[Meg]

From Yahoo news yesterday: Study: Watching Calories Takes Commitment. In summary:

Losing that extra weight is one thing. Keeping it off requires a lifetime of counting calories. That's the message from a more than two-decade study of monkeys conducted by Barbara Hansen of the University of South Florida, Tampa.

Genetic differences allow some primates to remain thin and others to grow fat when fed an identical diet over the years, the study found.

Other monkeys, when forced to slim down by as much as 25 percent, regained the weight they'd lost once caloric restrictions were lifted — regardless of whether they'd been on a diet for two months or two years, Hansen said.

"The price of leanness is eternal vigilance", said Hansen, who presented her research Friday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The price of leanness is eternal vigilance -- yep, I have to agree with that statement. That's what maintenance is all about: day in and day out vigilance and thoughtfulness about eating and exercise. Keeping the weight off takes commitment and dedication every day (and is sometimes confused with for obsession by ignorant people ).

So why'd they have to go study monkeys for twenty years? Any of us could have told them that!

[clarabr]

So it took these geniuses TWENTY years to come to that conclusion? It reminds me of a study they did some time ago where they concluded that people who work part-time have more time to exercise, haha. Do you guys remember that?

[YP1]

I want to be a researcher and find something blatantly obvious to study for 20 years - I could spend my time working out and then write up the report at the end telling everyone something they already knew!

[Meg]

Helen - let's see, how about: eat less and move more = weight loss? Want us to get you funding for studying that radical new theory?

Ah, but you'd have to dress it up in scientific terms, take twenty years, use monkeys, and then publish your findings with much fanfare.

I swear, sometimes I think that we here are the ones figuring out weight loss and maintenance - researchers are light-years behind. And sometimes the researchers are studying us for answers -- after all, the National Weight Loss Registry is just compiling data about what we've already figured out on our own to do for maintenance.

[VelVeeta]

hahaha yall crack me up. It makes me so mad, these brainiac doctors publish these stories after years of research as well. Hello!!! We could have told you that!