University of Colorado nutrition experts' pedometer diet reaps results
December 27, 2004
Every morning at 7 a.m., Julie Yang laces up her walking shoes and heads out onto the sidewalks and trails near her Gunbarrel home.
The petite hairdresser stands on her feet all day. But it's moving them that has made the difference in losing unwanted pounds.
Now that the holiday feeding frenzy is drawing to a close, Yang's story is something to consider, say the local authors of "The Step Diet," a 6-month-old book that focuses on using a pedometer to lose weight and keep it off.
"If you walk down the aisle of weight loss books almost none address physical activity," says Bonnie Jortberg, one of the Step Diet's three authors.
The Boulder dietitian heads up Colorado Weigh, a community weight loss program offered through the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Success using pedometers in the Colorado Weigh program inspired the Step Diet's authors to write the book, which is sold with a step counter.
Since Jortberg gave her family's hair stylist the Step Diet book as a gift, Yang has lost 10 pounds. And she's kept it off during a time when most Americans gain 10 pounds: the holiday season stretching from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day. Even her bichon frise, Gina, has trimmed down.
Plus, Yang didn't have to eschew any holiday delights. Mashed potatoes, latkes and sugar cookies are all OK on the Step Diet. Count steps, not calories,
is the diet's cardinal rule. Health experts say most people should be taking at least 10,000 steps a day. But the average person — with variations depending on age and gender — takes about half that amount.
Yang used to walk about 4,500 steps a day. Now she logs at least 10,000 steps daily, which takes between a hour to 1 1/2 hours, and on her days off, she shoots for 17,000 steps.
"It's so wonderful to be able to fit into my old clothes," says Yang, a mother of two adult children who declined to give her age. She's been trying unsuccessfully to lose weight for three years; with the Step Diet, she's aiming to lose 10 more pounds.
Wearing a pedometer helps people gain a greater understanding of the energy they're spending every day, the book's authors say.
"People need to think, 'Boy, I just ate a big meal, I better go for a walk,' or 'I was pretty sedentary today, I better eat less,'" says James Hill. Hill and John Peters, the diet's two other authors, co-founded Colorado on the Move and America on the Move, initiatives aimed at preventing obesity.
The Step Diet zeroes in determining that balance Hill speaks of.
For seven days, daily step counts and meals are recorded to gain averages. Over 12 weeks, steps are increased weekly, and dieters are told to eat one-quarter less each meal, resulting in a projected weight loss of 1 to 2 pounds a week.
So if you eat out, the book suggests immediately putting aside one-fourth of the meal to save. Or if you'd normally have four slices of pizza, have three instead.
Finally, steppers are shown how to calculate how many steps a day are needed to maintain their desired weight or to continue shedding pounds.
Boulder resident Megan Peterson was unaware of the Step Diet when she began wearing a pedometer earlier this year.
A former roommate turned her onto the idea one day when Peterson mentioned how a knee injury had kept her from running and riding her bike.
The two friends began logging their steps online at a Web site meant to inspire people to walk more, www.trainster.net. The Web site was founded by a young, athletic Portland, Ore., professional who turned to walking to stay fit after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease.
Stepping quickly became one of the ways Peterson lost 25 pounds and trained for a triathlon.
"If you don't make 10,000 steps a day, you try to cram it in at the end of the night," says Peterson, 27.
"You become obsessed with the numbers. It's a great motivational tool."
Trainster.net, she says, was a "jump start." Peterson, who has recovered from her injury and now runs 15 to 20 miles a week, says she finds herself making time during her lunch break to walk more.
The Step Diet's Hill says any sort of physical activity — all can be converted into steps — should be vital in every person's life and be treated like going to work or paying bills.
The book suggests several simple ways to increase physical activity, such as parking farther away from a desired destination and taking three 10-to 15-minute walks a days.
"If there was one thing I'd change, it's the mind-set of the weight-loss public," says Hill, who is director of UCHSC's Center for Human Nutrition.
Hill theorizes that Americans foolishly focus too much on short-term results, such as are often touted by fad diets.
"Physical activity is absolutely necessary," Hill says.
The revelation is far from new. The National Weight Control Registry, housed at the UCHSC in Denver, shows that of 4,000 people nationwide who've lost 30 pounds or more and have kept it off for a year, all have exercised to stay trim.
And like most pop culture trends, wildly popular, anti-carbohydrate diets appear to be headed for the annals of fads.
NPD Group, a market research firm that interviews 1,000 people twice a month about dieting, found low-carb dieting peaked at the end of January, with about 9 percent of Americans following such a plan. As of mid-November, about 4 percent of people said they were adhering to a low-carb diet.
Even so, Hill says he wonders what the next big diet trend will be. While "The Step Diet," has sold 125,000 copies — a landmark number signaling success in the publishing world — he acknowledges it's no "South Beach Diet," which has sold more than 8 million copies since its debut in April 2003.
"I'm not sure that Americans aren't fat-oriented," he says. "I'm not sure they want to do something that reasonable."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Contact Camera Staff Writer Mary Butler at (303) 473-1390 or butlerm@dailycamera.com.
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URL: http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/health_and_fitness/article/0,1713,BDC_2431_3421725,00.html
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