Weight Loss Information

Hi friends, Yesterday I read a news about weight loss and the power of motivation. It was suggested that, Jennifer Morganstern and Tone Benestad floundered for years struggling with obesity, looking for the secret formula to help them lose weight.

Depression and stress had dragged them into obesity as they used food to suppress negative emotions.

"I spent 10 years eating and drinking," said Morganstern, 40, of Olympia, Wash. "I tried every antidepressant out there." She said she lacked motivation.

"I didn't know why I was so tired, craving carbs and sugar," Morganstern said. "All I wanted to do was lie around and watch TV."

For Benestad, 54, of Olympia, obesity was a nagging companion even before she graduated from Olympia High School in 1970 weighing 218 pounds. She wasn't alone.

"Out of six kids in our family, three have weight problems and the other three have issues with drugs and alcohol," Benestad said.

A year after graduation, Benestad ballooned to 376 pounds and stopped riding horses -- once one of her passions. She continued to smoke cigarettes, ultimately smoking three packs a day.

"People didn't recognize depression in those days," she said.

Eventually both women realized that there was no magic pill to help them lose weight.

They had to take responsibility for themselves.

They had to navigate the dense maze of options out there: diet pills, personal trainers, health clubs, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Slim-Fast, Nutri- System, Lindora, Overeaters Anonymous, nutritionists, protein shakes, low-carb diets, weight-loss surgery, hypnosis, behavior modification and pole dancing -- and the list goes on.

They had to find the strength to take TV icon Oprah Winfrey's advice. "Make a decision," Winfrey wrote in her magazine, O.

"Know that you deserve the best life possible. ... Go out and get it."

Last year, with her 40th birthday looming, Morganstern chose to dig her way out of the hole obesity had made in her life.

"I couldn't imagine that the rest of my life would be this miserable," said Morganstern, whose first step was to quit her job. Then, in September, with 218 pounds on her 5-foot-5 frame, Morganstern enrolled in a rigorous, 12-week program at the Valley Athletic Club in Tumwater, Wash.

As a participant in the Results program run by personal trainer David Ross, Morganstern pumped iron three times a week under Ross' supervision, attended a weekly eating and fitness education class, took weekly spinning classes and filled out a daily food journal.

"Just finding that grounding that I've learned is so important," she said.

By the end of the program, Morganstern had dropped 48 pounds. Now she aims to ride in a Seattle-to-Portland bike event later this year.

Benestad also found the way to take back her life.

Three years ago, Benestad, a hairdresser, enrolled in training to be a permanent-makeup specialist.

Partway through the training, Benestad realized it would be hard to succeed in selling herself as a professional permanent-makeup technician if she were still obese. She turned to Lap-Band weight-loss surgery for help.

"I lost about 40 to 50 pounds, but then, when my mother was dying, I gained about 20 back," Benestad said.

Then, in 2005, a client offered to let her ride horses again. Benestad tried it out. After 35 years, she was back in the saddle.

"When I got on that horse, it was a dream come true," she said. "Now I'm down a total of 80 pounds from where I was."

The combination of riding again and losing weight from the surgery helped Benestad build emotional strength. At 180 pounds, she is taking dressage classes from a Thurston County riding instructor, and she eventually plans to compete.

"I'm solid as to who I am," Benestad said. "I'm happy with where I am today."

Others say that nothing works as well as a special 12-step Overeaters Anonymous program in which each member takes responsibility for sticking to an established plan set by a nutritionist.

"It's not a weight-loss plan," said one participant. A membership requires that members remain anonymous. "There's no structure to define abstinence -- you define it for yourself."

Still others look to intensive, medically supervised fasting or very low calorie diets. For 26 years, the University of California at Los Angeles has run a Risk Factor Obesity Program in which people follow a 550- to 850-calorie-a-day diet for six months under monitoring by a physician, dietitian, nurse and psychologist.

"Most patients have five to eight shakes a day, or four shakes and a meal," said Dr. David Heber, program director and author of "The L.A. Shape Diet" (Harper Collins/Regan Books, $24.95, 352 pages).

"The six-month weight-loss phase is typically followed by six months to a year maintenance training in how to keep the weight off long-term."

Some people also benefit by becoming aware of "secret" eating styles that lead to obesity, said nutrition researcher, educator and author Deborah Kesten.

"When I ask people in interviews to share their most memorable dining experiences, it's never about going to the 7-Eleven, sitting in their cars and stuffing down eight bags of potato chips," said Kesten, whose new book on the subject, "The Enlightened Diet," will be published Ten Speed Press in Berkeley.

"It's always about some really fresh food that someone made just for them -- it's what satisfies the soul."

But beyond individual diets or exercise plans, more needs to be done on a public policy level, said Dr. Laura Streichert, director of operations at the Exploratory Center for Obesity Research in Seattle.

"There's always such an emphasis on the individual -- 'You know what to do, just do it,' " Streichert said. "One thing people can do is, think about the barriers people have in their own lives that are stopping them from doing well -- are these things we can do something about?"

Streichert's center, under contract with the National Institutes of Health, is looking at measures such as healthier diets for low-income pregnant women, smaller restaurant portions and possible nutrition labeling on restaurant menus.