets evaluated, the five Easiest Diets to Follow are: (#1) Weight Watchers, (#2) Jenny Craig, (#3) Mediterranean Diet, and (tied at #4) Slim-Fast and Volumetrics.

Best Diets 2012 features six other rankings: Best Diets Overall, Best Commercial Diet Plans, Best Weight-Loss Diets, Best Diets for Healthy Eating, Best Diabetes Diets, and Best Heart-Healthy Diets. All six rankings were first published in 2011, when U.S. News evaluated a total of 20 diets. The five new diets added for 2012 are the Abs Diet, Biggest Loser Diet, Dukan Diet, Flat Belly Diet, and Macrobiotic Diet.

Big winners across the rankings included:

• DASH Diet: ranked #1 in Best Diets Overall, Best Diets for Healthy Eating, and Best Diabetes Diets (tie)
• Weight Watchers: ranked #1 in Best Weight-Loss Diets, Best Commercial Diet Plans, and Easiest Diets to Follow
• Biggest Loser Diet: ranked #1 in Best Diabetes Diets (tie)
• Ornish Diet: ranked #1 in Best Heart-Healthy Diets

“The Best Diets rankings are designed to guide each dieter to the diet or diets best suited to his or her goal, whether that’s weight loss, management of diabetes, healthy eating, or something else,” said U.S. News’s Lindsay Lyon, who directed the project. To create the rankings, U.S. News profiled each diet using information culled from scientific journals, government reports, and other resources. Profiles describe how a given diet works, how it breaks down nutritionally, how safe it is, and more.

A volunteer panel of 22 nationally recognized experts in diet and nutrition reviewed each profile, conducted independent fact-finding, and rated the diets on seven criteria, such as their ability to produce short-term and long-term weight loss. U.S. News converted panelists’ ratings to scores and constructed the rankings.

For the Easiest Diets to Follow list, panelists assessed likely taste appeal, ease of initial adjustment, ability to keep dieters from feeling hungry, and special eating restrictions. U.S. News turned to the same 22 experts for Best Diets 2012 as it did for Best Diets 2011. “I can’t say enough about their commitment and hard work,” said Avery Comarow, U.S. News Health Rankings Editor. “They enabled us to provide meaningful, evidence-based rankings.”

The roster of participating panelists:

• Kathie Beals, Ph.D., R.D., University of Utah, Division of Nutrition
• Amy Campbell, M.S., R.D., C.D.E, L.D.N., Joslin Diabetes Center
• Lawrence Cheskin, M.D., Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Michael Davidson, M.D., University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine
• Marion Franz, M.S., R.D., Nutrition Concepts by Franz, Inc.
• Teresa Fung, Sc.D., R.D., L.D.N., Simmons College
• Andrea Giancoli, M.P.H., R.D., Spokesperson, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
• Carole Harris, Ph.D., Public Health Division, ICF International
• Sachiko St. Jeor , Ph.D., R.D., University of Nevada School of Medicine
• David Katz, M.D., M.P.H., Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center
• Penny Kris-Etherton, Ph.D., R.D., Pennsylvania State University, Department of Nutritional Sciences
• Robert Kushner, M.D., Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
• JoAnn Manson, M.D., Dr.P.H., Harvard Medical School
• Lori Mosca, M.D., M.P.H, Ph.D, New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia andCornell
• Yasmin Mossavar-Rahmani, Ph.D., R.D., Albert Einstein College of Medicine
• Elisabetta Politi, M.P.H, R.D, C.D.E., L.D.N., Duke Diet and Fitness Center
• Rebecca Reeves, M.P.H., Dr.P.H., R.D., University of Texas School of Public Health
• Michael Rosenbaum, M.D., Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
• Lisa Sasson, M.S., R.D.,  New York University, Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health
• Joanne Slavin, Ph.D., R.D., University of Minnesota, Department of Food Science and Nutrition
• Laurence Sperling, M.D., Emory University School of Medicine, Center for Heart Disease Prevention
• Brian Wansink, Ph.D., Cornell University Food and Brand Lab

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According to a study published by the National Institutes of Health conducted by doctors at the University of Michigan, one in two women of childbearing age in the United States is considered overweight or obese.

Weight-related complications during pregnancy are commonplace and healthcare providers are trying to dismiss the idea that pregnant women need to “eat for two” by doubling their caloric intake. Working with a healthcare provider, overweight women who are pregnant or trying to become pregnant can find a strategy to a healthy weight gain that works for them.

Increased risk of developing gestational diabetes is a crucial reason for overweight women to closely monitor how much weight they gain during pregnancy. Gestation diabetes causes the hormones released from the placenta, the baby’s support system, to be blocked by the woman’s body.

The result is that her body is unable to process insulin. High blood glucose levels build in the mother’s system and stream to the baby through the placenta causing the baby to grow rapidly and gain unnecessary weight.

Overweight pregnant women are also at risk of developing high blood pressure. This condition tightens the blood vessels in the uterus that supplies the baby with oxygen and nutrients. It also puts the mother at risk for having a heart attack or stroke resulting in a greater likelihood that she will deliver her baby early.

Having regular checkups before becoming pregnant may help prevent obesity related complication during pregnancy. The March of Dimes recommends, “If you’re overweight or obese, your health care provider or a registered dietitian can help you lose pounds so that you reach a healthier weight before trying to get pregnant. They will talk with you about exercise and eating healthy.”

What is the correct amount of weight gain? The amount a woman’s health care provider recommends will depend on her pre-pregnancy weight. If she has a normal weight and a body mass index (BMI) in the normal range (between 18.5 and 25) then she should gain between 25 and 35 pounds.

Underweight women, with a BMI less than 18.5, should try to gain between 28 to 40 pounds. Overweight women, with a BMI between 25 and 29.9, should gain between 15 to 25 pounds and obese women, those with a BMI greater than 30, should limit their weight gain to between 11 and 20 pounds.

Women who are overweight or obese should not intentionally try to lose weight while they are pregnant however it is not uncommon for plus-sized women to lose weight while pregnant without dieting. Morning sickness can contribute to weight loss because its diminished affect on appetite and associated vomiting can cause a loss of calories.

Even so, a developing baby will still get nourishment if a mother is not dieting because overweight women have an extra reserve of calories stored in fat.

Healthy eating should be a goal of every pregnant woman, regardless of her pre-pregnancy weight. Setting a goal for how much weigh to gain with a health care provider is the key to ensuring a successful, healthy pregnancy.

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Paul Kramer’s book Maggie Goes on a Diet is set to release in October and is causing quite a bit of controversy.

Amazon.com’s write up about the book describes it as a story of “a 14 year old girl who goes on a diet and is transformed from being extremely overweight and insecure to a normal sized girl who becomes the school soccer star. Through time, exercise and hard work, Maggie becomes more and more confident and develops a positive self image.”

Despite the fact the book has yet to be released, it has drawn many critics angry about what they feel is the story’s attempt to tie Maggie’s happiness to her weight and appearance. They argue that in the book the thinner Maggie becomes, the happier, more self-confident and more popular she becomes. These critics say that one’s weight should not determine one’s happiness.

“The book seems to equate weight loss with happiness and success. This is such an untruth. We should be fighting to promote health at every size and stopping bullying at schools not promoting false promises and fallacies,” wrote Sandra Schaffer of New York,  a reviewer on an Amazon.com forum.

Others worry that Kramer’s book will promote eating disorders in young children. It seems that several times a year a medical report surfaces with shocking statistics about the plummeting age of children who are developing eating disorders, such as anorexia. Anorexia sufferers might look in a mirror and never see themselves as thin or fit.

Fears that this book will trigger eating disorders have drawn strong criticism from opponents and many reviewers at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com are calling for the book sellers to it pull the book from their inventories or face boycotts.

The book’s cover is also drawing condemnation. It shows an overweight Maggie standing in front of a full-length mirror looking at a thinner reflection herself. The heavy Maggie is holding a dress that is much too small for her and her reflection is holding up the same dress but it is the right size for the thinner Maggie.

Ashley McAllister wrote at BitchMagazine.org, “The message behind this book is clearly telling young girls that they’ll only be happy and ‘normal’ if they’re thin, as if they aren’t fed that message often enough already.” Kramer defended himself and the message of his book in an interview with Good Morning America.

“ My intentions were just to write a story to entice and to have children feel better about themselves, discover a new way of eating, learn to do exercise, try to emulate Maggie and learn from Maggie’s experience,” he said.

In an interview with FoxNews Kramer said, “I’m not advocating, never did, that any child should go on a diet. First of all, this is a change of lifestyle. This is not meant to be to go on a diet.”

Kramer’s published titles include Do Not Dread Wetting the Bed, Bullies Beware, and three books that will release this year: Louie the Lobster Mobster, Are You Afraid of the Doctor, and Divorce Stinks.

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