Today’s USA Today has a number of articles (here, here, and here) related to weight loss coming out of the annual meeting of the Obesity Society. Here’s my two cents on a couple.

Weight war can be never-ending — In this article, researchers emphasize what most of us know. It’s a hell of a lot harder to keep it off than take it off. And when you factor in how long it takes, it’s little wonder that people lose the battle.

The article suggests that the way to maintenance bliss is to:

• Step on a scale every day.
• Try to be physically active at least an hour a day.
• Participate in face-to-face weight-maintenance classes or Internet programs that offer support and instruction.
• [If you] regain 5 pounds, put on the brakes by following a better eating and exercise plan.

Okay, bliss is an exaggeration. But these tactics are very similar to ones I learned when I did my liquid fast 14 years ago. At that time, HMR’s guidelines for maintenance were:

• Eat at least 5 servings of fruits & veggies per day.
• Get 2,000 calories of physical activity per week.
• Follow a low-fat diet.

The article also points out the theory that the body fights weight loss. (Perhaps it should say that the body fights many traditional attempts at weight loss. The doctor who did Al Roker’s gastric bypass said something like only 1 in 20 people that are morbidly obese are able to lose weight by traditional methods. Boy, that’s a great way to build up your surgery business.)

Anyways, see the article for more. For me, its rather discouraging tone only adds to my belief that a paradigm shift is needed in the battle. We really understand very little about the whole issue of compliance.

Protein is the new diet hook — Here is the essence of this one:

A growing body of evidence, including research presented here Sunday, shows that eating enough fish, chicken, lean meat, low-fat dairy, beans, nuts or other protein-rich foods helps people feel full longer. …

The latest findings might help explain why people report feeling ravenous after eating only a lettuce salad for lunch. It also could offer insight into why some dieters lose weight without getting as hungry on programs that allow ample protein, such as the Zone Diet and the South Beach Diet, and Weight Watchers, in which the typical member selects 20% to 22% of calories from protein.

I’ve long appreciated the role that protein plays in managing blood sugar (and often resulting cravings). But I’d started to become concerned about the link between lots of protein in the diet and osteoporosis. Thus I was a bit relieved to read this bit:

For now, the Institute of Medicine has concluded that there is no clear evidence that high-protein intake increases the risk of kidney stones, osteoporosis, cancer, coronary artery disease and obesity.

But I’m only a bit relieved. Talk about your competing “science.”