One of the best books on weight loss is The 9 Truths about Weight Loss, by Daniel Kirschenbaum, PhD. (2000). Kirschenbaum was director of the eating disorders program at Northwestern U. Medical School, where he was professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. He grew up with a weight problem as a kid and so became motivated to study weight control for his own and others benefit.
The 9 Truths are 1. Your body will resist permanent weight loss. Humans have lived 99 percent of our history as hunter gatherers. At 500,000 BC we spent a lot of energy hunting and gathering, and our bodies developed the ability to hang on to every bit of fat when hunting only yielded exhaustion. Ten thousand years ago farming developed and we became more sedentary.
Truth 2 – Biology is not destiny. Many biological factors effect the possibility of weight loss. Genetically research shows children from two parents who are both obese are four times more likely to become obese than children born to lean parents. Further, overweight people have more fat cells that are like hungry baby sparrows. Excess fat cells are very efficient in storage of excess food as fat. Also, weight loss may stimulate hunger and help convert food into stored fat. In addition, overweight people digest food by expending less energy, and have larger stomachs that need a bigger meal to create fullness. These and other biological mechanisms contribute to the body’s desire to maintain an excessive amount of fat. The solution against these biological forces of weight loss is very low fat, low calorie eating, and very frequent exercising.
Truth 3 – Weight control is a manageable athletic challenge. Following the steps in Dr. Kirschenbaum’s book can lead to weight loss, even though it can be a struggle when your scale betrays you. He encourages with the quote : “Extremism in pursuit of permanent lifestyle change is no vice. Moderation in defense of failure to change is no virtue” (p. 25).
Truth 4 – You will experience 3 stages of change to weight loss – honeymoon, frustration, and acceptance. Honeymoon weight controllers express feeling of delight and satisfaction at the possibility of reaching their weight goal. People in the frustration stage resent the effort required for successful weight control, wanting to go back to their old ways of eating and exercising. Acceptance has weight controllers settling in for the long haul.
Truth 5 – You can eat very little fat (20 fat grams a day or less) and learn how to keep your hunger quiet. Two things have the greatest effect on your hunger: the fat content and the sugar content of what you eat. High fat foods are most easily stored as fat. Weight controllers must calculate the amount of calories eaten per day and the grams that come from fat. There are many online programs that make calorie and fat calculation easier, such as Fitday.com has a free calculator. Others that are not free include www.eaTracker.ca, www.MyFitnessPal.com, and www.MyFoodRecord.com. He offers some low fat eating tips (p. 49) to make low fat eating more palatable, such as snacks of air-popped popcorn, pretzels, fruit, put mustard on everything, and love spicy foods. When we eat sugary foods it causes an increase in insulin, that decreases blood glucose, and an increase in hunger. Consequently, Dr. Kirschenbaum recommends avoiding sugary foods. He outlines (p. 66) the almost never eat plan like fried foods and desserts, and the almost always eat plan such as grilled fish and vegetables. He offers sample menus (p. 79).
Truth 6 – Maintain a written record of your eating and exercising at least 75 percent of the time. As mentioned above, Fitday.com has a free calorie and exercise calculator.
Truth 7 – exercise everyday. On p. 120 he lists the benefits of exercising from our 20’s through 70 years of age. The author recommends exercising to enhance weight loss. Aerobic exercise such as walking, biking, running is advocated at 60 to 80 percent of maximum heart rate, for at least 30 minutes per day. And strength training should be of moderate intensity (50 to 60 percent of maximum) 3 days a week. On p. 144 he notes some excuses for not exercising and positive responses for long term exercise adherence.
Truth 8 – You can manage stress without overeating or under exercising. He lists many coping responses to stress and high risk situations, such as traveling, holidays, and restaurants.
Truth 9 – Maintaining weight loss is actually easier, not harder, than losing weight. The basic plan is persistence and acceptance of successful weight control.
This book had many advocates with positive reviews, such as Ken Germano executive director of the American Council on Exercise (ACE), and Judy Marshel, PhD., former senior nutritionist at Weight Watchers, and director of research and development for Getsmartvitamins.com.
However, Dr. Kirschenbaum’s strict approach to weight loss with very low fat diet may be too drastic for some, namely, my daughter who is a registered dietitian (RD) with a master’s degree in nutrition. She would prefer the approach of Nancy Clark (RD) who allows favorite fat foods, within reason for weight loss, in her book Sports Nutrition Guidebook 6th edition, (2020). Nancy Clark is an internationally respected and trusted sports nutritionist specializing in nutrition for performance, wellness, and weight management with 40 years of experience.
Clark says diets don’t work. She writes that diets associated with extreme hunger can contribute to weight problems. The body rebels against hunger and the state of starvation by binge eating, also known as blowing the diet. To lose weight healthfully she recommends paying attention to 1. How much you eat – there is an appropriate portion of any food. 2. When you eat – fuel during the active part of your day. 3. Why you eat – eat when your body requires fuel, not because you are bored, stressed, or lonely. 4. How much you sleep – people that are tired often seek additional food energy, when they actually need sleep.
Tricks from a sample of 5,000 people who lost more than 30 lbs. and kept it off for more than a year were eating breakfast, choosing fewer fried and greasy foods, eating consistently, exercising regularly, and weighing yourself regularly. She also suggests body fat measurement, because some people have primarily muscle as weight with little excess fat, thus they struggle trying to reduce. Further she recommends eating intuitively, which means trusting that your body will tell you how much to eat and when you have satisfied your hunger. In other words, mindful eating with appropriate portions, chewing your food slowly, tasting and savoring each mouthful. Unlike Dr. Kirschenbaum, Ms. Clark advocates eating your favorite foods even if they are high in fat, as long as they are in your calorie budget. She mentioned calorie trackers, such as www.myfitnesspal.com. Satiety is increased by eating whole foods, like fruits and vegetables and protein such as fish. Clark suggests high intensity intermittent exercise (HIIT) for weight loss. In a study, young men that sprinted on exercycles (8 seconds of hard exercise, rest for 12 seconds, over 20 minutes, 3 times a week for 12 weeks) lost belly fat and gained muscle. See HIIT from Harvard website for more information HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) | The Nutrition Source | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Clark writes that 30 to 40% of obese people are healthy with normal blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose levels. She believes being fat and fit is better than being fat and unfit, or being unhealthy do to a restrictive diet.
She concludes that the best way to lose weight is to consult a registered dietician (RD) that can tailor your weight loss program to your lifestyle and food preferences.
Also see The Ten Hidden Barriers to Weight Loss & Exercise, (2003) in the post on Inspirational Exercise Motivation Books.
The article below appeared in the AZ Daily Star 2/26/24 here in Tucson. It deals with the chemistry and brain connections involved in weight loss. I don’t advocate weight loss drugs because eventually you should eat healthy and exercise to maintain an ideal weight. However, the information below is good to know because our chemistry can make weight loss more difficult than for someone with a different chemistry and brain connection. To make this narrow article more readable keep clicking on the plus sign at the top and the right arrow on the bottom.
Obesity remains a problem as noted by the article below from the AZ Daily Star, (9/27/24). As Nancy Clark stated above some obese individuals can be fit. However, with age and the extra weight many can experience joint problems such as hips, knees, and back due to the extra load on those joints over the years. Of course, if an individual is obese and unfit then the added problems of cardiovascular health, diabetes, etc. must be addressed hopefully with mainly healthy nutrition and exercise.
Obesity statistics are further noted by Dr. Joe Muscolino in his blog https://learnmuscles.com. From his entry “Battle of Obesity: The War Against the # 1 Killer in America” 4/11/2018, he writes “Obesity is known to cause or contribute to numerous health conditions including heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis… According to NBC News, nearly 18 percent of all deaths in the US can be directly contributed to the obesity epidemic.”