The Ten Million Dollar Diet
You've seen the statistics; America has a bit of a weight problem. So how do we fix it?
Purveyors of diets ranging from low-carb, to Paleo, to raw, to vegan, to Atkin's might try to convince you that their way is the true way, perhaps even the only way. The simple fact is that there is no single best diet for everyone.
There is, however, a diet that's pretty much guaranteed to work every time.
It goes a little something like this: If you achieve your ideal weight and maintain it for at least three years, you get ten million dollars. No tricks. No games.
I call it the "Ten Million Dollar Diet."
Sadly, of course, it's not at all feasible, but it serves to illustrate a key point for successful weight loss: With the proper motivation -- say, a truckload of cash -- almost anyone can lose a significant amount of weight.
Author Matt Fitzgerald mentioned the "diet" in passing in his recent book, Diet Cults. (Though he thought $20 million would do the trick.) Such a program, he said "would achieve a near perfect success rate and prove once and for all that motivation is all it really takes for anyone to lose weight."
Fitzgerald is definitely on to something. How do we know? Because individuals who have lost a lot of weight told us so. Since 1994, the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) has tracked over 10,000 people who lost large amounts of weight and kept it off for long periods of time, an average of 66 pounds for five and a half years. The study has revealed a feast of valuable information.
The first big finding was a lack of a finding: There was no common diet. Sure, all of the NWCR members altered what they ate in order to sheds pounds, but they achieved success through many different paths, reinforcing the notion any diet can work as long as you simply eat fewer calories.
The researchers behind the NWCR did glean three behavioral "secrets" from the registry members. The first was self-weighing. Individuals who consistently monitored their weight were more likely than others to stay slim. The second was monotonous eating. The people who consumed a smaller variety of foods controlled their weight much better than those who did not. The third was exercise, a lot of exercise. "About 1 hour per day of moderately intense physical activity."
What ties these three "secrets" together, Fitzgerald noted in Diet Cults, is that they all indicate high levels of motivation. One has to be borderline obsessive to step on the scale so frequently, disciplined to maintain a repetitive diet, and driven to work out every day.
"If the National Weight Control Registry has taught us anything, it has taught us that a person who is sufficiently motivated to lose weight is bound to succeed regardless of which diet she chooses to follow," Fitzgerald wrote.
"Eighty-two percent of NWCR members say they were more committed to making behavioral changes in their final, successful attempt to lose weight, than they had been in previous attempts... They didn't necessarily try anything different. They just tried harder," Fitzgerald added.
This is an empowering message. The key to long term weight loss isn't a specific magical diet; coupled with physical activity, any of them can work. The key is action!
The road to weight loss is long and winding, but it always leads to a healthier life, provided one stays on it. A healthier life may not be as powerful a motivator as 10 million dollars, but it's pretty darn worthwhile.
(Image: AP)
