Weighty Matters :holiday eating

[Guest guest]

MSNBC.com

Weighty Matters

Our columnists examine when, and where, extra pounds can hurt you—

and how to keep them off after the holidays pass.

WEB EXCLUSIVE

By Barbara Kantrowitz and Pat Wingert

Newsweek

Updated: 8:37 a.m. ET Nov. 15, 2005

Nov. 15, 2005 - It's the start of the holiday season and lots of

parties, big family dinners and tempting leftovers beckoning from

the fridge, which means that in January you might be stuck with an

unwanted souvenir: extra pounds. That's especially unwelcome if—like

many of us—you're already struggling to lose some weight. So this

seems like a good time of year to talk about the risks of carrying

around just a little bit of excess weight and how to maintain

healthy habits through the holidays. " An ounce of prevention is

worth a pound of weight gain, " says Dr. Klein, director of

the Center for Human Nutrition at the Washington University School

of Medicine in St. Louis. " Preventing the increase in weight is a

lot easier and better than actually gaining weight and trying to get

it off again. "

With all the emphasis that the media puts on being movie-star thin,

most women think they're too fat—even if they're not. How can you

tell how much you really need to lose? Doctors usually measure

obesity by calculating your Body Mass Index (BMI). That's basically

a ratio of weight to height. To see yours, check out this site at

the Centers for Disease Control. You're considered normal weight if

your BMI is 18.4 to 24.9, overweight if you're 25.0 to 29.9 and

obese at 30.0 and above. Even being moderately overweight, with a

BMI of 28, puts you at much higher risk for Type 2 diabetes, says

Klein. The risk of other obesity-related conditions, such as high

blood pressure and heart disease, increases with extra weight as

well.

But BMI doesn't tell the whole story. A muscular athlete, like a

female body builder, might have a relatively high BMI but won't

really be overweight because she doesn't have extra body fat.

Studies have shown that women are at higher risk of obesity-related

diseases if their waist is 35 inches or wider (and don't cheat by

pulling the measuring tape tighter). That's true even if your weight

is close to normal. " Having weight in the middle is associated with

cardiovascular diseases and increased risk for cancers within the

body, " says Dr. Jana Klauer, an obesity researcher at St. Luke's-

Roosevelt Hospital in New York and author of the upcoming book " How

the Rich Get Thin " (to be published by St. 's Press on Dec.

27).

Being moderately overweight can threaten your health at any age, but

doctors say it's especially troublesome when you're a young adult.

Even a 10-pound weight gain between the ages of 18 and 20 (remember

the " Freshman 15? " ) is associated with later heart disease, high

blood pressure, diabetes and gall-bladder disease, says Klein. Even

those women who manage to stay slim through their 20s often find

they gain weight during pregnancy and have trouble taking it off

afterwards. Over the years, those pounds add up. Many women just

shrug that off, accepting the gain as an inevitable byproduct of

aging. But Klauer says that even though our metabolism slows

somewhat as we age, that's not the main reason so many women gain

weight as they get older. " What's more of a problem to women in our

society is overconsumption and underactivation, " says Klauer. " The

latter increases with age. When your kids are younger, you spend

more time running around after them. As people get older, they tend

to become more sedentary. "

The solution is simple to explain—eat less and exercise more—but

hard to put into practice, especially at this time of year. But

there are some simple steps you can take to help keep the pounds off

from calorie-rich parties. Klein recommends staying as far away from

the food as possible so you have to walk across the room to get to

the buffet table, sticking with non-alcoholic drinks like water or

diet soda (alcohol not only adds empty calories, but it stimulates

the appetite and lowers willpower), munching on a salad (with low-

calorie dressing) or raw vegetables before a dinner or party so you

don't arrive starving, and keeping portion sizes extra small (if

you're really tempted by high-calorie treats, have just a bite—that

may be enough to satisfy your craving). And don't forget to exercise.

Studies of people who've lost weight and kept it off show that

successful dieters keep track of their weight and food intake,

exercise regularly and eat breakfast every day. When you're dieting,

you should weigh yourself weekly because daily fluctuations

(sometimes caused by fluid retention) can be discouraging. But after

reaching your goal weight, a daily weigh-in seems to work best to

keep the extra pounds off. A food diary often helps pinpoint trouble

spots such as that mid-morning or late afternoon snack. An extra 150

or so calories a day, the amount in a single chocolate chip cookie,

adds up to a pound of extra weight in just about three weeks.

Regular exercise means real activity, not just sauntering from the

car to the front door. You need 90 minutes a day of a moderate

activity like walking, says Klein, or 30 minutes a day of more

vigorous exercise like running or jogging. For more information on

how to balance food intake and exercise, go to this Department of

Agriculture Web site. Finally, there's breakfast, the meal many

women skip in the mistaken belief that it's a good way to cut

calories. " There is something magical about breakfast, " says

Klauer. " Breakfast, as the first meal of the day, kind of resets the

body for a new day. " If you start out not hungry, by eating

something with protein, you're much less likely to overeat later on.

And here's a little incentive from Klauer. " There's about eight

pounds between dress sizes, " she says. Being able to fit into a

smaller size is the best holiday gift to yourself!