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5 secrets of successful dieters: even smart women make nutrition mistakes. Wise up and slim down using this proven advice

Shape, Jan, 2006 by Emily Lapkin

ARE YOU DETERMINED to lose weight this year? We have good news for you: Shedding pounds doesn't have to be difficult. It's a proven fact that the best weight-loss advice is surprisingly simple. So forget everything you've ever heard about fad diets, juice fasts, forbidden food groups, top-secret soup recipes and whatever it is they're eating in France and South Beach this season. The truth is, there are just a few facts you need to know in order to reach your weight-loss goals in 2006. Here's the skinny from the country's top diet experts.

To shed pounds, eat less and exercise more.

CALORIES IN, CALORIES OUT.

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If you eat too much and exercise too little, you will gain weight. So if you want to lose weight, the simplest solution is to do the reverse. "Calories do count," emphasizes Rena Wing, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University in Providence, R.I., and co-founder of the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR), a database of more than 5,000 individuals who've lost 70 pounds on average and kept it off for six years.

"You need fewer, and you need to exercise more. This certainly comes through in the Registry and is what all the research would support.

"The NWCR reveals that people who've been most successful at losing weight and keeping it off take exercise seriously and do substantial levels [of it]," Wing observes. "They do about 2,800 calories of exercise per week, and a mixture of different activities." That's about one hour a day, which she notes can be broken up into shorter spurts.

As for the calories you consume, Los Angeles-based nutritionist Jonny Bowden, M.A., C.N.S., says that while it's impossible to give a number that will work for every individual, 1,200-1,400 calories per day should help most adult women reach their weight-loss goals. Remember, if you're exercising a lot, you can also eat more and still lose weight.

To get a calorie count and suggested food-group intake that's tailored for you, visit the U.S. Department of Agriculture's website, mypyramid.gov, where you can enter your age, gender and activity level, suggests Denver-based dietitian Malena Perdomo, R.D., a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.

Easy calorie cut: Nix sugar and soda.

EAT AND DRINK WISELY.

If you've lost weight eating nothing but lettuce and fat-free chips, this may come as a shock, but the best weight-loss plan is also the one that's most nutritious.

"Most people think of weight management and healthy eating as two separate things," says Barbara Rolls, Ph.D., professor of nutritional sciences at Penn State University in University Park, Pa., and author of The Volumetrics Eating Plan (Morrow Cookbooks, 2005). "But, when you're managing calories, it's more important than ever to have a good balance of foods. Fruits and vegetables, lean sources of protein, lowfat dairy and whole-grain, high-fiber foods are the elements of good nutrition and have also been shown to help with satiety," she adds. "You don't want to reinvent nutrition when you're trying to manage your weight."

If you want to cut something out, start with the obvious--empty calories. "Cut out sugar and soda," suggests Bowden. "If you had to get rid of two foods that would sabotage any diet in the stratosphere, you'd eliminate those."

Beware of large portions.

Don't tempt yourself.

"Studies have shown that the bigger the portion, the more people eat," Rolls says, which makes losing weight even more difficult in our supersized culture. Here are a few clever suggestions to fight the temptation to polish off jumbo servings:

* Buy small (10-inch) plates to use at home.

* Drink out of tall, thin glasses.

* Split restaurant portions with a friend or ask that half of your portion be wrapped up in a doggie bag before it's even brought to the table (and save it for lunch the next day).

* To avoid overeating when dining out at a restaurant, order salad with light dressing on the side, broth-based soup or a light appetizer and wait until after you've eaten that to decide whether you want to order more (a study conducted by Rolls found that subjects consumed 12 percent fewer calories during a meal when they ate a first-course salad than when they did not).

Choose foods high in fiber.

FILL UP ON LOW-CALORIE FOODS.

"People eat a consistent weight or volume of food each day. So you can eat the same amount of food and get fewer calories by choosing foods that are less energy-dense," Rolls says. In fact, in one of her landmark studies, her team of Penn State researchers reduced the caloric density of meals and served slightly smaller portions, and subjects did not even notice the 800-calorie-per-day reduction.

Which foods fill you up and provide nutrition without a lot of calories? Fruits and vegetables, which are both rich in fiber and high in water content. "Fat packs 9 calories a gram," explains Rolls; "water packs none." Bowden adds, "When fruits and vegetables constitute the bulk of your plate (and I don't mean french fries), you'll lose weight and keep it off. It's virtually impossible to get fat eating fruits and vegetables; there are less than 100 calories in a vat of spinach!"

5 secrets of successful dieters: even smart women make nutrition mistakes. Wise up and slim down using this proven advice

Shape, Jan, 2006 by Emily Lapkin

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