50 EASY WAYS TO LOSE WEIGHT

     At the dentist’s I read the Reader’s Digest. I need the jokes. And I found out that the Reader’s Digest also has a website that takes a motherly/fatherly interest in our weight. The website has all sorts of neat stuff RD didn’t have room for in the magazine. And I thought, Why re-invent the wheel? If we want punchy advice on losing weight, why not get it from the people who invented the “punchy advice wheel?” So here are 50 easy ways to lose weight:

http://www.rd.com/content/easy-ways-to-lose-weight-50-ideas/

     A lot of the advice won’t apply to you, but some will. I highlighted the things that applied to me, hit Control-C (copy), went to my word processing program, hit Control-V (paste), and when the list was finished, hit Control-P (print). Now I’ve got a printed-out, personalized list of weight-loss tips.

     ONE MORE TIP. It’s simple but good, and, who knows, it may be perfect for you.

http://pausediet.com/

GET PAID TO LOSE WEIGHT?

     I’ve just read an article about Michael Rosenwald’s wife, who is paying her husband so much per pound to lose weight. She is, he says, “desperate, for some reason, to keep me around for a very long time.” Will it work? This fascinating article explores cash incentives to lose weight. It also brings up the surprising fact that people are even more anxious not to lose money if they fail, adding more possibilities. Find the article here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/
2007/11/10/AR2007111000074.html

THREE FAT CHICKS ON A DIET

     Here's where you read about the latest fad diets, including what's wrong with them. And these ladies actually take the more popular ones for a test run! The THREE FAT CHICKS say, "Because every dieter will try most of the popular diets at some point in a weight-loss struggle, we give you the real scoop - as well as anecdotes and wisdom from scores of our online community of women."

http://www.3fatchicks.com/

THE DIET EXPERTS GET CLOBBERED

     Maybe you've heard about the one-year nutrition study that tried four popular weight loss plans on 311 women. The women were treated like average dieters, in that they were asked to read the book by their diet's author and take off from there. They did, however, have more professional encouragement to stick to their diets than most dieters. For all the good it did them.

     As it turned out, most of the 311 lost little or nothing; the losses below are group averages. (The study only counted pounds that stayed off, not pounds that were lost and then regained.) Most of the women should have lost far more than they managed to lose - so in both of those respects they were typical dieters. The results averaged out as:

     Atkins very low carbohydrate diet - 10 pounds lost.

     LEARN mainstream diet lowering fat and calories, increasing physical activity - 5.7 pounds lost.

     Ornish diet, extremely low in fat - 4.9 pounds lost.

     The Zone low carbohydrate diet with lots of fruits and vegetables, some lean protein - 3.5 pounds lost.

     The LEARN diet resembles the advice offered by nutrition authorities and by Weight Watchers, where Bill and I weigh in each week. (So far, Bill is down 8 pounds and I'm down 6.) But the LEARN diet got clobbered by Atkins, as far as weight loss was concerned.

     Bill said, "Whoa! Don't do anything reckless." He thought I was going to send Weight Watchers down the toilet, which I wasn't. I was waiting to see what good old Sally Squires would say in her next Lean Plate Club column, now that her sensible diet recommendations had seemingly been smashed by Atkins. Well, she started out with, "Put down your steak knife and quit salivating over the butter." And Sally proceeded to show absolutely no repentance or remorse for her diet advice. Nor has Weight Watchers shown any repentance or remorse. Their idea is that we should learn a healthy, tasty way to keep our weight down, and stick to it. As Weight Watchers Coach Millie says, "Don't do anything to lose weight that you wouldn't be willing to do for the rest of your life." So on Sunday, at a family celebration, I followed Millie's advice and ate a chocolate chip cookie and two brownies. Because I am in no way willing to give up brownies for the rest of my life.

     You'll find Sally's whole column here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
article/2007/03/09/AR2007030901862_pf.html