Key to weight loss is a global look at someone’s health, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:01 — 1.4MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Simply restricting eating to fewer hours during the day won’t result in weight loss for many, a Johns Hopkins study by Nisa Maruthur, an internal medicine expert, and colleagues has shown. Maruthur says when she’s counseling people on weight loss she tries to look at their specific circumstances.

Maruthur:  We're still at the point where calories in calories out matter. Maybe there's more nuance there, that different people have different responses. Some people might be more carb sensitive, we don't understand all the precision medicine about that. We focus on the basics, looking at making the overall diet that they're eating healthier. I oftentimes start by asking what do you think could be better in your diet? If you don't cut back calories in some way you're not going to lose weight. They have prediabetes maybe the diabetes prevention program. If they have hypertension you might talk about sources of sodium in their diet that also probably are unhealthy foods that are contributing to weight.   :31

Maruthur states that a complete health assessment will help determine the best weight loss strategy. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.