If you are skinny- just ignore

So last week I attended paid an exorbitant fee to attend a conference held by the American Dietetic Association so that I could be certified in Adult Weight Loss Management. Many of you know that I'm a Registered Dietitian (RD) but haven't put it to much use since graduation. The field requires continuing education hours however, so I thought this would be interesting way to get those since I would enjoy taking clients from home at some point. Here is a tiny sliver of what I learned.

61% of all Americans are overweight and 32% of all Americans are obese
Seeing as how overweight people are in the majority and bias against excessive weight is still very prevalent, this can only lead to one conclusion. Overweight people promote the stereotypes and or at least aren't fighting too hard against them since it is usually something they don't like about themselves. This is very sad.

Current evidence shows that the macronutrient composition of the diet matters little, just so long as you burn more than you eat. (ie it doesn't matter if its low carb or low fat, just eat less) Different approaches work for different people and can be used as a short term strategy to get weight loss going. Meal replacements or formulas (slimfast, ensure, Kellogs cereal...) have been shown to be a very effective tool for some people since it is cheap, preportioned, and reduces decision making.

In a majority of the cases exercise doesn't really help you lose weight. It is just too easy to out eat your exercise. For example you walked 3 miles today and burned off those 3 cookies (300 calories) you ate after lunch. What about the fries and the burger you ate before hand? Physical activity is so important for a slew of other reasons, including KEEPING WEIGHT OFF, decreasing risk of chronic diesease, increasing functional health, decreasing stress, decreasing depression, and even building grey matter BUT it is won't make you lose weight unless you change some dietary habbits too.

50% of people that try to lose weight do, and keep it off for a year or more. Only problem is they aren't always satisfied with how much weight they lose. Weight loss success is usally defined as between 5-10% of body weight. If you can lose that much (say 30 lb if you are 300lb) then you have gone a long way to improving your health and decreasing risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes etc. What the doctor defines as success and what the mirror defines as success don't always match up though and it is basically impossible to go from extreamly obese back to thin. Your metabolism slows down whenever you lose weight and your body hangs on to excess skin. Easiest thing to do, don't gain weight in the first place. That sounds like a great idea... until life happens.

At some point in weight loss efforts patients will require an adjustment in their energy balance (calories or physical activity) because their weight will plataue. This usually happens around 6 months. By 6 months if you have been diligent you will probaby have lost that 10% as previously discussed at a rate of about 1-2 lb /week. Any more rapid weight loss than that can lead to gallstones or liver disease.

Self monitoring (writing down what you eat and do) is a very effective tool in weight loss. Patients are shown to lose up to twice as much when they are consistant about doing this at least on a periodic basis and whenever they notice weight re-gain.

If you want to know more I'm just bursting with useful/useless information.