The FastDay Forum

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-27586149

SADLY NO MENTION OF INTERMITTENT FASTING AS A STRATEGY




New weight loss guidelines for the NHS in England will advise people to "lose a little and keep it off" for life.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) wants overweight people sent to slimming classes with the aim of a 3% weight loss.

NICE said even such a small loss - probably of just a few pounds - would cut blood pressure and reduce the risk of type-2 diabetes and some cancers.

Two in three adults in England are overweight - with a BMI higher than 25


......

the guidance for the NHS in England said weight-management programmes should:

Tackle diet, physical activity and change behaviour
Be focused on lifelong change not short-term gains
Last at least three months, but set target weights for the end of the programme and after one year
Plan to reduce calorie intake, but not ban specific foods or food groups
Introduce physical activity into daily life such as walking
Be respectful and non-judgemental


Read more here http://www.bbc.com/news/health-27586149

[carorees]

Oddly, the research does not back up this contention that losing just a little is better than losing a lot! Setting an impossible target (e.g. a BMI of 19) of course is going to fail, but for the very overweight, there is no evidence that losing just a little is more sustainable than losing a lot. In fact, the opposite is true.

An excellent article published last year: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NE ... #t=article identified seven obesity-related myths.

The authors say:

Myth number 2: Setting realistic goals for weight loss is important, because otherwise patients will become frustrated and lose less weight.
Although this is a reasonable hypothesis, empirical data indicate no consistent negative association between ambitious goals and program completion or weight loss.8 Indeed, several studies have shown that more ambitious goals are sometimes associated with better weight-loss outcomes (see the Supplementary Appendix).8 Furthermore, two studies showed that interventions designed to improve weight-loss outcomes by altering unrealistic goals resulted in more realistic weight-loss expectations but did not improve outcomes.

Myth number 3: Large, rapid weight loss is associated with poorer long-term weight-loss outcomes, as compared with slow, gradual weight loss.
Within weight-loss trials, more rapid and greater initial weight loss has been associated with lower body weight at the end of long-term follow-up. 9,10 A meta-analysis of randomized, controlled trials that compared rapid weight loss (achieved with very-low-energy diets) with slower weight loss (achieved with low-energy diets — i.e., 800 to 1200 kcal per day) at the end of short-term follow-up (<1 yr) and long-term follow-up (≥1 year) showed that, despite the association of very-low-energy diets with significantly greater weight loss at the end of short-term follow-up (16.1% of body weight lost, vs. 9.7% with low-energy diets), there was no significant difference between the very-low-energy diets and low-energy diets with respect to weight loss at the end of long-term follow-up.10 Although it is not clear why some obese persons have a greater initial weight loss than others do, a recommendation to lose weight more slowly might interfere with the ultimate success of weight-loss efforts.

Makes me very happy I no longer pay into the NHS! Seems the likes of Weight Watchers will benefit! Strange fasting is not mentioned as it is by far the easiest solution. Although, having said that a few people I know are horrified at the thought of fasting. Bit like me before I tried it!

Two things the Government hasn't taken into account..
One,it's a well known trait of human nature that if you haven't had to pay for something,you won't invest in it so much. Have seen this in action over the last year or so..
One friend joined WW January 2013, was very frustrated coz hardly lost at first,but stuck with it, paying the usual fees week in ,week out. Has now reached and maintained her goal weight for many months and looks great.
Another friend was sent to WW by the NHS about a year ago,has lost a little,but is still overweight/ obese,and what's more,tho she turns up to the session every week,doesn't seem very perturbed that she's lost so little. After all, the fees aren't coming out of her pocket,and seemingly her GP isn't asking her just why she isn't doing a little better with her weight loss.
The second thing,it's common knowledge that many people DO lose weight on conventional diets but regain it and more when they eventually fall of the WW/ SW etc etc bandwagon.
Could be that precious NHS funds will be chucked down the drain with this project ..meanwhile,WW must be rubbing their hands together with glee!

Ps would be good if NHS threw some money at us fasters..to buy ourselves nourishing wholesome grub on our feed days x!

The idea that losing 5% of your body weight will provide health benefits has been promoted by the pharamceutical companies that sell expensive prescription weight loss pills.

Not so coincidentally, none of those pills are able to achieve more than an average 5% weight loss in controlled trials.

As someone quite familiar with the science of diabetes I have to say that it is idiotic to think that losing 3% of your weight will prevent diabetes. Lowering your carbohydrate intake will improve your blood sugar, whether or not you lose weight. Losing weight in ways that involve eating lots of high carb food will worsen it. It is carbs that raise blood sugar, and extended exposure to high blood sugar destroys the cells that secrete insulin.

But that said, from what I have heard from many people in the UK with diabetes, the NHS's approach to diabetes borders on the criminal. So I would expect them to promote this kind of stupidity.

For those not familiar with the UK health system, whats a simple summary of NHS and how it fits into health care in your country?

@Juliana.Rivers not answering your question about the NHS but I belong to a running forum which has come from the excellent NHS Couch to 5k programme (C25K) and we were all very disappointed that no mention was made of this programme in the recent NHS stuff about losing weight. They really missed an opportunity to promote an excellent health strategy, we as a group, have done a lot of their publicity and promoting for them! They just don't seem to think things through properly.