What are the facts about weight loss?
Being obese can have serious health consequences. These
include an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, high blood
pressure, diabetes, gallstones, and some forms of cancer. Losing
weight can help reduce these risks. Here are some general points to
keep in mind:
- Any claims that you can lose weight effortlessly are false. The
only proven way to lose weight is either to reduce the number of
calories you eat or to increase the number of calories you burn
off through exercise. Most experts recommend a combination of
both.
- Very low-calorie diets are not without risk and should be pursued
only under medical supervision. Unsupervised very low-calorie diets
can deprive you of important nutrients and are potentially dangerous.
- Fad diets rarely have any permanent effect. Sudden and radical
changes in your eating patterns are difficult to sustain over time. In
addition, so-called "crash" diets often send dieters into a cycle of
quick weight loss, followed by a "rebound" weight gain once normal
eating resumes, and even more difficulty reducing when the next diet
is attempted.
- To lose weight safely and keep it off requires long-term changes in
daily eating and exercise habits.
Source: Excerpted from
FDA/FTC/NAAG Brochure 1992: The Facts about Weight Loss Products and
Programs
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