Study finds Weight Watchers works

Renegade5 wrote:

Actually, there's a new study out today (in the New England Journal of
Science, I think) that evaluates Weight Watchers, Atkins, Ornish, and
The Zone. Although Weight Watchers historically has had some of the
best supporting evidence this recent study found.... that they *all*
worked.

The conclusion of the study was that it was more important to pick a
diet that you can stick too (be it low carb, low fat, or somewhere
in-between), rather than thinking that there's one 'magic' diet that
is best and works for everyone..

.... as far as weight loss is concerned. For long term health - well,
that's a different matter that needs much more study I think.

There was an article about all the different diets in my newspaper
yesterday... Came to the conclusion that they were all much the same
for weight loss (it didn't discuss long term health or keeping the
weight off), but the thing that made them all work was will power.
--
Kate XXXXXX
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

but the thing that made them all work was will power.

I think there's a lot of truth in that. When people _really_ want to
lose weight they will find a diet that works for them, but it takes a
level of commitment, sometimes people here have said it's a kind of a
"switch"

There is a bit of a catch. If you say that "will power" is the key
then people can claim that people who don't lose weight are 'weak
willed'. I think that this isn't right. I doubt that there is any
difference in how strong willed people are. It's the commitment to the
diet that makes the difference, and probably a lot of it is down to
chance. Sometimes life gets in the way, and people have bigger
problems to deal with - we've seen that here a lot too.

Ray
--
rmnsuk
273/184/182

ray miller wrote:

but the thing that made them all work was will power.


I think there's a lot of truth in that. When people _really_ want to
lose weight they will find a diet that works for them, but it takes a
level of commitment, sometimes people here have said it's a kind of a
"switch"

There is a bit of a catch. If you say that "will power" is the key
then people can claim that people who don't lose weight are 'weak
willed'. I think that this isn't right. I doubt that there is any
difference in how strong willed people are. It's the commitment to the
diet that makes the difference, and probably a lot of it is down to
chance. Sometimes life gets in the way, and people have bigger
problems to deal with - we've seen that here a lot too.

Ray


'Will power' was the phrase used in the article, but maybe
'determination' would be a better term.

--
Kate XXXXXX
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

ray miller wrote:

but the thing that made them all work was will power.


I think there's a lot of truth in that. When people _really_ want to
lose weight they will find a diet that works for them, but it takes a
level of commitment, sometimes people here have said it's a kind of a
"switch"

There is a bit of a catch. If you say that "will power" is the key
then people can claim that people who don't lose weight are 'weak
willed'. I think that this isn't right. I doubt that there is any
difference in how strong willed people are. It's the commitment to the
diet that makes the difference, and probably a lot of it is down to
chance. Sometimes life gets in the way, and people have bigger
problems to deal with - we've seen that here a lot too.

Ray


'Will power' was the phrase used in the article, but maybe
'determination' would be a better term.

--
Kate XXXXXX
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

In message , ray miller
writes
but the thing that made them all work was will power.

There is a bit of a catch. If you say that "will power" is the key
then people can claim that people who don't lose weight are 'weak
willed'. I think that this isn't right. I doubt that there is any
difference in how strong willed people are. It's the commitment to the
diet that makes the difference, and probably a lot of it is down to
chance. Sometimes life gets in the way, and people have bigger
problems to deal with - we've seen that here a lot too.

Ray

I don't actually know what "will power" is supposed to be, and I suspect
that's half the problem.

For me, it's partly about remembering I'm on the program (I often forget
and eat too many points), trying to deal with hunger in a sensible way
(both by avoiding getting too hungry, by having regular meals with
plenty of fibre and protein; and by avoiding automatically satisfying
hunger with fast sugars and fat). It's not one thing. I have noticed
that when I "talk the talk", especially online, I can sound like I've
got great willpower, but then when I'm busy, stressed and distracted, I
can eat practically anything without it touching the sides, or being
brought to my conscious mind.

If the only problem was resisting obvious temptation (standing in front
of the cream cake stand in the bakers while intending to order a tuna
salad sandwich), I'd have tons of so-called "willpower", but so often
choices sneak up on me, or I don't realise I'm making them.

And of course, science is also exploring the possibility that people
have different metabolisms, different appetite-suppression, different
cravings (some of which can be genetic), different muscle-mass (which
can affect the metabolic rate, since muscle burns calories) and our
bodies vary in their efficiency (very efficient bodies actually being
the worse problem, since such people extract maximum calories from their
food). Plus, people's lifestyles vary considerably and the sorts of
temptations they face.

So I don't think any scientific theory is going to be "one size fits
all", and no diet program is going to either. "Will-power" might be the
key for some, but for others it might be more to do with knowledge and
education about what foods to select when; for others it might be more
to do with how much exercise they get; and for others it might be about
food choices. I think WWs is good because it's fairly open-ended and can
be adapted to suit most requirements.
--
Anna (in UK)
Start Weight: 174 lbs
Goal Weight: 146 lbs