Weighty Matters

Weighty Matters
Our columnists examine when, and where, extra pounds can hurt you—and
how to keep them off after the holidays pass.
From: URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10039210/site/newsweek/?rf=nwnewsletter

WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Barbara Kantrowitz and Pat Wingert
Newsweek
Updated: 8:37 a.m. ET Nov. 15, 2005

Nov. 15, 2005 - It's the start of the holiday season and lots of
parties, big family dinners and tempting leftovers beckoning from the
fridge, which means that in January you might be stuck with an
unwanted souvenir: extra pounds. That's especially unwelcome if—like
many of us—you're already struggling to lose some weight. So this
seems like a good time of year to talk about the risks of carrying
around just a little bit of excess weight and how to maintain healthy
habits through the holidays. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound
of weight gain," says Dr. Samuel Klein, director of the Center for
Human Nutrition at the Washington University School of Medicine in St.
Louis. "Preventing the increase in weight is a lot easier and better
than actually gaining weight and trying to get it off again."

With all the emphasis that the media puts on being movie-star thin,
most women think they're too fat—even if they're not. How can you tell
how much you really need to lose? Doctors usually measure obesity by
calculating your Body Mass Index (BMI). That's basically a ratio of
weight to height. To see yours, check out this site at the Centers for
Disease Control. You're considered normal weight if your BMI is 18.4
to 24.9, overweight if you're 25.0 to 29.9 and obese at 30.0 and
above. Even being moderately overweight, with a BMI of 28, puts you at
much higher risk for Type 2 diabetes, says Klein. The risk of other
obesity-related conditions, such as high blood pressure and heart
disease, increases with extra weight as well.

But BMI doesn't tell the whole story. A muscular athlete, like a
female body builder, might have a relatively high BMI but won't really
be overweight because she doesn't have extra body fat. Studies have
shown that women are at higher risk of obesity-related diseases if
their waist is 35 inches or wider (and don't cheat by pulling the
measuring tape tighter). That's true even if your weight is close to
normal. "Having weight in the middle is associated with cardiovascular
diseases and increased risk for cancers within the body," says Dr.
Jana Klauer, an obesity researcher at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in
New York and author of the upcoming book "How the Rich Get Thin" (to
be published by St. Martin's Press on Dec. 27).

Being moderately overweight can threaten your health at any age, but
doctors say it's especially troublesome when you're a young adult.
Even a 10-pound weight gain between the ages of 18 and 20 (remember
the "Freshman 15?") is associated with later heart disease, high blood
pressure, diabetes and gall-bladder disease, says Klein. Even those
women who manage to stay slim through their 20s often find they gain
weight during pregnancy and have trouble taking it off afterwards.
Over the years, those pounds add up. Many women just shrug that off,
accepting the gain as an inevitable byproduct of aging. But Klauer
says that even though our metabolism slows somewhat as we age, that's
not the main reason so many women gain weight as they get older.
"What's more of a problem to women in our society is overconsumption
and underactivation," says Klauer. "The latter increases with age.
When your kids are younger, you spend more time running around after
them. As people get older, they tend to become more sedentary."

The solution is simple to explain—eat less and exercise more—but hard
to put into practice, especially at this time of year. But there are
some simple steps you can take to help keep the pounds off from
calorie-rich parties. Klein recommends staying as far away from the
food as possible so you have to walk across the room to get to the
buffet table, sticking with non-alcoholic drinks like water or diet
soda (alcohol not only adds empty calories, but it stimulates the
appetite and lowers willpower), munching on a salad (with low-calorie
dressing) or raw vegetables before a dinner or party so you don't
arrive starving, and keeping portion sizes extra small (if you're
really tempted by high-calorie treats, have just a bite—that may be
enough to satisfy your craving). And don't forget to exercise.

Studies of people who've lost weight and kept it off show that
successful dieters keep track of their weight and food intake,
exercise regularly and eat breakfast every day. When you're dieting,
you should weigh yourself weekly because daily fluctuations (sometimes
caused by fluid retention) can be discouraging. But after reaching
your goal weight, a daily weigh-in seems to work best to keep the
extra pounds off. A food diary often helps pinpoint trouble spots such
as that mid-morning or late afternoon snack. An extra 150 or so
calories a day, the amount in a single chocolate chip cookie, adds up
to a pound of extra weight in just about three weeks. Regular exercise
means real activity, not just sauntering from the car to the front
door. You need 90 minutes a day of a moderate activity like walking,
says Klein, or 30 minutes a day of more vigorous exercise like running
or jogging. For more information on how to balance food intake and
exercise, go to this Department of Agriculture Web site. Finally,
there's breakfast, the meal many women skip in the mistaken belief
that it's a good way to cut calories. "There is something magical
about breakfast," says Klauer. "Breakfast, as the first meal of the
day, kind of resets the body for a new day." If you start out not
hungry, by eating something with protein, you're much less likely to
overeat later on. And here's a little incentive from Klauer. "There's
about eight pounds between dress sizes," she says. Being able to fit
into a smaller size is the best holiday gift to yourself!

(c) 2005 Newsweek, Inc.

(c) 2005 MSNBC.com