By Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY

Adults gain an average of almost a pound a year as they age, and much of that weight gain is caused by changes in diet such as eating extra servings of foods such potato chips, french fries, sugar-sweetened drinks, white bread and low-fiber breakfast cereals, says the largest, most comprehensive study of diet and weight gain in adults.

The study provides the strongest evidence yet that weight gain is primarily caused by dietary and lifestyle choices.

Other contributors: a decreased intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and other minimally processed foods; less physical activity; more time spent watching TV; and poor sleep habits.

The study provides the strongest evidence yet that weight gain is primarily caused by dietary and lifestyle choices, says senior author Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Small changes in habits add extra pounds, says lead author Dariush Mozaffarian, an associate professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Researchers analyzed data on the weight and eating and lifestyle habits of nearly 121,000 men and women from the Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up study. Participants were tracked every four years for 20 years.

They gained an average of 3.35 pounds over four-year periods and almost 17 pounds over the two decades, according to the study reported in this week's New England Journal of Medicine. Findings:

•People who made the most unhealthful dietary changes gained nearly 4 pounds more in four years than those who had the healthiest dietary habits.

•People who ate an extra serving of chips a day gained an average of 1.7 pounds more in four years than those who didn't eat that extra serving.

•People who drank one more sugar-sweetened beverage a day added an extra pound more in four years than those who didn't.

•Other factors that led to weight gain: decreased physical activity, increased alcohol intake, less than six hours of sleep a night or more than eight, and increased TV viewing.

Although counting calories and watching fat intake have been emphasized recently, the new study indicates it may be better to focus on improving your overall diet, Mozaffarian says.

Some foods, such as nuts that are high in fat, helped prevent weight gain in this study. Other foods that are generally low in fat, such as white bread and low-fiber cereal, contributed to weight gain.

Other lifestyle factors count, too: People who increased their physical activity gained less weight, he says.

Hu says the new research debunks the myth that there are no good or bad foods. "There are clearly healthy foods and less healthy foods and least healthy foods."

http://yourlife.usatoday....48736944/1

It seems counter intuitive to think that we acquire bad habits as we get older. I don't eat chips or soda daily, but I need to make changes, such as more sleep.

I'm putting on weight, but in a good way. I'd be in better shape than 10 years ago if only I quit bloody smoking.

Im bold & old... but i looked in the mirror 2day & thought not bad davetherave...not bad at all!!!

Fauxie said:

I'm putting on weight, but in a good way. I'd be in better shape than 10 years ago if only I quit bloody smoking.

U can stop!!!!!!do u want 2 stop?If u want 2 stop then u will eye c stroke pts everyday dead down 1 side & cant speak cuz of a fag!!!!Eye hope u stop Fauxie...

davetherave6767 said:

Fauxie said:

I'm putting on weight, but in a good way. I'd be in better shape than 10 years ago if only I quit bloody smoking.

U can stop!!!!!!do u want 2 stop?If u want 2 stop then u will eye c stroke pts everyday dead down 1 side & cant speak cuz of a fag!!!!Eye hope u stop Fauxie...

'If u want 2 stop then u will eye c stroke pts everyday dead down'

Thanks for the encouragement. What does the above mean though? Are they lyrics from Snow's 'Informer'?

i weigh the same as i did 12 years ago and i had 3 kids since then

but i work hard at keeping my shape

all u have to do is not eat for 10 ppl and jog 3 times a week... it's not that hard

i'm 5.5" and 57 kilos

[Edited 6/22/11 18:15pm]

eleven said:

i weigh the same as i did 12 years ago and i had 3 kids since then

but i work hard at keeping my shape

all u have to do is not eat for 10 ppl and jog 3 times a week... it's not that hard

i'm 5.5" and 57 kilos

[Edited 6/22/11 18:15pm]

Ive got a feeling ur 50 stone!!!!!!! hiding behind ur comp with a big mac in each hand!!!

I've gained 29 lbs since high school...i could change my eating habits i guess.....need more stuff to do...the yard is ok, the house is ok...but i think aerobic activity would do me good....

eleven said:

i weigh the same as i did 12 years ago and i had 3 kids since then

but i work hard at keeping my shape

all u have to do is not eat for 10 ppl and jog 3 times a week... it's not that hard

i'm 5.5" and 57 kilos

when you're addicted to food and don't like working out, its hard

I weigh 5 pounds less than I did at the end of 9th grade.

I weigh 15 pounds more than I did at the end of 10th grade and 35 pounds more than I did at the end of 11th grade.

I weigh 50 pounds less than I did at the beginning of 2009, but still need to lose 25 or so to be considered at a "normal" weight.

My weight has gone up and down and all around all of my life. I'd like to say I don't care anymore, but I don't know if I'll ever get there.

I will say, I eat very healthy (vegetarian, mostly organic, lots of whole grains, minimal processed food, no fast food) and exercise regularly (right now I run about 9 miles per week, will be ramping that up over the summer, lifts weights and do yoga fairly regularly). My blood pressure is actually on the low side, and all my normal tests come back great. I am overweight and yet very healthy. Go figure.

veronikka said:

eleven said:

i weigh the same as i did 12 years ago and i had 3 kids since then

but i work hard at keeping my shape

all u have to do is not eat for 10 ppl and jog 3 times a week... it's not that hard

i'm 5.5" and 57 kilos

when you're addicted to food and don't like working out, its hard

i know!!! 2 years ago i was over 70 kilos

but i didnt like it.. so i would put food on my plate... look at it, and half it.... that's how i started

i just didnt want to b big.... it was my choice to stop eating that much food... and it was the hardest thing to do

esp since i am cursed with a sweet tooth!!!!

so i take it back... yes it is hard... but now it isn't anymore, and i feel very comfortable

[Edited 6/22/11 18:41pm]

I'm surprised the average 20-29 year old woman is 156 lbs

I've actually lost weight since high school...about 25lbs.

davetherave6767 said:

eleven said:

i weigh the same as i did 12 years ago and i had 3 kids since then

but i work hard at keeping my shape

all u have to do is not eat for 10 ppl and jog 3 times a week... it's not that hard

i'm 5.5" and 57 kilos

[Edited 6/22/11 18:15pm]

Ive got a feeling ur 50 stone!!!!!!! hiding behind ur comp with a big mac in each hand!!!

maybe... maybe not........

Then again, sometimes you can do everything right - and still gain weight after 40.

That happened to me. My eating and exercise habits have been more or less the same since 1996, but my weight crept up over the last 10 years. Last December, my doctor tested my vitamin D level - and it was 30. (Normal is between 30 and 70.) I'm also perimenopausal and borderline low thyroid.

So now, I take 5000 IU of vitamin D daily, plus a thyroid support multivitamin and bio-identical progesterone. Since the beginning of the year, I've lost 15 pounds without even trying. I'm still about 10 pounds over what I was in 2000, but I figure I'll get back down there eventually.

As an adult I have always be skinny and I only gained very little weight in the years when I was on the pill. Today I weight less than I did when I was in school. Even though I gained a little weight in the last weeks I am still skinny. I guess one day that will change a bit when I get even older. But I'll probably never be overweight in my life again like I was when I was a little child. It#s just not in my genes.

Fauxie said:

I'm putting on weight, but in a good way. I'd be in better shape than 10 years ago if only I quit bloody smoking.

Now I'm a bit bummed. Weighed myself this morning and I've lost 2.5kg (5.5lbs) in about 10 days. Down to about 175 lbs now. I went on a visa run though and haven't worked out in a week and haven't been taking my protein shakes so I guess that's partly why. It's a pain in the ass that I need to work out like crazy and do all kinds of stuff just to add even a few lbs of muscle. Ultimately I just want to get to 84kg (185lbs), which would be a good, lean and toned weight for my 6 foot 3 height.

i weigh less than i did in HS. as an adult i have power over my own food and activity choices, in a way i did not when i was a child. if i want, i can watch TV and eat potato chips, while working out on the stairmaster. i recently watched an excellent program on stress and the effect it has on weight gain. there is a surprising correlation between stress and weight gain around the midsection of the human body. i was surprised to learn that stress can actually change the shape of a person's body, among other things.

the program makes the point that, besides dietary and exercise factors, increased levels of stress and associated sleeplessness are also contributing factors in the current obesity epidemic.

The metabolism slows as one ages. When older people diet the body tends to attack the muscle before the fat.

Some older people, due to a variety of reasons, become less mobile in their older years and they will gain weight even if their diet remains healthy and low calorie.

Then...their are some people who are natural born ectomorphs and they couldn't get fat if they tried.

Fauxie said:

Fauxie said:

I'm putting on weight, but in a good way. I'd be in better shape than 10 years ago if only I quit bloody smoking.

Now I'm a bit bummed. Weighed myself this morning and I've lost 2.5kg (5.5lbs) in about 10 days. Down to about 175 lbs now. I went on a visa run though and haven't worked out in a week and haven't been taking my protein shakes so I guess that's partly why. It's a pain in the ass that I need to work out like crazy and do all kinds of stuff just to add even a few lbs of muscle. Ultimately I just want to get to 84kg (185lbs), which would be a good, lean and toned weight for my 6 foot 3 height.

I know where you are coming from, as I am skinny too, but I have to say as I get older I am far less concerned with adding bulk than I am with simply being healthy.

If a body tends to be a certain shape, then why fight nature? It makes the whole process of diet & exercise that much harder.

Potato chips worst culprit for weight gain

SUPRMAN said:

Potato chips worst culprit for weight gain

Blame the potato chip. It's the biggest demon behind that pound-a-year weight creep that plagues many of us, a major diet study found. Bigger than soda, candy and ice cream.

• 

  Matt Rourke, AP

  The potato chip is the biggest demon behind that pound-a-year weight creep that plagues many of us, a major diet study found.

Enlarge

Matt Rourke, AP

The potato chip is the biggest demon behind that pound-a-year weight creep that plagues many of us, a major diet study found.

And the reason is partly that old advertising cliche: You can't eat just one.

"They're very tasty and they have a very good texture. People generally don't take one or two chips. They have a whole bag," said obesity expert Dr. F. Xavier Pi-Sunyer of the St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York.

What we eat and how much of it we consume has far more impact than exercise and most other habits do on long-term weight gain, according to the study by Harvard University scientists. It's the most comprehensive look yet at the effect of individual foods and lifestyle choices like sleep time and quitting smoking.

The results are in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

Weight problems are epidemic. Two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese. Childhood obesity has tripled in the past three decades. Pounds often are packed on gradually over decades, and many people struggle to limit weight gain without realizing what's causing it.

The new study finds food choices are key. The message: Eat more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and nuts. Cut back on potatoes, red meat, sweets and soda.

"There is no magic bullet for weight control," said one study leader, Dr. Frank Hu. "Diet and exercise are important for preventing weight gain, but diet clearly plays a bigger role."

Doctors analyzed changes in diet and lifestyle habits of 120,877 people from three long-running medical studies. All were health professionals and not obese at the start. Their weight was measured every four years for up to two decades, and they detailed their diet on questionnaires.

On average, participants gained nearly 17 pounds over the 20-year period.

For each four-year period, food choices contributed nearly 4 pounds. Exercise, for those who did it, cut less than 2 pounds.

Potato chips were the biggest dietary offender. Each daily serving containing 1 ounce (about 15 chips and 160 calories) led to a 1.69-pound uptick over four years. That's compared to sweets and desserts, which added 0.41 pound.

For starchy potatoes other than chips, the gain was 1.28 pounds. Within the spud group, french fries were worse for the waist than boiled, baked or mashed potatoes. That's because a serving of large fries contains between 500 to 600 calories compared with a serving of a large baked potato at 280 calories.

Soda added a pound over four years. Eating more fruits and vegetables and other unprocessed foods led to less weight gain, probably because they are fiber-rich and make people feel fuller.

For each four-year period, these factors had these effects on weight:

— An alcoholic drink a day, 0.41-pound increase.

— Watching an hour of TV a day, 0.31-pound increase.

— Recently quitting smoking, 5-pound increase.

People who slept more or less than six to eight hours a night gained more weight.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and a foundation. Several researchers reported receiving fees from drug and nutrition companies.

"Humans naturally like fat and sweet," said Dr. David Heber, director of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition, who had no role in the study. "That's why we always tell people to eat their fruits and vegetables."

Pi-Sunyer, who also wasn't involved in the research, said the study gives useful advice.

"It's hard to lose weight once you gain it," he said. "Anything that will give people a clue about what might prevent weight gain if they follow through with it is helpful."

The federal government earlier this year issued new dietary guidelines advising people to eat smarter. This month, it ditched the food pyramid — the longtime symbol of healthy eating — in favor of a dinner plate divided into four sections containing fruits, vegetables, protein and grains.

http://yourlife.usatoday....48785290/1

^^^^ I disagree with this... I think its table sugar that got me fat. I hate chips of all kinds, I dislike greasy foods. If I smell corn oil being warmed up I get instant nausea and my stomach rejects oily foods.

But slide some pound cake my way, muffins, cookies, red-velvet, chocolate ANYTHING, bread, bread, and more bread..... this is why most women get fat. They love bread!

Throw in inhaled steroids... you got one swolled up heffa!

I jumped from 150lbs (68 K) to 230 (104) .... in 5 years! But I was sick and I had to take my meds. Steroids tear your metabolism a new ass... and the love of bread.

kilo edits

[Edited 6/25/11 6:53am]

HotGritz said:

The metabolism slows as one ages. When older people diet the body tends to attack the muscle before the fat.

Some older people, due to a variety of reasons, become less mobile in their older years and they will gain weight even if their diet remains healthy and low calorie.

Then...their are some people who are natural born ectomorphs and they couldn't get fat if they tried.

I know a few women that are naturally like this, they are petite and eat anything!... even tons of fried crap and they gain nothing and move less than I do.

They are too weak to do the work I do, can't lift shit, get tired quickly... then say to me how I need to excerise more and just learn to eat because I gained so much weight.

Everytime I eat they try to criticize me, I tell them to fuck off each time and take a bigger bite. I hate stupid people who think they can criticize others. Shit I don't tell those boney bitches to eat more... I used to be a rack of bones when I was a teen and I knew how hurtful it was to criticize any women's body.

I just hate the assumptions made... Fat = lazy.

[Edited 6/25/11 7:11am]

Fauxie said:

I'm putting on weight, but in a good way. I'd be in better shape than 10 years ago if only I quit bloody smoking.

I had a 29" waist when I met she-who-shall-not-be-named. In the years since we were married, (especially since she's a great cook), I at one point ballooned up to size 36 (pushing 38).

10 years ago I started trying to "diet & exercise" with limited results. I averaged out at size 34 waist.

In the past 6 months, with the exercise, eating smaller portions, cutting out soda & most fried foods (and the occassional bouts of no appettite) I'm down to size 32.

I think that should be a good pant size to keep, with the hopes of building up the upper body soon!

Weight-wise...I weighed about 150 in High School. At my heaviest a few years back I was pushing 190. I weighed myself 3 weeks ago (doctor's office) and I was 164lbs. According to the chart that the gym gave me, I "should" weight 157. That seems doable (I'm only 5'-7") but only if I manage to replace the cookie fat around my waist with muscle in other areas. As I've said before, I tend to gain fat almost exclusively around the waist! My arms and legs have always been scrawny no matter how much I weigh. Only recently have I actually gained size on the arms (not hardly much really, but enough for the kids to notice! "Dad, make a muscle!" ).

If I win the lottery, one of the first things I'd do is hire a personal trainer.

paintedlady said:

HotGritz said:

The metabolism slows as one ages. When older people diet the body tends to attack the muscle before the fat.

Some older people, due to a variety of reasons, become less mobile in their older years and they will gain weight even if their diet remains healthy and low calorie.

Then...their are some people who are natural born ectomorphs and they couldn't get fat if they tried.

I know a few women that are naturally like this, they are petite and eat anything!... even tons of fried crap and they gain nothing and move less than I do.

They are too weak to do the work I do, can't lift shit, get tired quickly... then say to me how I need to excerise more and just learn to eat because I gained so much weight.

Everytime I eat they try to criticize me, I tell them to fuck off each time and take a bigger bite. I hate stupid people who think they can criticize others. Shit I don't tell those boney bitches to eat more... I used to be a rack of bones when I was a teen and I knew how hurtful it was to criticize any women's body.

I just hate the assumptions made... Fat = lazy.

[Edited 6/25/11 7:11am]

My gym buddy is like this. She actually wants/needs to gain weight because she is trying to get preggo and her doc told her she was underweight. She's 5'6 and 100 pounds even. She goes up 2 or 3 when its her menstrual. She eats and eats and eats but that scale hardly moves. She talks shit about fat women but I tell her "those fat women got babies and you don't...think about it".

I know that's mean as hell but...

Oh and she's 30 so age is not a factor in either her weight or her ability to conceive. It's all about that body type she inherited.

[Edited 6/27/11 15:06pm]

HotGritz said:

She talks shit about fat women but I tell her "those fat women got babies and you don't...think about it".

I know that's mean as hell but...

Oh - you just ain't right!

myfavorite said:

I've gained 29 lbs since high school...i could change my eating habits i guess.....need more stuff to do...the yard is ok, the house is ok...but i think aerobic activity would do me good....

Twenty minutes of kettlebell exercises will do the trick. That shit is kicking my ass right now, and I thought I was in good shape from all the lifting I do. Dude who runs the class told me 20-25 minutes with the kettlebell does more for you than 40 minutes on the treadmill. He ain't lying.

uPtoWnNY said:

myfavorite said:

I've gained 29 lbs since high school...i could change my eating habits i guess.....need more stuff to do...the yard is ok, the house is ok...but i think aerobic activity would do me good....

Twenty minutes of kettlebell exercises will do the trick. That shit is kicking my ass right now, and I thought I was in good shape from all the lifting I do. Dude who runs the class told me 20-25 minutes with the kettlebell does more for you than 40 minutes on the treadmill. He ain't lying.

How does that work? I thought that kettlebells were just "old school" dumbells!

PurpleJedi said:

uPtoWnNY said:

Twenty minutes of kettlebell exercises will do the trick. That shit is kicking my ass right now, and I thought I was in good shape from all the lifting I do. Dude who runs the class told me 20-25 minutes with the kettlebell does more for you than 40 minutes on the treadmill. He ain't lying.

How does that work? I thought that kettlebells were just "old school" dumbells!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettlebell

After each class, I am drenched.