Weight Loss: A New Attitude Emerges

The term weight loss is too generic and implies that indiscriminate weight loss of body fluids, protein, and fat is desirable. A more appropriate goal is to measure success by the amount of fat lost rather than by weight loss. The term weight loss should be replaced by the more specific term fat weight loss.

Until recently, advice to over fat persons was imprecise. For example, the suggestion simply to “cut back on calories” is an oversimplification of the truth and reinforces the misconception that diet alone is the problem. Successful weight management is rarely the result of following a diet or counting calories for a specific time period. Rather there must be a life long lifestyle change because the loss or gain of body weight, the development of fat cells, and the causes of obesity are complex issues related to the interaction of three factors-heredity, diet, and exercise.

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