"Get more active" was the first of two salvos issued last week by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson last Friday. He also urged citizens -- and the food industry -- to cut calories.
In unveiling the Calories Count program on Friday, Thompson announced that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plans to make it easier for consumers to track calories and portions by improving food labels and encouraging restaurants to provide caloric information. As part of the program to clarify nutrition information for consumers, the FDA will for the first time define "low carbohydrate," "reduced carbohydrate," "carbohydrate-free" and "net carbs" to make sure these claims are consistent and not false or misleading.
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As for counting calories: Contrary to what many best-selling diet books may imply or even promise, counting calories "is critical for people trying to achieve and maintain a healthy weight," Thompson said. It takes a deficit of about 3,500 calories to lose a pound.
Since few people can follow extremely low-calorie diets for long -- and few have the time or motivation for extremely rigorous exercise programs -- weight loss experts often suggest a compromise: Eat about 250 fewer calories per day and burn about 250 more per day with increased activity. The resulting 500-calorie deficit should produce a weight loss of roughly a pound per week. Thompson says he used this gradual approach to trim 15 pounds and is now employing it to shed another 10 pounds in the next couple of months.
Here's what else research and the experience of Lean Plate Club members show can help you achieve a healthy weight.
Find changes you can live with. Virtually any diet can trim pounds in the short run. Question is, how will the weight stay off long term? Research suggests that if you don't find successful strategies for a healthy balance that you enjoy and stick with, you'll fight a losing battle.
Focus. The thousands of "successful losers" in the National Weight Control Registry -- who have shed at least 30 pounds and kept it off for at least five years -- pay attention to what they eat and how they move even after they achieve their goals. Among their strategies: Eat a healthy breakfast daily; get at least five hours per week of physical activity; and track their bodies in some fashion, whether by getting on the scale, using a tape measure or measuring percent body fat.
Know the score. While it's easy to over-consume without realizing it, a growing number of tools enable you to track calories and activity online . Among them: the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Interactive Healthy Eating Index and Interactive Physical Activity Index, where you can keep 20 days of records online for free. Or see how your input and output balance at caloriesperhour.com, also a free service.
Fill up on the great-tasting, healthy food first. Fruit and vegetables are low in calories, filled with water and fiber that will help you feel full and deliver plenty of vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals.
Fish is also low in calories, high in flavor and loaded with omega-3 fatty acids -- a healthy type of fat we fail to consume enough of, most experts say.
Whole-grain bread, pasta and cereals have fiber and complex carbohydrates. Beans are loaded with complex carbs, fiber, protein and iron.
Poultry without the skin, lean meat and eggs (especially egg whites) are other great choices.
Nonfat and low-fat dairy provide calcium and protein, both of which may help promote weight loss.
Soup, stews and other water-filled food also help boost satiety with relatively few calories.
Keep moving. Just 10 minutes of activity at a time can add up. A 150-pound person walking for 10 minutes at 2.5 miles per hour burns about 50 calories -- a good step toward those 250 calories of additional daily activity.
-- Sally Squires
Share Your Tips or ask questions about healthy nutrition and activity when Sally Squires hosts the Lean Plate Club online chat, from 1 to 2 p.m. today, on www.washingtonpost.com. New To The Club? The Lean Plate Club is devoted to healthy eating and boosting activity. To learn more, and subscribe to our free e-newsletter, visit www.washingtonpost.com/leanplateclub.
