Many Want to Lose Weight, but Few Diet or Exercise
Tue Feb 12, 1:48 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - While many overweight people claim to have a strong desire to shed excess pounds, most do little to achieve this goal, a new study suggests.

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota report that only one in three people who are trying to lose weight, and one in five people trying not to gain weight, follow the widely recommended approach of at least 150 minutes of exercise weekly and reduced caloric intake.

A staggering 61% of American adults currently meet the scientific definition of overweight or obesity, putting them at increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, arthritis, depression and several forms of cancer.

In their study, published in the February issue of the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Dr. Thomas E. Kottke and colleagues evaluated the weight goals and control strategies of 1,224 men and women living in Olmstead County, Minnesota.

Nearly 66% of men and roughly 48% of woman said they were overweight, while about 73% of the men and 85% of the women said that they were currently trying to lose weight or to avoid gaining weight.

"The average weight loss goal for individuals trying to lose weight was 23.4 pounds for men and 28 pounds for women," the authors report.

In spite of those goals, only one third of men and women trying to lose weight and one fifth of those trying to avoid gaining weight actually cut their food intake or reported exercising for at least 150 minutes each week, Kottke and his team write.

"This indicates to us that, in addition to clinical programs that provide skill training and reinforcement, affordable, tasty foods of low energy density need to be both available and promoted to the population," the authors write.

Also, the researchers add, "a physical environment that permits and promotes physical activity for everyone needs to be developed, maintained, and enlarged over time to match population growth."

Like other US residents and many others worldwide, the authors state, Olmsted County residents are "experiencing an obesity epidemic." Fighting this epidemic, they conclude, will require efforts by both individuals and their communities.

SOURCE: Mayo Clinic Proceedings 2002;77:114-121.


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