ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, August 27, 1996 TAG: 9608270150
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARSHA GILBERT STAFF WRITER
Exercising is a more effective way to take off and keep off weight than dieting, according to the results of a two-year study.
Ken Goodrick, assistant professor of medicine at the Behavioral Medicine Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, led a study of 127 overweight adults. He wanted to see whether diet, diet and exercise, or exercise alone would maintain the greatest weight loss.
His results were published in April's Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
The participants in the study were men and women, ages 25 to 45, who weighed an average of 200 pounds.
Goodrick, four faculty members, a group of dietitians and recordkeepers divided them into three groups. The first group was given instructions in diet and exercise. The second group was asked to lose weight by dieting alone, and the third group was told to lose weight by exercise alone.
Members of the diet-and-exercise group and the diet-only group each lost between 15 and 18 pounds in the first year. But they all gained the weight back by the end of the second year.
The group members who dieted followed the "Help Your Heart" eating plan. They were told to eat between 1,200 and 1,500 calories per day, with 30 percent fat, 50 percent carbohydrates, and 20 percent protein.
The group members who exercised lost only 4 to 5 pounds during the first year of the study, but had kept the weight off by the end of the second year. They were taught that exercise should be enjoyable and not strenuous.
"If they're overweight and can only walk for five minutes, then that's where they should start and gradually increase," said Goodrick, the co-author of "Living Without Dieting." "We took them to an indoor track and told them to focus on how their bodies felt. They paid attention to things like their breathing, their feet placement and how they swung their arms. Exercise should be fun and invigorating."
All of the participants kept records of what they ate and how much they exercised. "Overweight people tend to overestimate how much exercise they did," Goodrick said. "Overweight people also underestimate how much they eat. It's a form of psychological repression."
Goodrick says his 18 years in research have taught him that if you put the average person in an environment with food and no incentive to exercise, he will tend to be overweight.
He suggests to people trying to manage their weight that they have to exercise, cut calories by cutting fat and stop worrying about their weight and appearance.
"People try to lose weight to get love and look better, but they should do it the other way around to maintain weight loss," he said. "They should try to find a support system to help them get through the weight loss process."
His formula for successful weight loss is to exercise, keep accurate records of what you do, have a social support system and learn to manage problems. And don't quit, he adds.
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