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Research tells us that successful weight losers are burning an average of 2800 calories per week in exercise.  This is the equivalent of about 9 hours per week of regular exercise.  We acknowledge that sets the bar pretty high, but we encourage you to see that as perspective on what you are currently doing.  If you feel like you have reached the summit after burning say 900 calories in one week, think again.  Please don’t take anything away from burning 900 calories, the equivalent of walking 9 miles, but know that others who are keeping weight off for the long haul are doing more.  With that perspective, you might feel inspired to bump it up.  Perhaps take an exercise class in addition to regular walking, walk to the store instead of drive, tack on another 10 minutes to your current walks.  You get the picture.

With the bar set so high, you certainly can’t slack off in the winter time or when weather is less than ideal.  At Vtrim we give you the tools to keep up regular exercise even when snuggling up with a good book seems preferable to braving the elements.

Follow these suggestions and know that you’ll feel like a million bucks after you follow through and exercise even when you’d rather not.

Dress Right: Most people overdress for winter. Exercise raises body temperature significantly. Even a moderate workout will make you feel that it is 30 degrees warmer than it really is. So, when you are going out on a 20 degree day, dress for 50 degree weather. Wear several layers of loose fitting clothing. Layers trap warm air that acts as insulation to keep you warm. You’ll be able to take off layers as you get warm.

First Layer: Should be made of material that draws sweat away from your skin to keep you warm and dry. Polypropylene, Capilene or Thermax work well. Avoid cotton. It absorbs moisture and will make you feel cold.

Second Layer: A wool sweater, synthetic turtleneck and/or a pile jacket work well. Sweatpants or tights will keep your legs warm. Add leg warmers or thermal underwear when it’s really cold.

Outer Layers: A waterproof jacket that is also wind-proof but breathable works well. Gore-Tex is an excellent synthetic material for this layer. An ordinary windbreaker is OK for a short workout.

Hats: Be sure to wear a hat. This also keeps your feet warm. So much heat escapes through the head because it is not well insulated.

Mittens: Mittens work better for warmth than gloves because they keep your fingers together which means less surface area from which heat can escape.

Shoes: Consider the snow and ice when buying shoes. Look for a pair that will have traction on ice. While walking or running, take smaller steps; it’s safer.

Excuses become roadblocks to your goal.  Take charge and make it happen for yourself!

Did you know that March is a more popular “dieting” month than January?  Research shows that more people vow to get their weight under control in March than at the beginning of the New Year.  It makes sense when you think about it…  Summer is approaching fast, shorts and bathing suits are on the brain and the opportunity for outdoor exercise is greater.   Vtrim will teach you how to manage your behaviors around eating and exercise so that long-term weight management is possible.  At Vtrim, we teach you to set SMART goals so that you can measure your progress and success.

S = Specific: Set specific goals.  Specific goals have detail and state exactly what you are working on.  For example, “I want to lose 10 pounds by June 1st” instead of “I want to lose weight.”

M = Measurable: Measurable goals include the “how much” and “how often” details of the goal you have set above.  “I will exercise more” is not enough.  “I will walk 3 miles on Monday, Wednesday and Friday” is more like it.  You can measure your success.

A = Achievable: Your goal should be achievable.  Losing 10 pounds in 3 months is achievable.  Losing 50 in 3 months is not.

R = Realistic: Do you believe you can accomplish the goal you have set out to achieve?  If yes, your goal is realistic.  Meeting realistic goals and reevaluating when you get there is more rewarding than shooting for the moon and always missing.

T = Time-limited: Goals need to have a time-frame.  A time frame gives you the framework to monitor your progress and evaluate how you are doing.  If what you are doing is working and you are getting closer to your stated goal, great!  If not, how can you adjust so you still meet your goal in your stated time-frame?

If your motivation is high and changing your lifestyle to manage your weight sounds like a worthy goal, then go with that train of thought and get on board with Vtrim.  Check out our schedule of March classes and let Vtrim show you the way to lasting weight control!

Vtrim was recently mentioned in a Diabetic Living article called Log On To Take It Off by Hope Warshaw, MMSc, RD, CDE a nationally recognized dietitian and diabetes educator.  The article does a great job of breaking down online options for weight loss from “fee to free”, as Hope writes.  All websites are not created equal and just because a program is online does not mean it will be inexpensive to participate.  It is important to realize what you are buying when you sign up for any online program.  You will find similar weight loss tools on practically every site but that may be where the similarities end.

Many sites are inexpensive and that is because they are self-help programs.  It is up to you to take advantage of what is offered and to keep your motivation high.  Weight loss is difficult and keeping it off is even harder, so for many people a self-help program is not enough.  However, there are certainly success stories that come out of these programs and they are usually front and center on the homepage with a disclaimer that says, “results not typical”.

The Vtrim program is online and we utilize a website to deliver our program, however we are much more than a weight loss website.  We know how difficult behavior change is for weight loss and our program is considered the gold-standard treatment for obesity in the research world.  The word treatment gives respect to the weight loss process.  In order to lose weight and have the best chance of keeping it off, you need a plan, a systematic approach.  Relying on willpower alone is usually a set up for failure.  Changing behaviors takes time and support.  All websites have something to offer but remember they are not all created equal.  Know yourslef, know what you need to succeed and seek out a site that will deliver for you.  If you need expert feedback, accountability and peer support, a structured program, like Vtrim, is a good option.

Download the Article Here

Everyone loves “top 10″ lists. And while we could create countless lists of “top 10″ recommendations around health, nutrition, and exercise, we’d like to start by giving you just 10 simple tips, in no particular order of importance, that can help you improve your health. We don’t recommend overwhelming yourself by trying to implement several new changes all at once. Think about your own lifestyle, what you are doing right, as well as what you could improve.   Then, consider some of these tips that can help you improve areas where you feel “off track”.  Share the wealth and post your own tips that have helped you live a healthier lifestyle.

1.    Budget your diet. It’s important to eat a diet low in fat and saturated fat to reduce risks for many diseases. Just remember, it isn’t one meal or one snack that makes or breaks your diet. It’s what you do over time. So budget accordingly. If you have a party coming up, save up some calories so you can enjoy yourself. If you overdo it for a few days, make up for it with more exercise or fewer calories for a day.

2.    Eat more fruits and veggies! Getting your fruits and veggies is an important goal. It will help you eat fewer calories, get more fiber, and cut risks for diseases. Choose fruits and veggies that are dark green, orange, and yellow for more nutrients. Eat them fresh, frozen, canned, or dried.

3.    Eat at least 3 servings of whole grains each day. Whole grains contain many nutrients, including more fiber. Look for grains (cereals, bread, rice, pasta, etc.) that have at least 4-6 grams fiber/serving.

4.    Eat at least 4 servings of dried beans, peas, and lentils each week. Examples include navy beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, black eye peas, chili beans, etc. They are high in fiber (typically 4-7 grams/half-cup serving). They are also low in fat and high in protein so they are very filling without a bunch of fat.

5.    Eat regularly. People who consume regular meals and snacks tend to consume fewer calories than people who skip meals. When you go long hours between meals during the day, you are setting yourself up for extreme hunger and a difficult time resisting eating anything and everything in sight!!! Your body naturally needs refueling every few hours—listen to your hunger cues and respond with smart snacks and meals.

6.    Eat breakfast. It improves concentration and gets your body running in the morning. Again, people who skip meals tend to consume more calories.

7.    Drink enough water. Your body is made mostly of water. Keeping yourself hydrated not only helps control hunger, it helps keep your body running smoothly. Fill a large water bottle each morning and sip on it throughout the day. Aim to re-fill it at least once per day.

8.    Limit soft drinks and other high-calorie beverages. They contribute a lot of extra calories to your diet. 100% juice is a great drink, but you can overdo it on calories, too, so make sure you don’t consume ALL your daily fruit/veggie servings in juice (your missing the fiber that way). And drinking too much soda, alcohol, etc. can end up limiting your intake of other important beverages like milk.

9.    Read food labels. Checking labels in the store will help you make the healthiest choices. Read the label for calories, fat, and fiber content, as well as other important nutrients like calcium, iron, and vitamins. And also important, check PORTION SIZE!!! People who read food labels tend to make healthier choices than people who don’t (it’s been proven)!

10.     Be physically active! Remember exercise really is half the equation. You should work to include more lifestyle activity every day, but also keep up a programmed exercise routine! Look for creative ways to fit in fitness. Break it up into smaller segments if you have to. Just get moving!

For those of you that follow our blog, you know we are referring to weight, so becoming a successful loser is something to aspire to!  You all know by now that Vtrim is a research-based program.  That sounds credible but what the heck does it mean?  In a nut shell, we have combined research findings from obesity research done at the University of Vermont by Dr. Jean Harvey-Berino and research results from other universities to create a commercially available program that provides the best chance of success based on many research studies over many years.

One of our favorite sources of research data is the National Weight Control Registry.   This database was started in 1994 and is now 5000+ people deep.  The criterion for joining the Registry is maintenance of at least a 30 lb weight loss for at least one year.  Rena Wing, PhD and Jim Hill, PhD, two renowned obesity researchers, started this database in an effort to study people who have lost weight and kept it off.  People self select to join this database and it is not a randomized controlled study.  The researchers concede this limitation but the point is to gleen common characteristics of people who are keeping weight off long-term.  What are they doing and how can this knowledge help others who are attempting to maintain the weight they’ve worked so hard to lose?

This data provides a road map of what successful weight maintenance looks like and it is no cake walk, so to speak!

Common characteristics among successful weight losers:

1.  Diet AND exercise are key.  Successful weight maintenance requires both!  Successful losers lost weight with diet and exercise and they continue these behaviors in maintenance.

2.  Most follow a reduced-calorie, low fat diet with an average of 24% of calories coming from fat.  (Tracking fat helps you to meet your calorie goal since gram for gram fat has twice the calories of protein and carbohydrate.)

3.  Almost 80% eat a healthy breakfast everyday. (They get started on the right foot everyday.)

4.  75% weigh themselves at least once a week and many weigh daily.  (This allows you to correct for minor slips.)

4.  90% exercise an average of 1 hour per day.  The average exercise expenditure is the equivalent of walking 28 miles per week.  (Don’t be intimidated, see it as perspective on what you are currently doing.  Can you do more?)

5.  62% watch less than 10 hours of TV per week.  (No time for TV with all of that exercise!  Can’t give up TV, walk the treadmill while you watch.)

Vtrim will teach you the weight loss behaviors necessary to achieve these markers of long-term success. You too can be a successful loser and Vtrim can help!

The Denver Post recently wrote an article about online weight loss and the gamut of options available to the public. Not all programs are created equal and as a consumer it is wise to do your homework before signing up.  As reported in the CNN article, an estimated 80 million Americans go on diets every year, spending more than $30 billion annually on programs and products. That’s a lot of cash and high hopes for change.

The Denver Post article suggests that high tech can work as well as old school. They base this conclusion on the research paper we published in Obesity in 2007 comparing Vtrim to eDiets.com, a popular commercial online weight loss program. eDiets.com is one of the few programs to put their protocol through a randomized clinical trial. Kudos to them! The results they achieved were promising from a public health standpoint. They have hundreds of thousands of active participants. However, a program like Vtrim provides the best results and the best chance of keeping the weight off long-term.

In this study, participants lost an average of 18 pounds in 6 months, 2x that of eDiets.com. How come the weight loss is so much greater in Vtrim? We attribute the difference to the systematic delivery over 24 weeks of a behavioral weight loss curriculum. We teach people how to manage their daily choices around food and exercise. And, we offer expert support and accountability throughout the process. Vtrim participants get weekly feedback on their food journal and their personal reflection activities from a professional facilitator.

The Denver Post article offers a cheat sheet on what to look for in a solid online weight loss program. They say look for the following attributes:

Questions that determine your height, weight, age and weight loss or fitness goals (and, ideally, your body-fat ratio).

A food journal to monitor daily calorie intake.

An activity log with a drop-down menu of tasks and exercises.

An educational element (behavior-modification articles, e-mail access to a therapist or personal trainer).

Community support via e-mail, chat rooms or discussion boards.

Vtrim has all of these and more and we guide you through the process of losing weight. Check us out today. We’d like to suggest you stop wasting money on fast, false-promise programs and invest in your weight management future with a scientifically-validated program like Vtrim.

CNN Health recently published their list of the top 10 healthiest diets in America. On that list was the Eating Well Diet which is based on the Vtrim Weight Management Program and authored by Vtrim’s creator and founder, Jean Harvey-Berino, PhD, RD. The CNN Health team evaluated 60 popular diet plans and whittled it down to the 10 most sensible, safe, and healthiest ways to manage weight loss. “The Eating Well Diet: Introducing The University-Tested Vtrim Weight-Loss Program” was hailed for its focus on behavioral changes–including finding and facing eating triggers, eating and shopping mindfully, and cultivating regular, joyful exercise habits.

“Hallelujah,” says registered dietitian and author of health.com’s Diet Guide, Maureen Callahan. “Here’s a diet plan that tells the truth about weight loss. Dieters lose about 21 pounds in six months, or about a pound a week. This kind of steady weight loss is the real thing, the kind that stays off.”

The Eating Well Diet book is a great start to any weight management effort. Want more support and accountability? Enroll in an online Vtrim class today! Not only will you learn those keys about behavior changes, you’ll have the support you need as you create healthier habits in your life. Check out the website for current classes:

www.uvm.edu/vtrim

According to Franklin Covey’s annual New Year’s Resolution Survey, losing weight is one of the top 3 resolutions. The other two were to get out of debt or save money and develop a healthy habit such as exercising or healthy eating. This survey of about 15,000 people found that in 2008, 35 percent of respondents broke their New Year’s resolutions by the end of January. Nearly 40 percent of those surveyed say they fell short because of too many other things to do and 33 percent say they are not committed to the resolutions they set.

If you know that you want to lose weight for a variety of reasons, none being more important than decreasing your health risks. And, if you don’t want that horrible feeling of desperation in March when the great intentions of Jan. 1 have gone by the wayside, check out Vtrim.

Vtrim teaches you a way of life. The 24 week program guides you through the behavior changes necessary to succeed at weight loss. And, research shows this format provides the best chance of long-term success. With the support of other group members and a trained certified facilitator, the possibility of real change is not fleeting. Choosing a path that has a framework for change is in stark contrast to saying you’re going to do something and this is going to be your year to lose weight. Ditch the false hope for the possibility of real change. In order to succeed at weight loss, you need a roadmap, you need support and you need goals. Yes, you can go at it alone and hope for the best or you can join our community and begin to realize your true potential to manage your weight.

Let 2009 be the year you turn the corner on broken promises to yourself. At Vtrim, we think willpower is not the answer. Instead, we know that a plan supported by your peers and an expert in combination with the desire to succeed is the best way. Vtrim will give you the framework you need to achieve your weight loss goal.

This year instead of gaining weight, gain control. Vtrim wants to be your facilitator of change. Check us out at www.uvm.edu/vtrim. And from all of us at Vtrim, Happy New Year!

Vtrim was one of 4 university-based weight loss programs profiled in this month’s issue of Prevention Magazine. The article featured a success story from each program and highlighted Nancy Rabinowitz of Vtrim. Great job Nancy! It is fun to see our participants get press and kudos for all of the enormous lifestyle changes they have achieved.

Vtrim, a University of Vermont program, is in good company with this list. Duke University, University of Alabama and the University of Colorado were also featured. All of these universities are home to obesity research programs that inform their community offerings. Jean Harvey-Berino, PhD,RD Chair of Nutrition and Food Sciences at UVM and Vtrim Founder has been conducting behavioral weight loss research at UVM for the last 17 years. Of those 17 years, the last 11 have focused on delivering weight loss and weight maintenance treatment over the internet. This research formed the basis of the Vtrim online program which is now available nationally. Our online program differentiates us from the others in this article because we have removed the need to be local to a university in order to receive high quality research-based weight loss treatment. Participating in a highly successful and clinically effective program is now only as far away as your nearest internet connection!

You can check out the article by following this link (Vtrim review begins on page 4):

Vtrim Featured in Prevention Magazine

Everyone knows that fruit is a sensible choice as part of a healthy diet. A recent study shows the filling power of fruit for appetite control as well. A Brazilian study asked 49 women to eat either 3 apples, 3 pears, or 3 oat cookies every day for 10 weeks, while keeping the rest of their diet and exercise routines the same. The fruit and the cookies each provided the same amount of calories and fiber to their daily intake.

The study results found that women who ate the apples or pears lost 2 pounds over the course of the 10 weeks while women who ate the cookies stayed about the same. Additionally, the women eating the fruit consumed fewer calories per day than the women eating the oat cookies. Researchers said the results suggetsed that the water content and the low energy density of the fruit may have provided more appetite control and a greater feeling of fullness than the cookies.

Many sucessful weight managers have found the same results true in their own lives–adding bulk to your diet with high fiber, low-calorie fruits and veggies often helps not only keep your calorie intake low but also helps fill you up and manage your appetite better.