10 things you need to know about losing weight

I've just watched a brilliant programme on BBC1 here in the UK. Each 'thing' was backed up with research and practical demonstrations. I won't be able to remember them all but here is what I can remember. Maybe others who saw it can add to the list.

• Don't skip meals. A CT scan of the brain showed the brain lighting up when a volunteer who had skipped breakfast was shown pics of high calorie, high fat food and little reaction to low-cal food. The volunteer who had eaten breakfast scan showed no difference between pics of low cal food and High cal food. The area of the brain lighting up was one associated with appetite so the brain was guiding choice towards calorie laden food (think pastries at morning break)
• Eating a protein rich breakfast (or any other meal) keeps you satisfied for longer because it triggers the release of more of the chemical that tells the brain you are full.
• Eating low-fat dairy products helps the body to excrete more unabsorbed fat than usual. Dairy calcium binds with fat in the small intestine and passes through without being absorbed. So skimmed milk, low-fat yoghurt, cottage cheese, fromage frais etc all help to carry away fat in the gut. (this was clearly demonstrated in lab tests of sample stools - yuk)
• The 'burn' from exercise carries on well into the next day. The volunteer ran at 4mph for 90 minutes and his fat burn measured. It wasn't that impressive but next day showed how it had carried on. The body accesses carbohydrates easily during exercise and has to use stored body fat to run everything over the next hours - impressive
• Building small amounts of 'activity' into daily routine significantly increases heart rate and calorie expeniture. The volunteer was Aimee Lamee, US comedienne and broadcaster. She was more active at home, spent less time sitting at lunchtime and more time walking and talking, she did her radio show standing up and moving around. It made a significant difference.
• People generally under-report their intake by 40 to 60%. Count and record everything, including every snack and calorie laden sauce
• Soup fills you up for longer. The same food was served to two groups of soldiers. Half ate chicken, rice and veg on a plate with a glass of water. The other half ate the identical food and water liquidized and served as a soup. Stomach scans showed the soup still in the stomach long after the other group's stomachs were empty and calling to be fed.

That's as many as I can remember. Anybody else see it? I know a lot of this isn't new but some of it was surprising.

Wow thanks - I found this to be very helpful. I'll have to remember those things about a protein-rich breakfast and fat-free/low-fat dairy! No wonder an egg-white omelet fills me up more than a big bowl of cereal!

I appreciate it! =)

i found it helpful too! the soup vs. same food with water is very interesting. Maybe I should pop everything in the blender with water LOL no seriously great article, thanks for sharing.

• Eat on a smaller plate. You will eat up to 22% less than usual. They confirmed this by giving one group of people a small tub of popcorn, and one group of large popcorn. They were asked to eat as much as they wanted. Both groups ate to their full and didn't finish their tubs. The group with the large tubs ate significantly more because the food was available, and they could not stop when they were full. 
• Our bodies are wired to seek out variety in food. So keep away from the buffets because it is in our nature to want lots of different things. You are likey to eat about 30% more compared to when your choice is more limited. This is because our ancestors enjoyed and looked for variety when there wasn't much food about. Their experiment included letting people help themselves to free sweets - one bowl all purple, the other bowl multi-coloured. The multi-coloured sweetie bowl was finished twice as quickly as the single coloured ones.

Hello...

REALLY interesting stuff!!  I live in the UK too but unfortunately I missed this programme- when was it on do you know if it is going to be repeated??  Could you let me know what's it called and I can probably watch it on BBC i-player.

Many Thanks!

Jenny

Hi Jenny - it is on BBC i-player and it is called the title of my posting. Well worth a watch!

Yeah I watched this and I thought it was a really good programme, although most of the things they covered I knew already but I thought it ironed out a few diet myths for the majority of hardcore crash dieters.

I particulary like the part with the fat woman who claimed she must have a slow metabolism cos she always ate healthily and exercised but was 'just one of those people who just can't lose weight' (how many times have you heard THAT one before). When they had her keep a food diary for 9 days she claimed to have only consumed 1100 calories per day when in fact she had consumed 3000.

I watched the programme too.  I thought that the greatest incentive to lose the weight was that the presenter was concerned that he might get Type 2 diabetes like his father.  An MRI scan showed that he had fat hidden deep around his liver and his other internal organs which is a classic risk for Type 2 diabetes.  He looked quite slim too.  So he has lost 5lbs and increased his chances of a heathy life.  He wistfully said that he wished his father had known this.

I'm also intersted in finding out if this program will be repeated. I live in Ireland so cant get bbc iplayer.

Just to let you know....

I've checked on the BBC website and apparently the programme is going to be repeated on Saturday 6th June 2009, BBC ONE, 01:25am (except in Scotland).

Yes! 01:25am -that late at night/early in a morning I shall be setting my recorder! 

fantastic programme - I still can't get over the experiment with the soup!! (although we always knew soup was a good low-cal option, now we know it also keeps you filled up as well!!)

THANK YOU!

1. don't skip meals
2. plate & portion size
3. count calories properly
4. don't blame your metabolism
5. protein-rich meals
6. soup - even consistency essential
7. minimise choice
8. low-fat dairy calcium makes your body excrete fat in your poo.
9. exercise - the after burn.  You burn more FAT after exercising, extending into the next day, than you did during your work-out.
10. move your body.  Little bits of exercise - as above - add up to give you a much higher calorie burn - eg - extra 240 calories just from standing up on the phone, walking round a little bit more, taking the stairs.

Fantastic programme. This should be obligatory in schools, every time someone visits the doctor,  on buses, everywhere! 

WOW.  Such small changes, life-style changes, make such an enormous difference.

I have just joined this web page and this was the first forum I have read... thanks for the info - was just about to make a chunky vege soup ... back to the blender !! Cheers !

Thanks everyone who added to the list of points made in the programme. I've been working more protein in at lunchtime hoping it gets me through my afternoon 'slump' - it seems to be helping. I too think that porridge must have the blended soup effect. I certainly find that porridge fills me up for longer than cereal and milk. I have eaten it almost every morning for the past year and I never snack mid-morning. I make it 50/50 water and skimmed milk and have some brown sugar and a big dollop of low-fat yoghurt on it - yummy! 

It was good to see a well researched piece of television tackling this difficult problem. Let's have more of these and fewer instant and surgical 'makeovers', I say!

i've read that eating apple before meal  can decrease your calorie intake for 220 as it can fill you up quickly...   it is also called apetite destroyer... eating apple decreases our risk of colon cancer too...hope this help!

I just learned another interesting health fact.  2 Tbs vinegar before eating carbs causes the carbs to not be absorbed in the stomache.  It gets absorbed at a smaller percentage farther down in the intestines.  So if you eat a salad with vinaigrette dressing 2 minutes before eating your meal, you won't absorb as many carbs.  In tests, they said that it really affected the prediabetic group even more than the normal group or diabetic group.  Also, the people that drank the vinegar lost 2 to 4 lbs while the control group that had a placebo maintained their weight.  It is the acetic acid in the vinegar that they believe is causing the carbs to not be absorbed as much.

I'm experimenting by eating a salad before lunch and dinner.  I am on the verge of being prediabetic and this may help.

Google: vinegar diabetes to find the research on-line.  Very interesting!

lordor01 - I'll try the salad with vinaigrette soon if i remember!! :)

Hi Lordor01,

that's interesting about the vinegar.  I used to live in France, and everyone ate a salad as a starter, always, even at home.  They used to use olive oil and balsamic vinegar as a dressing. 

I know that eating a salad before meals as a starter usually means that you eat less calories overall, it's interesting to learn that the vinegar in the salad might also help people stay slim. 

Artytim,

I've always had porridge for breakfast, but used be starving around 9.30 or 10am.  Since seeing the programme, I have begun adding a spoon of protein powder and last until 11 before I need a snack, and even then eat a smaller snack.  Nice.  

Would lemon work as well as vinegar? I like lemon in hot water in the mornings.