European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 31, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                From the cover a year. I promised myself never to gain weight again and be unhappy Pon says. But despite twice monthly visits to the doctor Pon despaired As the pounds crept Back Over a four year period. Down one Pound up two Down one up two until she had regained nearly 90 pounds. Ton s Story is not new. Most fat people lose the Battle of the bulge. The Only difference is now some of their doctors Are encouraging them to surrender at the Start. Statistics show More than 95 percent of the people who slim with professional help will tip the Scales at or above their original weight in five years. Or. Albert Stunkard a professor at the University of Pennsylvania offers a Bleak prognosis for the fat who want to be thin. He says most obese people do not enter treatment. Of those who do most drop out. Of those who remain most Don t lose weight. And of those who do lose most regain it. The Good news is physicians dieticians and psychiatrists Jare beginning to rethink whether dieting is really the Best Medicine for the obese. Stunkard says ideas on obesity treatment Are undergoing the most Radical re evaluation in 150 years. And out of this re evaluation May come a far More effective and far More humane approach to  Stunkard fellow health care professionals and the fat themselves talked about obesity treatment at a recent Antwerp Belgium conference sponsored by the world health organization and an organization called Obe Sitas. Conference speaker or. Joe Mcvoy director of an eating disorder program at St. Albans psychiatric Hospital in Radford va., is one of a growing num Ber of doctors who has changed his approach to treating the obese. A few years Back Mcvoy stopped foisting diet plans on every obese patient who walked through his door. Instead he began to concentrate on improving their physical and mental health with no regard to weight loss. His patients weights average from 400 to 600 pounds. Like others signing on to the no diet move ment Mcvoy says he tries to help fat people accept the body that they be been told for generations is unacceptable. Adopt Good healthy eating habits but not restricted eating enhance their physical activity to improve health. Assert themselves against those who disparage them because they arc obese. Mcvoy does not dispute ample evidence that links obesity with such increased health risks As hypertension diabetes and heart disease,.but he notes that it s possible to be fat and healthy. Dieting has risks. It can evolve into such extreme eating disorders As bulimia and anorexia. Women Are the ones doing most of the dieting even though men Are most threatened by health risks linked with obesity Mcvoy says. And As More and More drugs replace Low calorie diets As the obesity cure Many perfectly healthy women will be placed on inappropriate medication for life. Walter Vandereyken a belgian psychiatrist who also has stopped pushing diets compared the history of Medicine to the history of Battle. The body is the Battleground. Women Are sol Diers and men Are generals the University of leu  professor says. A recent study published in the new England journal of Medicine documented that women experience greater economic and social consequences of discrimination because of being obese than men. Sally Smith an overweight american who Heads an organization promoting the acceptance of fat people says she always Felt it was her fault that she failed through 20 years of dieting that began when she was 7 years old she says now she knows better. It s Only a matter of time until the weight is re gained Smith says. In every graph of every study the curve demonstrates that the weight comes off then comes Back on. Yet despite physiological mechanisms involved in weight regained the Dieter is Al ways blamed. We grow up with the feeling that there s something wrong with  Stunkard says the medical and health Community s discrimination and prejudice toward fat people is very Well  one Survey reports that 75 percent of obese peo ple Felt their doctors treated them disrespectfully be cause of their weight. After surgical weight reduction just 2 percent said they suffered such discrimination. Citing research that showed 90 percent of the health benefits of weight loss can be achieved with a 10 percent weight reduction Mcvoy said he some times encourages slight weight loss in his clients. But he frowns on roller coaster losses and gains which can increase health risks because of heart disease or metabolism problems. Some doctors say statistics on Long term weight loss Only reflect the worst cases people who have sought professional help after having tried every thing else. You Only see and hear the people who were not successful says or. Jean Paul do Slyvere director of the department of nutrition and metabolic Dis eases at the University clinic in Ghent Belgium. We All know patients we All know people who have succeeded without too Many problems. You must not simplify and say that obesity cannot be  obesity treatment can be seen As fairly successful when compared with treatment of such chronic Dis eases As rheumatism psoriasis and allergies says or. Stephan Rossner professor of health behaviour re search at Sweden s Karolinsky Institute. We be helped a great number of severely obese patients to live fairly comfortably with their Condi Tion for a Long period of  Pon now 50, weighs 176 pounds. She says she has come to terms with the fact that Shell never match the weight of society s Model women. She slims for health reasons and is Happy with her current weight which she says she must struggle to maintain. But i Don t deny myself anything anymore. I m not hungry  there is a solution to obese problems and that is acceptance of being fat Pon says. But we have to Start with ourselves and find the balance Between Quantity and Quality so we can Stop dieting and Start  How to know if you re obese doctors worldwide refer to a so called body mass Index Ami As a Standard for obesity. The formula for Ami is kg/m2. Generally if your Index is More than 30you d be classified As obese 25-30, Over weight and less than 25, Normal weight. Follow these Steps to determine your Index 1. Multiply your weight in pounds by .45 to get your weight in kilograms. 2. Multiply your height in inches by .0254 to get your height in meters. 3. Square your metric height by multiplying it by itself. 4. Now Divide your weight in kilograms by your height squared. Country United states Canada great Britain Netherlands Australia age percentage of obese 20 to 74 20 to 69 16 to 65 20-plus 25 to 64 men 12 9 6 4 7 women 12 12 8 6 7 1991 study cited at lha 1993 International Congress on obesity management or. Jaap Scidell Netherlands National institutes of health smokers gain an Avi rage of ii pounds when hey kick he habit. Or. Jean Paul Deslyper University clinic Ghent Belgium if asked about 45 percent of american women Nill say they Are on a diet. Or. Arnold cries University of Disseldorf Germany dieters can lose As Many pounds on a 400-calorie-a Day diet As they can through fasting. Or. Stephan Rossner Karolinsky Institute Stockholm Sweden you la Tain l i pounds every 10 years if you Don t adjust your eating and exercise habits. Or. Albert Stunkard University of Pennsylvania 20 years ago researchers estimated that every excess Pound of fat reduced he salaries of business executives by $1,000. Now it probably $2,000. Page 4 sunday october 31, 1933