If you eat just a hundred calories less a day, you should at least keep a steady weight according to a new analysis.

Official figures now suggest that around 39 per cent of the US population will be obese by 2008 if people continue to gain weight at the current rate - a frightening prospect! Dr James Hill at the University of Colorado suggests the problem of obesity may best be tackled in small, manageable steps.

He has calculated that, at present, people are gaining 14 to 16 pounds over an eight year period - that's an extra two pounds a year. The most important thing is to stop weight creeping on like this. A simple approach is to cut out just 100 calories a day - because that's all it takes to put on weight at this rate. A calorie counter will suggest many ways how to do this - but Dr Hill points out that 100 calories is about three bites of a hamburger, or an average cookie.

Cutting down by 100 calories will not make you lose weight - for that, your calorie deficit would have to be more like 500 calories. But it's a start and a basis on which to build. Exercise is the other way of closing the calorie gap - you could also get rid of those 100 unwanted calories by walking an extra mile (about 2,500 steps) a day - either all at once or divided up into small sections.

Source

Science 7th February 2003