Obesity strategy

Participants in the US National Weight Control Registry who have successfully lost an average of 30 kg and maintained that loss report high levels of physical activity, equivalent to about an hour a day of moderate intensity physical activity. Successful “maintainers” also reduce dietary fat intake to a lower level than in the general population.

A recent US telephone survey from the Colorado “On the Move” initiative reports that, on average, individuals of normal weight walk 600 more steps a day than overweight individuals and 2400 more than obese individuals. People aged over 60—particularly widowers, those in low income families, and obese individuals—are the main group who would benefit from increased physical activity. Watching television for over three hours a day is a major barrier to physical activity.

Combining a low fat diet with exercise is particularly valuable for preventing diabetes and hypertension and is likely to be effective in preventing weight gain

Interventions have included increasing physical activity; reducing physical inactivity (usually reducing television viewing); reducing total calories and energy density of foods or dietary fats; and a combination of these strategies.​strategies.​

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