Weight loss and Americans. The Biggest Loser. Body Wraps. Fad Diets. Lose 42 pounds in in three months! Several recent studies and reports, two from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, confirm what we've suspected for years. That Americans, and for that matter almost everyone worldwide, are getting fatter than ever, and so are our children.

While we can all think of several reasons for this epidemic, everything from genetics, lifestyle factors to societal changes, it's time we accepted this trend and looked for some solutions, or suffer the health consequences down the line.

You know you need to lose weight but you may not know how to go about it. Or, have you lost weight before only to gain it back? Our Weight Management Program shows you how you can make lifestyle changes that will result in permanent weight loss. We review how much and what kinds of food you eat, and design a safe, effective, and doable fitness program based on your age, health status, and ability level.

WHY YOU NEED TO GET IN SHAPE…
Several recent studies and reports, two from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, confirm what we've suspected for years. That Americans, and for that fact almost everyone worldwide, are getting fatter than ever, and so are our children. While we can all think of several reasons for this epidemic, everything from genetics, lifestyle factors to societal changes, it's time we accepted this trend and looked for some solutions, or suffer the health consequences down the line.

There is no doubt that exercise is an important component of body weight management. Many studies have shown that exercise combined with dietary energy restriction results in improved weight loss compared with either treatment alone and that the level of exercise participation may be one of the best predictors of long-term weight maintenance. A study published in 1999 reported that individuals engaging in greater levels of exercise maintained greater weight loss compared with individuals not achieving this level of exercise. This and other research over the years have shown that high levels of exercise help to maintain long-term weight loss.

A study published in the October 2002 issue of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, looked at the exercise/weight loss equation from a slightly different viewpoint. Instead of examining whether exercise and dieting were independent factors that added together to produce weight loss, they examined whether changes in exercise levels reinforced dietary and behavioral changes and thus increased dietary success and long-term weight loss.

The results of the study suggest that increased physical activity during a behavioral weight loss program is associated with changes in eating behaviors and energy intake, which results in an improvement in long term weight loss when compared to the combination of diet and behavioral changes without exercise. In other words, it was the exercise that seemed to help people stick to their diets and lose weight or keep weight off. Sticking to a long term exercise program is crucial to losing and keeping weight off, not just because it increases energy output but because it helps people stick to their diets as well.

"Sixty years ago, Metropolitan Life Insurance created the first widely accepted charts setting ideal weights for American men and women. 'Overweight is so common,' the company declared at the time, 'that it constitutes a national health problem of the first order.'"
(Wall Street Journal 7/16/03 p. B1 Americans Are Gaining, but 'Ideal' Weight Keeps Shrinking)