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_Keeping it off_ book



 
 
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  #1  
Old September 8th, 2004, 05:49 PM
Roger Zoul
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Default _Keeping it off_ book

Ignoramus13725 wrote:
:: I am reading a book _Keeping it Off_ by Robert Colvin and Susan
:: Olson. This is an old book from 1985, I bought it used from Amazon.
::
:: The book is excellent and a summary of it is available at
::
:: http://www.geocities.com/jenny_the_bean/success.htm
::

Do you recommend the book if one has read the summary?

:: The book is a great read and I highly recommend it. It describes what
:: is common amongst successful maintainers, which are defined as
:: people who
::
:: - lost over 20% of body weight
:: - kept it off for 2 years
:: - are not more than 5 lbs away from their lowest weight
::
:: The discuss the traits amongst those successful people, how they
:: think about weight loss, what they do, what they do not do etc.
::
:: There are very few books about weight maintenance, probably because
:: so few people can get to the point where they need to maintain
:: weight,
:: and even fewer of them actually maintain the loss. According to
:: authors, only 2% of those who started dieting can maintain
:: successfully for 2 years.
::
:: Unfortunately, the authors are psychologists, and looked at those
:: successful dieters from only psychological point of view. (I am not
:: done with the book yet). I wish they tried to look at the somatic
:: differences, if any, between successful and unsuccessful dieters.
::
:: It also does not do a good enough job at comparing those successful
:: people with controls who have not managed to be as successful. So,
:: they could fall into a trap of describing their common traits that
:: did not make a difference. Both of them had prior clinical
:: experience with "treating" obese dieters, with little (average)
:: success, so,
:: hopefully, they could detect those success traits based on their
:: experience.
::
:: All in all, it is a great common sense book that describes what
:: works.
::
:: The great majority of maintainers lost weight on their own, not on
:: any sort of commercial programs. All of them had an epiphany at some
:: point, which has been my experience exactly. They are all very aware
:: of their current weight and they actively manage it. Again, my
:: experience. They moved away from food obsessions and food takes
:: little place in their life, which I cannot say yet about myself,
:: although it has been getting a tad better later.

It would be nice if the authors, or someone, would revise the book in 2005.
20 years of new data and obesity research ought to have produced some
insights.


  #2  
Old September 8th, 2004, 10:42 PM
marengo
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Ignoramus13725 wrote:

They are all very aware
| of their current weight and they actively manage it.

snip

They moved away from food obsessions and food takes little
| place in their life, which I cannot say yet about myself, although it
| has been getting a tad better later.

This seems contradictory to me. In reality, food has become even more of an
obsession, only in a different way. If they are "very aware of their
current weight and actively mange it," they are still not able to live a
"normal" life without obsessing about what they eat. This is where I am
right now also; I hope that the day will come when I don't have to be "very
aware of my current weight and actively manage it;" unfortunately, I believe
that for many of us it's a lifetime of having to pay abnormabl attention to
what we eat.

--
Peter
Before/Current Pix:
http://users.thelink.net/marengo/wei...htlosspix.html


  #3  
Old September 9th, 2004, 12:15 AM
Crafting Mom
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Ignoramus13725 wrote:

It seems contradictory to me also. The hardcore normal people, like my
father in law, do not bother thinking about food at definitely do not
bother "actively managing their weight".


My husband is one of those people. He has a normal appetite and is a
healthy normal weight, and he doesn't turn something down "because I need
to maintain my weight", he simply will turn something down if he doesn't
*want* it.

Food does not reign supreme in his life. Oh for me to get to that point
someday. I have to be conscious still of portion size. I try always to
follow my husband's example.
  #4  
Old September 9th, 2004, 12:15 AM
Crafting Mom
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Default

Ignoramus13725 wrote:

It seems contradictory to me also. The hardcore normal people, like my
father in law, do not bother thinking about food at definitely do not
bother "actively managing their weight".


My husband is one of those people. He has a normal appetite and is a
healthy normal weight, and he doesn't turn something down "because I need
to maintain my weight", he simply will turn something down if he doesn't
*want* it.

Food does not reign supreme in his life. Oh for me to get to that point
someday. I have to be conscious still of portion size. I try always to
follow my husband's example.
  #5  
Old September 9th, 2004, 12:29 AM
~Deb~
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Default


"marengo" wrote in message
...
Ignoramus13725 wrote:

They are all very aware
| of their current weight and they actively manage it.

snip

They moved away from food obsessions and food takes little
| place in their life, which I cannot say yet about myself, although it
| has been getting a tad better later.

This seems contradictory to me. In reality, food has become even more of

an
obsession, only in a different way. If they are "very aware of their
current weight and actively mange it," they are still not able to live a
"normal" life without obsessing about what they eat. This is where I am
right now also; I hope that the day will come when I don't have to be

"very
aware of my current weight and actively manage it;" unfortunately, I

believe
that for many of us it's a lifetime of having to pay abnormabl attention

to
what we eat.

--
Peter
Before/Current Pix:
http://users.thelink.net/marengo/wei...htlosspix.html


Wow! Looking good!


  #6  
Old September 9th, 2004, 12:29 AM
~Deb~
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"marengo" wrote in message
...
Ignoramus13725 wrote:

They are all very aware
| of their current weight and they actively manage it.

snip

They moved away from food obsessions and food takes little
| place in their life, which I cannot say yet about myself, although it
| has been getting a tad better later.

This seems contradictory to me. In reality, food has become even more of

an
obsession, only in a different way. If they are "very aware of their
current weight and actively mange it," they are still not able to live a
"normal" life without obsessing about what they eat. This is where I am
right now also; I hope that the day will come when I don't have to be

"very
aware of my current weight and actively manage it;" unfortunately, I

believe
that for many of us it's a lifetime of having to pay abnormabl attention

to
what we eat.

--
Peter
Before/Current Pix:
http://users.thelink.net/marengo/wei...htlosspix.html


Wow! Looking good!


  #7  
Old September 9th, 2004, 08:08 AM
Lictor
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Default

"marengo" wrote in message
...
This seems contradictory to me. In reality, food has become even more of

an
obsession, only in a different way. If they are "very aware of their
current weight and actively mange it," they are still not able to live a
"normal" life without obsessing about what they eat.


I think the difference is in the mental attitude towards the scale and the
weight. When facing a weight gain, you have two solutions :
1) Watch the number as your jaw drop. Feel a huge feeling of dispair creep
in. Think that it can't be possible. Then :
1.a. Go into denial. This indeed can't be possible. Scale must be wrong or
broken or something. Stupid machine. Better never to use it again.
1.b. Go in full blown panic attack. This is it. This was too good to be
true. All these deprivations for NOTHING! Life sucks. F-word! I'm going to
drown myself in ice cream until it feels better.
1.b. Inflate the stuff. You have become obese again! You need to CORRECT
that! You decide to go on a fast for a few days, in order to lose the
balloon that has replaced your belly. Then, it will be veggies and white
fish only for several weeks. Got to beat that stupid body into compliance!
2) Take note of the new weight (that's the aware part) as a general data
about your life - like you would take note of back pain, running nose or
feeling tired. Wonder if you did anything special that could have caused
that small weight gain - and this is a small weight gain, nothing you can't
lose comfortably over a few weeks. You start going through some of your
weight loss routines again, the ones that seem to be in relation with the
cause of the weight gain. You watch your carbs a bit more, or you try to
focus a bit more on your hunger and satiety. If this was stress related and
you're really going through difficult times, you don't hide behind a tree,
and accept that either you have to face it, or you seek some help from a
therapist to go through the difficult times.

I think that's what they meant. Many dieters go through variations of 1),
though in less caricatural intensity. I think normal people are able to go
through 2) in an unconscious manner. Many are tuned enough to their body to
*feel* weight regain - they will feel a bit sluggish, unwell, heavy... Then,
they will do the corrections in an unconscious manner. Or it will hit
conscious level, but they handle it better since they don't go ballistic
about weight gain. That's all these people who notice a little weight gain,
and "eat a bit less".
It has been suggested that this is why exercising plays a major role in
*maintenance*, while its role in weight loss is less important. Beyond the
immediate effects (muscles growth, calories burn...), exercise makes you
aware of your body. If you run daily, you can *feel* weight gain early on.


  #8  
Old September 9th, 2004, 08:57 AM
janice
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On Wed, 08 Sep 2004 20:15:57 -0300, Crafting Mom
wrote:

Ignoramus13725 wrote:

It seems contradictory to me also. The hardcore normal people, like my
father in law, do not bother thinking about food at definitely do not
bother "actively managing their weight".


My husband is one of those people. He has a normal appetite and is a
healthy normal weight, and he doesn't turn something down "because I need
to maintain my weight", he simply will turn something down if he doesn't
*want* it.

Food does not reign supreme in his life. Oh for me to get to that point
someday. I have to be conscious still of portion size. I try always to
follow my husband's example.


My DH is exactly the same - like most "normal" people he'll tend to
over indulge on special occasions, but to naturally even it out by
eating less of other things if he doesn't feel like them.
I can't follow his example exactly, because he eats far more than I
would be able to eat just to maintain weight, never mind lose it.
janice
  #9  
Old September 9th, 2004, 10:45 AM
Roger Zoul
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Posts: n/a
Default

Lictor wrote:
[...]

|| I think that's what they meant. Many dieters go through variations
|| of 1), though in less caricatural intensity. I think normal people
|| are able to go through 2) in an unconscious manner. Many are tuned
|| enough to their body to *feel* weight regain - they will feel a bit
|| sluggish, unwell, heavy... Then, they will do the corrections in an
|| unconscious manner. Or it will hit conscious level, but they handle
|| it better since they don't go ballistic about weight gain. That's
|| all these people who notice a little weight gain, and "eat a bit
|| less".

|| It has been suggested that this is why exercising plays a major role
|| in *maintenance*, while its role in weight loss is less important.
|| Beyond the immediate effects (muscles growth, calories burn...),
|| exercise makes you aware of your body. If you run daily, you can
|| *feel* weight gain early on.

That's an interesting idea. Who suggested this notion?


  #10  
Old September 9th, 2004, 10:45 AM
Roger Zoul
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Posts: n/a
Default

Lictor wrote:
[...]

|| I think that's what they meant. Many dieters go through variations
|| of 1), though in less caricatural intensity. I think normal people
|| are able to go through 2) in an unconscious manner. Many are tuned
|| enough to their body to *feel* weight regain - they will feel a bit
|| sluggish, unwell, heavy... Then, they will do the corrections in an
|| unconscious manner. Or it will hit conscious level, but they handle
|| it better since they don't go ballistic about weight gain. That's
|| all these people who notice a little weight gain, and "eat a bit
|| less".

|| It has been suggested that this is why exercising plays a major role
|| in *maintenance*, while its role in weight loss is less important.
|| Beyond the immediate effects (muscles growth, calories burn...),
|| exercise makes you aware of your body. If you run daily, you can
|| *feel* weight gain early on.

That's an interesting idea. Who suggested this notion?


 




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