Study: Even kids have trouble keeping weight off after losing it

By CHERYL WITTENAUER
Associated Press Writer
http://www.bnd.com/336/story/149026.html

ST. LOUIS --Heavy children who lost weight kept the pounds off better through weight maintenance follow-up, but even that wasn't terribly successful over two years, researchers reported.

The less-than-perfect results underscore the challenge in fighting the nation's obesity epidemic. About 34 percent of American children are overweight.

A team led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that obese children who lost weight kept it off if they were in a maintenance program, but its effectiveness waned over time.

The research involving 150 overweight 7- to 12-year-olds is one of the first large-scale studies to evaluate the long-term effect of weight-loss maintenance strategies in children.

The study, which appeared in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, also is the first to look at whether heavy kids benefited from being encouraged to play with more physically active peers, cope with teasing, and develop an improved body image.
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The researchers studied obese youngsters from 1999-2004 at a university clinic in San Diego, where Wilfley used to teach. The children weighed at least 65 percent more than their recommended weight. All of the children in the study also had at least one parent who was overweight.

Each child and parent went through a five-month weight-loss program that set goals, emphasized healthy eating and exercise. They were also counseled by behavioral therapists. On average, after five months, the children lost about 11 percent of their weight.

They were then randomly assigned to one of three groups for four months.

One group was given no further instruction. Another group focused on self-monitoring, vigilance and used other behavior skills, trying to lose weight right away if they regained it.

In the third group, the youngsters were guided into play dates that involved physical activity and healthy eating; they were encouraged to make friends with more physically active peers. They also were counseled on body image and how to cope with teasing.

Researchers checked progress after one year and again after two years.

Those in the behavior skills and social groups were better able to keep weight off in the short term than the kids who had no intervention. However, those effects waned somewhat during follow-up. The kids left to their own devices regained their lost pounds, and then some, after two years.
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And, parents, get off your lazy asses and stay away from the Fast-Food joints!

I live in one of the fittest communities in the world. No trans-fats, no Fast-Food joints, no Starbucks.

A fat kid here is a rare sight.

Is it still OK to use the term "fat kid"?

>Get some exercise, you lazy little shits!<

If you read the excerpted article, you would have seen that the children involved (Lazy Little Shits (tm) to you,) were on an exercise program.

>And, parents, get off your lazy asses and stay away from the Fast-Food joints!<

Oh. Fast food must be the only type anyone can gain weight on, right? :sarcasm:

>I live in one of the fittest communities in the world. No trans-fats, no Fast-Food joints, no Starbucks.<

You sure do, and you can't wait to rub our noses in it at every opportunity. Just a question, TomInTib -- what's the median price for a home in your Shangri-La, for instance? I also wonder how those who don't fit the -- physical criteria -- of residency are treated by the other natives as well.

It must be nice to look down on the serfs from your high horse daily.

Julie

And I know that a third of those kids were in some sort of exercise regimen.

But I also know that the physical condition of today's children is abysmal.

And Fast Food is a big part of the problem. I have done quite a lot of study on this (see link below).

Funny, when it comes to America's obesity pandemic, the folks most at risk don't want to hear or do anything about it.

But I am trying to do something about it:

http://fitniks.com/news/?v=/flvs/abc.flv

And we do have overweight people here, just a much smaller percentage than in most places.

And I am glad to live in a place with "No trans-fats, no Fast-Food joints, no Starbucks". Besides the Banks, every business in our Town is independently owned. We don't even have a gas station or pharmacy because of that. We make our own decisions without any pressure from any Lobby.

Everything I said in that reply is legitimate. I cannot understand why you are so defensive about it.

And I do hope you check that link. You will then, maybe, understand why I feel so strongly about this. We have turned a lot of kids (and their families) lives around.

It happened to me.

In junior high I had to come home and CRASH every day after school for three hours. Four o'clock to seven or seven thirty pm.

I've taken Armour thyroid extract since I was ten years old, and will continue to take it every day until I die. The commonest kind of hypothyroidism, which I have, is Hashimoto's thyroiditis, and it's an autoimmune disease.

I was not fat until some years later.

More info: www.stopthethyroidmadness.com

We could overcome the effects of hypothyroidism. We just didn't want to badly enough! :sarcasm:

Julie

. . . that when a person gets fat, their body has made a whole lot of new adipose cells. Those don't go away, just sitting there doing nothing waiting for new food to come in.

weight issues. My 9th grader gets 5 - 6 hours of homework every week night and more on the weekends. I'd love for her to be out getting some exercise, but her teachers apparently want her to be seated at a desk for many more hours every day after school. It's ridiculous.

Recent research has shown that genes express themselves depending on surroundings. Thus, the fact that my grandfathers were both undernourished signaled to my genes to conserve food. The populations most susceptible to diabetes today are the children and grandchildren of people who never got enough to eat on a regular basis. Maybe this entire obesity thing will shake out in a generation or two.

It's just that our culture is adapating to an overabundance of food. If we had to stand in line for soup and butter rations, we would lose bodyfat, too.