Americans spend billions of dollars a year on weight loss programs and, after years of pain staking research, I figured out why many of them actually help you lose weight but often fail to help you keep it off.  It has to do with structure and an external authority figure.

OK, I haven’t really done any formal “research” but I have successfully lost weight using structured diet programs even though, in theory, I could have done just as well on my own.

I don’t care what program you join: Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, the Diet Center, Overeaters Anonymous, Atkins or even the ice cream diet (yes, someone actually did come up with that one).

The reason that these diets help you lose weight is because they require you to follow rules set down by an external authority figure.  That could be the person who weighs you in each week at the Weight Watchers meeting or a dietician who sits down with you to review how you’re doing or the author of a book you’re following.  It almost doesn’t matter who it is, as long as you are willing to impart to them a certain amount of authority or influence.

I know this from experience.  I can gain weight all by myself but it’s very hard for me to lose weight if I’m not in some type of program.  I can wake up in the morning and vow that “today I’m going to eat sensibly” but – by the time I go to sleep that night – I’ve eaten too much.  And some point in the process I’ll stop thinking about weight all together which is when I shoot way up.  It’s a vicious cycle that’s hard to break on your own, though it’s clearly not impossible.

In my case, any structure is better than no structure at all.  Programs that require me to meet with some type of counselor work best for me because I have a person to whom I’m accountable.  I have, however, lost weight by strictly following recommendations from a book.   The key is following those regulations.

Pam Webster, a Palo Alto resident who has battled with weight control was about to join Weight Watchers when I ran into her recently at the Palo Alto Cafe. “I need a formal arrangement to maintain discipline,” she confessed. “I would do well if I went to a nutritionist but I’m not about to go poking around looking for one.”  Weight Watchers is a “closed system” which provides you with everything you need to eat properly.

While weight loss programs do provide you with lots of good information, many people who are on diets already know what’s good for them.  There are no longer any local Diet Center offices in this area but there used to be one in Redwood City where I paid a monthly fee for a diet, a daily weigh-in and daily reinforcement.  The Diet Center worked so well for me that I wound up using it several times.  I used it during the 1970s to lose 40 pounds and I went back twice during the eighties and once in the early 90s. After awhile I knew almost as much about the Diet Center program as my counselor but she was still very helpful because I needed an ear and an authority to help me stay on track.

Taking Off Pounds Sensibly or “TOPS” (www.tops.org) is a non-profit organization that provides support systems in communities across the country with weekly meetings in Palo Alto, Redwood City, San Mateo, San Bruno, Sunnyvale and other bay area communities (for meeting locations and times click on chapter locater at www.tops.org).  The fees are extremely reasonable – between $5 and $8 per month plus $20 a year for the TOPS magazine.  Local coordinator June Hodsell says that the key to TOPS is “accountability.”  Ms. Hodsell advises TOPS members to “do a journal every week and that you put down exactly what you do eat. Lots of times we’re not even aware.”

TOPS, according to Ms. Hodsell, works because the members form a support community.  Members help each others during the meetings and, sometimes, between meetings. Members are weighed in at each meeting but the feedback is always supportive, even if someone gains a pound or two during the week. “You don’t know what they’ve gone through but we’re always supportive.”  Unlike most diet programs TOPS doesn’t prescribe what you should or shouldn’t eat as long as its “sensible.” Members are encouraged to seek medical and nutritional advice.

After you’ve lost the weight, you can join KOPS  – “Keeping Weight Off Sensibly” which is kind of the honor society for successful TOPS members. This gives people a lifelong support system for keeping their weight under control.

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