Tech World

In our eat-and-run, massive-portion-sized culture, maintaining a healthy weight can be tough—and losing weight, even tougher. Adding to the difficulty is the abundance of fad diets and "quick-fix” plans that tempt and confuse us, and ultimately fail. If you’ve tried and failed to lose weight before, you may believe that it’s just too difficult or that diets don’t work for you. And in one sense, you may be right: traditional diets don’t work—at least not in the long term. But there are plenty of small but powerful, changes you can make that do add up to lasting weight loss success. The key is to create a plan that provides plenty of enjoyable choices, avoid common dieting pitfalls, and learn how to develop a healthier, more satisfying relationship with food.

More than one-third of adults in the United States are obese. In fact, the furor over obesity, which some have termed an “epidemic,” has reached such proportions that one big-city mayor has gone about banning large-sized, sugary soft drinks and the First Lady has been on a crusade to control the dietary offerings in public schools. Even many adults who do not fit the clinic definition of obese are still overweight, and a large percentage are looking for the best ways to lose weight. Shedding pounds largely comes down to the two-pronged factors of diet and exercise. Not modifying the first one enough, and not getting enough of the second one, ends up giving the individual a recipe for being overweight.  Conditions related to obesity include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Counseling someone to eat less and exercise more might be the simplest advice possible, but it’s also, partiall...