THE HOLIDAYS Trim the fat this season

Recording what you eat really helps, research suggests.
By SALLY SQUIRES
WASHINGTON POST
Let the revelry begin!
Thanksgiving kicked off five weeks of celebration that ends New Year's Day ... and leaves a lot of Americans packing about a pound more than they do today. For the estimated two-thirds of the population who are already overweight or obese, the numbers are a little, well, larger: If this year is like other holiday seasons, many of them will ring in the New Year weighing about five pounds above where they are now.
That may not seem like a big deal. But studies suggest that overweight and obese people don't shed these "holiday" pounds. Year after year, their weight keeps edging higher and "it's one of the things that helps to fuel the obesity epidemic," says Jack Yanovski, head of the growth and obesity epidemic unit at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
With that fact in mind, we welcome you to the Lean Plate Club Holiday Challenge.
The Holiday Challenge is not about adding deprivation to the to-do list for one of the busiest and most stressful times of year. It's simply designed to help keep unwanted pounds at bay from now until Jan. 1.
Won't be easy
Of course, in this age of excessive food consumption and ingenious new ways to remain sedentary, just maintaining one's weight may not happen without attention and a bit of effort.
Research suggests that two keys to weight maintenance are getting on the scale and tracking food intake and physical activity. "Self-monitoring and being accountable is something that we can't say enough about," notes Joan Conway, a researcher at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Human Nutrition Research Center. "It's about managing your choices instead of just allowing the food to manage you. With just a little pre-planning, you can go almost anywhere and have almost anything to eat."
Just ask Diane Lending, a professor of computer science at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va. In 2001, Lending, who dines out at least five times a week, took the first Holiday Challenge (published in the Washington Post). She continued eating out during the holiday season, but took half of each restaurant meal home in a doggy bag for another day's meal. "It was so simple," says Lending, who also began tracking how many calories she consumed. "I actually lost six pounds over the holidays."
It's that kind of planning and attention to detail that helps thwart holiday weight gain. Just jotting down what you eat -- even if you don't calculate exactly how many calories are included -- helps reduce overconsumption. (To help monitor your progress as you wend your way from office party to open house and caroling, you can use the forms that are posted at www.washingtonpost.com/leanplateclub.)
Keeping track helps
"Lots of studies suggest that the very act of recording food is going to help people make better choices about what they eat," notes Yanovski, author of a 2000 study of holiday eating published in the New England Journal of Medicine. "Paying attention to what goes into your mouth helps you make active decisions about eating that you might not otherwise think about, like passing a desk and mindlessly picking up a piece of candy as you go by."
But being too restrictive doesn't work, either, and it may even backfire. In a series of studies at the University of Memphis, Robert Klesges and his colleagues found that the more participants deprived themselves of their favorite foods, the more they wanted them.
"Say you love Key lime pie," Klesges notes. "The more you want it, the more your perception of Key lime pie starts increasing. It's like trying not to think of the pink elephant in the room. Ultimately you have a lapse and then you feel like you're about one foot tall. You start thinking, 'I'm a terrible person.' That's how people fail and it's why we recommend everything in moderation."
Conway took that scientific finding to heart during the holidays last year.
As someone who loves to bake -- and who is also trying to achieve a healthy weight -- Conway planned ahead to make some favorite treats that she could enjoy in small amounts. Her choice: Italian pizelles, delicate cookies made on a device similar to waffle iron. She ordered special flavorings from San Francisco, bought a pizelle maker that produced four small cookies instead of two large ones and used the regular recipe, making no modifications for low fat or reduced sugar.
Then she teamed with a friend to make the pizelles. Instead of nibbling, Conway and her friend chatted while the cookies baked. During the holidays, Conway gave herself permission to enjoy two pizelles per day along with healthy food and physical activity. Although she had put her weight-loss efforts on hold for the season, she still wound up losing two pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year's. "It wasn't a lot," she says, "but it was better than gaining a couple of pounds."
Of course, when it comes to keeping weight in balance, there are two sides to the equation: calories in and calories out.
Exercise
Studies show that those who are successful at weight maintenance also get plenty of physical activity. And research suggests that you don't have to live at the gym or be a marathon runner to keep body weight steady.
At Harvard University, obesity researcher George Blackburn uses a pedometer to help achieve a healthy weight. Wearing this low-cost device at his waist helped Blackburn trim 20 pounds in 1995. Many people who use pedometers aim to register 10,000 steps a day, but to take into account the unpredictable nature of his work day, Blackburn shoots for 70,000 steps per week. "That way if I don't make it one day, I know I can make up for it on the next," he says. "And I always try to get a good walk in on Sundays to start the week off right."
Yanovski hoofs the 10 flights to his office instead of taking the elevator. "I force myself to walk up the stairs every day," he says. "It only takes me another minute because the elevator stops at every floor to let out passengers. I figured I might as well get physical activity instead of leaning against the wall waiting for the elevator."
To make up for the treats that he doesn't want to deny himself, Yanovski also boosts his daily treadmill workout by five minutes during the holiday season. "It probably burns just another 20 to 30 calories every day," he says. "But over a week that's another 100 calories" -- about enough for a Christmas cookie.
At the University of Memphis, Klesges takes a different approach. He cuts back on calories and boosts physical activity in the weeks preceding Thanksgiving, so that he can really enjoy the meal. "I am a saturated-fat lover," he says. "To me, saturated fat is Latin for flavor. So I may have rabbit food for a couple of days, but then I go out and have a burger. I can almost use the treat as a positive reinforcement for doing a good job at eating and exercise during the week."