How to lose and keep off excess weight for good

Every year especially in January (new year resolution syndrome) I see fat guys and women exercising at KLCC park. It is obvious they are determined to lose weight. You can see it in their grim faces. I see them walking 3-4 km several times a week.

One guy stood out. He always wore a blue knitted T-shirt and was about 30 pounds overweight. I would see him exercising for 6 months and then he would dissapear for the rest of the year. Next year he would turned up again as fat as before. This went on for 2 years. I have not seen him since then at KLCC park. I did see him last year at the shopping centre-he was still fat.

So what does it take to lose weigh and then keep it off ?

Here the facts obtained from a study from the National Weight Control Registry (USA).

Of the 5 percent of those individuals who lost and keep of weight in the LONG term:-

• 89 percent changed both their eating habits. Only 10% dieted only, only 1% exercised only.
  
  
• 96 percent exercised regularly, burning on average 2,800 calories per week. This is equivalent to 28 miles of walking per week.
  
  
• Fewer than 5 percent followed diets such as Atkins, the Zone and Sugar Busters!.
  
  
• 50 percent ate the same type of foods they had always eaten but less.
  
  
• 50 percent counted calories , averaging 1400 calorie per day, spread among five meals.

The key principle is to make the lifestyle changes that is sustainable in the long term. The evidence that this really works;

I used to weight 62 kg (1.68 m) or 137 lbs (5 foot 3 inches) with a BMI of 22., close to the overweight limit of 23.0 for an Asian. By making lifestyle changes, I dropped my weight to 55 kg losing 7 kg over 6 months. I have maintaned this weight for five years.

I am not alone in this sucess story. My runner friends have reduced their weight even more ranging from 7.0 to 20.0 kg. Of course they have now become hard core runners like me. But you don't have to run 50-80 km a week to lose and maintain body weight.

What you need to do is :

1. Eat less food
2. Minimise empty calorie food like cookies, soft drinks, candy etc
   
3. Don't follow a diet
4. Exercise at least 5 times a week using up at least 2800 calorie per week. If walking at 3 miles per hour, this is equivalent to 6 hrs per week.