Refuse To Regain

An oldie but goodie. Same topic.

Here's a link to a blog I posted in 2010 that speaks to the Slate article. (Should We Just Accept Our Size and Forget All This?) Read more →

More on the same....

You knew that an article as major as "The Fat Trap" would get the media going. Here is what I consider to be a particularly uninformed and unhelpful response by Slate Magazine (see article here). Summary: we're wasting our time trying to combat obesity and those who are maintaining are only doing it via some sort of eating disorder. Scroll down to the comments section if you have any interest in seeing my response. Or leave your own. I'm sure... Read more →

The Fat Trap: My Response

By Barbara Berkeley, MD Once a month, in a small room off the lobby of Lake West Hospital in Willoughby, Ohio, a special group convenes. For someone observing the group and unaware of its purpose, it might appear to be a simple mix of everyday people….young, old, racially diverse. The members would seem to be old friends but with a particular seriousness of purpose, perhaps a community group attending a lecture or learning some new skill together. What a casual... Read more →

Stay Tuned

Hello to all new readers! I know that we are getting alot of traffic as a result of the NY Times article, "Fat Trap" which discusses weight maintenance and references Lynn. This is Barbara Berkeley posting and I just want to let you know that I will soon be writing a response to that article. Stay tuned if you are interested in reading more and in joining the discussion. In the meantime, I hope you'll check out our archives and... Read more →

Is Willpower Overrated?

by Barbara Berkeley, MD A little something to think about when you are headed for the holiday buffet. How far will willpower take you? I think it's much smarter and more effective to take a realistic look at the strength of your opponent: modern trigger foods. Read more →

Vintage Disney: A Simple Lesson that Makes Sense

by Barbara Berkeley, MD There are so many people selling pleasure in our world and it's so easy to be convinced that we can pay for our choices later. It's kind of like running up a big credit card bill. In particular it's easy to rationalize away bad diets. I'd be rich if I had a dollar for every time I've watched someone eat a greasy meal and a rich dessert and then say, "I'll just pop a Lipitor." As... Read more →

What Causes Weight Gain? My Take

by Barbara Berkeley, MD How do we lose weight? The answer is--- cut calories until the body is forced to burn itself for energy. This is so intuitively obvious that the converse would also seem to be true: if we lose weight by cutting calories, we must gain weight by accumulating them. But is this true? Perhaps weight loss has nothing much to do with weight gain. Perhaps they are two quite different things. ' For some time, I have... Read more →

What is a Weight Loss Diet? More Clues

by Barbara Berkeley, MD The weight loss experience comes in two distinct forms: the temporary diet that induces weight loss and the (hopefully) permanent behaviors that lead to weight maintenance. Confusing the two is easy because successful maintainers continue to eat and exercise in a way that looks alot like their original diet. But there is an important difference: maintenance requires achieving balance while dieting requires inducing defecit. This month, I posted a youtube video (scroll down to find it)... Read more →

Don't Forget Facebook!

For those of you who receive Refuse to Regain by feed or who check in with this blog periodically, please consider following me on Facebook as well. I post at least once a day to the Facebook page. These posts include thoughts, patients insights, and links to articles that I want to share with all of you. I don't always have enough material to write a full blog post, but things are happening in the worlds of medicine, obesity and... Read more →