Credit: Nick Romanenko

Forget the Cabbage soup diet. Fewer calories plus physical activity equals weight loss, says Kathleen Morgan, chair of the Department of Family and Community Health Services. Morgan wears a pedometer at her waist to keep track of the steps she takes and aims for 10,000 steps a day, the equivalent of five miles.

The website USA.gov lists losing weight as the most popular New Year’s vow Americans make. But two Rutgers experts observe that despite good intentions, even the most committed frequently watch their diet dreams vanish by mid-February at the latest.

“One of the things we notice is that it’s very hard to go on a diet beginning January 1, considering the bad weather and the stress and demands on your life in the first months of the year,” said Sue Shapses, professor of nutritional sciences in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and director of the New Jersey Obesity Group. “People may need a one-month lapse time, and should give themselves a second chance if their efforts aren’t working in that first month or two.”         

Kathleen T. Morgan, assistant director of the Rutgers Cooperative Extension and Chair of the Department of Family and Community Health Services, said the average American gains four to seven pounds over the holidays. The key to shedding that weight, she said, is not to grasp for the instant gratification fad diets offer, but to change one’s approach to eating.

“Fad diets take the responsibility off us and put the golden nugget in a book,” Morgan said. “They make dramatic claims for fast and easy weight loss, promising a quick fix: lose 10 pounds in two weeks, lose two dress sizes in a month, trick your metabolism into losing weight without giving up sweets …”

The Cabbage Soup Diet, the Grapefruit Diet, the Apple Cider Vinegar Diet, and their ilk promote one category of foods and ban others – a strategy Morgan deems risky to nutrition. But with an estimated 30 percent of Americans officially classified as overweight, she said, these regimens quickly find a receptive audience via celebrity endorsements, magazine articles, talk-show programs, and friends’ boasts.

But the Rutgers professor, who holds a Ph.D. in medical humanities, does not dismiss diets that have proven successful over the years. One she recommends is Weight Watchers, which gives followers control over what and when they eat. “This one is not a failure,” Morgan said. “It’s the one tried-and-true diet.” 

The average American gains four to seven pounds over the holidays

In her experience, the main difference between Weight Watchers and other diets that come and go is the emphasis on lifestyle and behavior change rather than on the pursuit of immediate gratification. “Nutrition experts say a weight loss of one to two pounds a week is sustainable. If you lose faster, chances are it’s water weight, and it will come back later,” Morgan said.    The average American gains four to seven pounds over the holidays

The N.J. Obesity Group, which Shapses oversees, is a partnership among faculty at Rutgers, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, University Medical Center at Princeton, and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. Its mission is to increase multidisciplinary research into the causes, complications, and treatment of obesity.

With funding from the National Institutes of Health, Shapses conducts long- and short-range group studies to determine the effects of weight loss on bone density. Study participants, many recruited from the Rutgers community, must commit to keeping food diaries and to weighing themselves daily – two factors shown to be success-boosters. The goals are modest: no more than one to two pounds a week, an average of 10 percent of body weight lost by the end of the program.  To find out more about new weight loss programs, email RUwtloss@gmail.com.

A registered dietitian who received a doctorate in nutritional science from Columbia University, Shapses said that initiatives such as hers and Weight Watchers owe a great measure of their success to the bonding in small group sessions, which results in greater commitment. Shapses says weight-loss participants especially benefit from the social support from a spouse or a kindred spirit.

Her research on bone and fat shows it is important to consume adequate micronutrients to ensure fat loss without bone loss during dieting, and recommends a daily multi-vitamin/mineral plus another 500 mg. supplemental calcium a day or more, if dieters do not consume at least two servings of dairy products in their usual diet.

Morgan has essentially banished the term “diet” from her vocabulary in favor of “eating plan.” The latter, she said, carries a different connotation and is easier to sell. “A diet is something you go on and go off. An eating plan is for life,” Morgan said.

Her approach to weight control is based on elementary science: eat 3,500 fewer calories, lose a pound. Cutting out 500 calories a day – a couple of cans of soda, the planet-sized chocolate chip muffin at breakfast – will yield a one-pound loss per week.

The other word Morgan has excised from her personal dictionary is “exercise.” She prefers “physical activity” and recommends 60 minutes a day to take off inches.

The Rutgers faculty member wears a pedometer at her waist to keep track of the steps she takes as she goes about her daily business. She aims for 10,000 steps a day – the equivalent of five miles.

Morgan said the Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Station is partnering with state agencies and private companies to sponsor Get Moving – Get Healthy New Jersey, a program designed to promote a healthy lifestyle, especially healthy eating and physical activity.