Subscribe
CommunityWeighty matters
Latest CSM survey says most here don’t diet, but younger or higher-income people have more success
Friday, May 16, 2008
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by KAYLEIGH KULP
ChristineJaffurs, a health educator atSt. Mary’sHospital’s HealthConnections, weighs in dieterBarbara Myers at a class for a 10-weekprogram called Simple Stepsto Permanent Weight Loss.
|
E-Mail This Article
She wants to lose 25 to 30 pounds. But since she moved from Waldorf to Great Mills two years ago and works full time in Washington, D.C., she’s watching her diet but it’s difficult to find time to exercise.
Her case isn’t unusual, though most Southern Marylanders haven’t dieted at all recently, according to survey results released recently by the College of Southern Maryland.
This is just one finding of a survey, this time on dieting trends, as part of an occasional series called the Pulse of Southern Maryland. It was conducted by CSM marketing and statistics students by telephone in October. A total of 230 residents in the region responded to the survey. There was a 6.46 percent margin of error.
Those making more than $100,000 were more likely to diet than those with lower incomes, though much less likely to consult a physician before doing so, the survey found.
Local health experts say that isn’t too surprising.
‘‘I think you have more time to plan and think about your eating if you have more income. I also tend to think there’s so much marketing towards dieting that it can be expensive,” said Christine Jaffurs, a health educator with St. Mary’s Hospital’s Health Connections Center.
‘‘There’s still the stigma that eating healthy is more expensive. Fruits and vegetables are more expensive, but they don’t have to be,” Health Connections health educator Jennifer Drury said.
Drury and Jaffurs teach a 10-week class called Simple Steps to Permanent Weight Loss at the center.
Those with household incomes less than $30,000 were the least likely to diet – about 28 percent. About 32 percent of those earning $30,000 to $60,000 dieted and 37 percent of those earning $61,000 to $100,000.
The reason high earning individuals are less likely to consult a physician before dieting has a lot to do with the fact that many free and low-cost, community-run programs require a doctor’s consent to participate, Drury and Jaffurs said.
‘‘If you’re participating [in a routine] on your own, you may not get that doctor’s note,” Jaffurs said.
Females were slightly more likely to consult with a physician first (56 percent) than males (47 percent). Individuals older than 65 and younger than 30 were most likely to see a physician first (more than 70 percent of the respondents).
Why they diet
The survey’s finding that 67 percent of residents hadn’t dieted at all seemed unrealistic, nutrition experts say.
‘‘That seems too high,” said Becky Sutay, a dietician with the Health Connections. Sutay says a diet is defined by restricting some part of the meal plan to cut back on calories and improve one’s health. With that in mind, she believes it’s almost the total opposite and that 60 percent of people in the region have dieted.
Charles County residents were more likely to diet at 42 percent, then Calvert (28 percent) and St. Mary’s (26 percent), according to survey results. Not surprisingly, women were more likely to diet (35 percent) than men (26 percent). None of the respondents younger than 18 said they had dieted and only 17 percent of those older than 65 had dieted.
People 51 to 65 were most likely to have dieted (44 percent), followed by people in the 31-50 range (32 percent).
‘‘We see that same kind of trend in our classes. We’ve been seeing more and more over 50. It’s been very interesting. They want to get healthy again. They were and then life happened. And that’s the time they’ll start seeing health issues,” Drury said.
Because the 50-and-older crowd is characterized by the ‘‘baby boomer” generation, they are also more likely to take care of themselves, Jaffurs added.
Tommy Woodburn of Callaway said he began a diet and nutrition plan in January after a Department of Transportation physical found he could lose his commercial driver’s license if he didn’t improve his health. Five years ago, he had a heart attack and he realized it was time to take charge of his body.
‘‘My son and daughter-in-law are getting ready to have a kid and I want to be around to see it,” he said. ‘‘The older you get, the easier it should be for you but it’s not. I’m eating more fruits and vegetables. I’ve always loved fruits but would rather have the chips.”
Woodburn said he’s lost 18 pounds since January by walking about three hours a week with his wife. He plans to lose 32 more by September.
Most dieters surveyedfelt they were unsuccessful
Most people who said they had dieted said they felt they were unsuccessful in losing the desired weight – about 60 percent of respondents. About 69 percent of males were more likely to lose their goal weight compared to females at 33 percent.
At a recent Simple Steps class offered at Health Connections, Myers and her husband, Norman, both of whom are watching their weight, weighed in. Norman had lost three pounds since the week prior and Barbara had lost one.
Jaffurs said that’s not uncommon. ‘‘Men have a different composition,” she said.
Those in the 22 to 30 age range were much more likely to have lost their goal weight (88 percent) than those who are 31-50 (37 percent) and 51-65 (23 percent).
Those who said they were unsuccessful in losing weight had varied reasons why. About 43 percent of people said ‘‘other,” which could include illness, work obligations or lack of time. While this was the most common response for most age groups, 22- to 30 year-olds cited ‘‘lack of will power” as the main reason (50 percent). The next most highly cited reason overall was lack of will power at 32 percent, followed by a diet that was too cumbersome at 15 percent, and no support from family at 9 percent.
While both sexes indicated that the top reason for lack of success was a lack of time (56 percent of men and 44 percent of females), the next most common reason for women was ‘‘will power” (34 percent) and for men it was because the diet was too cumbersome (22 percent).
Drury and Jaffurs also said they believe part of the reason is because most people set their expectations way too high.
‘‘We see that all the time. We see people coming in here all the time with way too high of goals. You just have to look at your lifestyle. Look at what changes you can make that won’t disrupt what you do,” Drury said.
‘‘If someone wants to lose 50 pounds, it’s hard to see 10 pounds as being successful,” Jaffurs said. ‘‘We encourage people to make reasonable goals.”
The results also showed that income had an influence—the higher the income, the more likely a person was to have lost their desired weight. About 67 percent of people with incomes of more than $100,000 lost their goal weight, whereas about 20 percent of people with incomes up to $60,000 lost their goal weight.
How’d they do it?
Most people—56 percent—said they dieted informally by watching the type and amount of foods consumed.
Tied for second most popular approach was a low carbohydrate diet (21 percent), and Weight Watchers (20 percent).
Few used Nutri-System or Jenny Craig (1 percent each). Men were more likely to try low-carbohydrate diets (35 percent of dieters) than women (16 percent). Women were more likely to try Weight Watchers — about 20 percent.
Solomons resident Paula Gray tried Weight Watchers a while ago and found success.
‘‘I joined six years ago, and it was that I had been an aerobics instructor and had stopped because my life got too busy and I started putting on weight. I lost 30 pounds and I’ve kept it off for five and a half years,” she said.
Now Gray is a Weight Watchers meeting leader six nights a week in Dunkirk, Prince Frederick, St. Leonard and Great Mills.
‘‘I’m fascinated by the survey and the reasons for being unsuccessful. I think that more is in line with not being clear on their goals. I always go by the adage that inch by inch is a cinch and yard by yard is hard,” she said. ‘‘We have a four-way approach, which is to eat wisely, exercise more and think first, and attend meetings.”
More people diet informally because throwing out an extra payment for a program like Weight Watchers may not fit their budgets, Gray said.
About 70 percent of respondents said that they regularly exercised while they were dieting but men were more likely to do so than women.
Both Jaffurs and Drury noted the high result may be due to an audience that may already be exercising regularly without dieting or being unsure about what exercise really is.
‘‘If you don’t quantify a time limit it’s easy for someone to say they exercise regularly. We have people who say shopping for a couple of hours is exercising,” Drury said.
Both educators said reasons for dieting are often different than reasons for exercising. ‘‘Overeating is for more emotional reasons. They’re treated separately within our class,” Jaffurs said.
Chris Richardson, owner of the Bike Doctor in Waldorf, said he exercises not to lose weight, but because he enjoys his avenue for exercise and the routine.
‘‘I don’t really ride [bicycles] because I’m looking to lose weight or exercise. I do it because I like the sport. By default, it’s exercise. That’s also great. It keeps you healthy and your body in good shape. I don’t even need to diet. I eat what I want. It’s awesome,” he said.
‘‘We find in our class the majority doesn’t exercise. We start from scratch. That’s interesting to have a high statistic like that,” Jaffurs said in response to the question’s findings. ‘‘There’s a lot of barriers. There’s not a lot of time.”
Myers said she hopes to exercise regularly once she retires by the end of the May. Currently, she’s on the road by 4:15 a.m. and doesn’t get home until 5:30 p.m.
She lost more than 20 pounds by eating six small meals a day and monitoring her nutrition balance.
‘‘I did very well losing weight. The problem is you get to a point where you can’t lose anymore” without exercise, Myers said.
No matter what diet people choose, Drury and Jaffurs said balancing at least 90 minutes of exercise a week with good nutrition is a surefire way to see weight results. ‘‘We don’t recommend anyone go below 1,500 [calories] a day. We see people calorie restricting too much,” Drury said.
