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Going
Online To Take Off The Pounds
(HealthScout)
-- If you're the kind of person who doesn't want to share your
weight-loss efforts with a roomful of other dieters, technology
may be coming to your rescue.
Consider cyberspace.
People who
participate in an organized weight loss program through the Internet
do better than people who simply try to fend off fat alone, says
a new study.
"The Internet
holds promise to be a vehicle [through which] we can develop structured
weight loss alternatives for people who choose not to attend face-to-face
programs with weekly meetings," says Deborah Tate, a Brown University
assistant professor of psychiatry.
Tate and her
colleagues divided 91 overweight people into two weight-loss groups
-- an education-only group and a behavior therapy group. Everyone
attended a one-time-only weight-loss seminar and received training
in basic Internet navigation skills. Both groups also were given
access to a directory of weight-loss sites on the Internet, but
only members of the behavior therapy group received a structured
behavioral weight-loss program online.
For six months,
participants in the structured program submitted a weekly diary,
received weekly weight-loss lessons, e-mail reminders and encouragement
from a therapist, and had access to an Internet bulletin board
for sharing information with other group members.
People in
both groups lost weight: 45 percent of those in the behavior therapy
group and 22 percent of those in the education group lost at least
5 percent of their initial body weight, Tate says.
But participants
in the structured program did better overall, she says.
"They lost
nine pounds in six months, compared with three pounds, and that's
significantly better," she says.
"It seems
a structured program with continued contact works better than
just giving people access to weight-loss information online,"
she says. Details appear in last week's issue of the Journal
of the American Medical Association.
Althea Zanecosky,
an assistant professor of sports nutrition at Drexel University
and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, calls
this exciting news.
"There are
many effective ways for people to lose weight," Zanecosky says.
"But now that the Internet has become such a constant source of
health information, it's easier for consumers to get the facts
they need."
Some people
thrive on group support, she says, but others trying to lose weight
prefer privacy.
"Having the
Internet accessible is a way for people to get accurate information
about food and weight control they might not be able to get otherwise
-- hopefully in a private setting where they don't have to share
their problems face-to-face with others," Zanecosky says.
What To
Do
Remember two
key things to make your weight-loss attempts successful, experts
say: accurate nutrition information and self-motivation.
"You need
to be in a weight loss program because you want to be, not because
your spouse or health-care provider is pushing you," Zanecosky
says. "And when people don't have accurate food and nutrition
information, they might be able to lose weight but not able to
keep it off."
If you're
interested in using Internet resources to lose weight, experts
advise using information from reputable sources. These could include
hospitals, institutions and professional associations you already
know and trust.
"A safe and
healthy weight loss is one to two pounds a week," Zanecosky says.
"Be wary of anyone who promises you're going to lose large amounts
of weight in a short period of time."
For
more information on losing weight, check out the
American Dietetic Association or the
American Heart Association online.
Reference
Source 101
For more information on how to prevent other diseases, use
PreventDisease.com's "Quick
Prevention Resources".
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