Weight Loss and Recipe of the Month

Obesity is a complex and chronic disease, involving many factors. Therefore, losing weight on a permanent basis requires multiple approaches for success. There is no perfect diet or single pathway to successful weight loss and maintenance. What works for one person may not work for someone else.

In researching long-term weight loss maintenance, I found a great source of information:

The National Weight Control Registry
Brown Medical School/The Miriam Hospital
Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center
www.nwcr.ws

The NWCR is a database of people who have successfully lost between 30 to 300 pounds and have kept if off for at least one year. It was established in 1993 and follows there successful people annually with questionnaires to determine their weight maintenance techniques.

Through these yearly questionnaires, the NWCR has identified 8 trends or factors that this population has found to be successful for their weight loss maintenance. They are:

1. Eat a low kcalorie, low fat diet: Women eat about 1400 kcalories a day; Men eat about 1700 kcalories per day.
2. Eat fewer meals out.
3. Eat breakfast. (75% of the registrants eat breakfast every day)
4. Practice dietary restraint 7 days a week, including weekends and holidays.
5. Keep a food journal or diary.
6. Weigh yourself frequently. (75% weigh themselves weekly)
7. Limit TV time.
8. Exercise more. (90% of the registrants have some kind of physical activity at least 60 minutes a day)

Wow! That’s a lot of permanent lifestyle changes. Successful weight loss and maintenance does not include adopting temporary eating habits. It includes improving all areas of your life. It is not a simple process. That is one reason that the THFW Bariatric Services is an interdisciplinary group that includes a registered dietitian as part of the program. I am available for the patients’ in the program, at now cost for as long as they need me.

Our patients still have to develop the best type of lifestyle for them but thanks to the information from the NWCR, they now have some guidelines to follow that have been proven to be successful in this specific population. I feel that just knowing that other people have lost the weight and kept it off is great encouragement for my patients.

Next time, I will go into more detail on some of these guidelines.
Remember, healthy eating does not happen by chance.

Below is a recipe that is also on the THFW Bariatric Services Website. It includes a scoop of protein powder. Whey protein powder is essential in the diet of bariatric patients during the time of rapid weight loss to provide enough protein that the body needs to maintain muscle mass and manufacture all the substances necessary for daily protein metabolism.

Recipe of the Month:
Pumpkin Spice Latte

Ingredients:
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1 tbsp canned pumpkin
• ¼ tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice)
• ½ cup skim milk
• 2 tsp Splenda or Equal
• ½ cup water
• 1 tsp Instant Coffee
Directions:
• Heat water in microwave then mix in instant coffee
• Add coffee, milk, pumpkin, protein powder, and spices
• Blend until combined
• Heat in microwave until warm or serve over ice

- Jamie Bass MS, RD/LD
Clinical Dietitian, Bariatric Services
Texas Health Fort Worth
jamiebass@texashealth.org


PS - Next month's recipe will be for a caramel/cinnamon latte! Keep checking back for that!