Does anyone know of any anti-obesity programs that are actually effective? Not just putting out promotional material. Actually

Douglas,

 I've been an athlete for 25 years and I've fought my weight for that entire time.  I started as a runner, then became a triathlete, and then returned to road racing.  About 15 years ago, I started running ultramarathons.  In the past 25 years, I've run over 40K miles, and done all kinds of other workouts - swimming, biking, lifting, plus I teach skiing and ski at least 50 days per winter.  And despite all of that, I fight my weight all the time.

 At this point in time, I've found the following programs that seem to be appropriate for me:

1) Precision Nutrition, especially their group-coaching program.

2) Mark Sisson's "The Primal Blueprint"

3) The  Paleo Diet for Athletes

There are differences in these systems, but I have found that to lose weight and keep my hunger and cravings under control, I have to stay on a fairly low carb and low grain regimen.  When I train long or race long, I use commercial energy products such as gels and energy replacement drinks.  But, most of the time, I stay pretty low carb.  I lift a lot for an alleged endurance athlete.  Right now, I'm lifting hard four days per week.  And, three months ago, I completely stopped drinking alcohol.

 Basically, what I'm doing is a blend of the three titles above.  Precision Nutrition wants me to eat 5-7 small meals a day and limit carbs to after my workouts.  They also think that lifting is essential for weight loss.  The Primal Blueprint is low carb, with no grains or sugar at all.  The Paleo diet is dairy free, which I don't do.

 Basically, I eat a diet of quality protein sources, fresh veggies and fruit, and I try to eat quality fats.  But, I include some cheese and milk, which means I get some saturated dairy fat and some sugars from milk.  My beef is local and grass-fed.  My fish is wild and not farmed.  My chicken is organically raised and local.  My eggs come from local friends.  I use a farmers market as much as I can.

 It's not a cheap way to eat and it's a real pain sometimes.  But right now, for the first time in my life, I'm dropping fat, not losing muscle mass, and I'm truly satisfied by what I'm eating.  In other words, I think I'm on a sustainable path.

But, I think that every single person is different and what works for me wouldn't work at all for people with different body types.  Some of the super-skinny elite ultra runners that I see on races would probably find themselves unable to train or compete on my diet.

I think the US food pyramid is a joke.  I'm convinced that for me, flour and sugar are just not foods my body can "handle".  I think everyone should read "Good Calories, Bad Calories", "In Defense of Food", "The End of Overeating", and perhaps "The Primal Blueprint" or "The Paleo Diet".  On the other end of the diet spectrum,  I think "Eat to Live" is a valuable book.  I found the eating patterns there to be very effective for weight loss, but eventually so restrictive that I strayed.

In some ways, your use of the word "effective" is interesting to me.  What does effective mean to you?  Is it something that will get people to lose weight?  Or, something that gets people to lose weight (bodyfat) and sustain the loss.  I've always found that I can lose weight when I really want to.  I've also always found that I can't sustain the loss.

 Sorry for the long reply.

 

 Damon 

By effective, I mean actual "where the rubber" hits the road kind of results.

BTW - Big fan of the 3 programs you mentioned.

But the problem with programs such as these is that they require active participation by the users...and sadly most people in North America eat like crap and never exercise.

Traditional motivation programs don't work on these people.

Programs like you mentioned don't work because most people never take advantage of them.

I am looking to start a small fitness program in my neighborhood where I volunteer my time to run a 3x weekly group fitness class - outdoors like a boot camp

 I am wondering if someone else is doing something like this and if so, has it been successful in actually converting lazy people into active people

Personally, my wife got tired of me making comments about how people can let themselves get into such horrible shape and she challenged me to do something about it.

So, that's what I am trying to do

Now you're talking about something much more complex. The programs/books I listed are based on the user wanting to participate, and in the case of PN's Lean Eating Program, the participant has really money invested. But, to start any of those programs, the user has be self-motivated. If you are talking about ways to motivate obese people to get involved in something - anything - that improves their health and body composition, without them initiating the participation, I'm at a loss. It seems to me that we always have to be self motivated for change to really happen. Heck, I'm incredibly self-motivated and I still don't see that change I'd like a lot of the time. Good luck. Damon