2. Examine the influences in both the macro and micro environment that limit an individual’s ability to successfully reduce body fat; list these and attempt to plan counter approaches to them.

3. If possible, get spouses and partners involved in the modification of the micro environment for reducing body fat levels.

4. Keep fatty foods either out of the household environment, or not easily accessible.

5. Encourage the use of ‘person power’ through physical activity and ‘incidental activity’, rather than using machinery.

6. Modify the food supply at the micro-environmental level if this can’t be changed at the macro level, e.g. through reading food labels, learning appropriate shopping techniques, etc.

7. Increase awareness of, and access to, facilities for increasing levels of physical activity such as recreation centres, parks, playgrounds, walkways, cycle tracks and stairways in buildings.

8. Encourage walking rather than the use of vehicles where possible (i.e. park away from the destination, walk up the stairs instead of using escalators).

9. Get group support to facilitate physical activity (e.g. walking with a friend or group).

10. Encourage an attitude which regards movement as an ‘opportunity’, rather than an ‘inconvenience’.

11. Discourage the use of labour saving electronic equipment in the home such as remote controls for the TV, automatic garage doors, electronic can openers, toothbrushes etc.

12. Don’t commence a fat loss program at times when social support is likely to be least, i.e. at the end of the week or end of the year in particular.

13. Recognise the potential for environmental change and support individual and public health programs.

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According to the laws of thermodynamics, all forms of energy are interchangeable and energy is neither gained nor lost, it merely changes form. With respect to humans this means that the body cannot create or destroy energy, but it can convert one form of energy to another. Humans use chemical energy from food for synthesis and other metabolic processes. The chemical energy from food is converted to various forms such as mechanical energy which results in movement, chemical energy to make hormones, or electrical energy to conduct nerve impulses. Unless energy is stored in the body, it is eventually lost, mainly as heat (thermo-genesis). Since living organisms are governed by the laws of thermodynamics, an energy balance equation has been used to forecast changes in body mass when changes in energy intake or expenditure occur, although this is not as clear cut as was once thought.

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Faced with choosing between a bowl of cereal and another 15 minutes of sleep, Susan would always go for the extra snooze time. “Food first thing in the morning never appealed to me,” says the 42-year-old sales manager from Newport, Rhode Island.

Because she would eat dinner at around 6:00 P.M. and then skip breakfast, Susan was going foodless for up to 18 hours at a stretch. By noon, she’d be famished. So she’d plunge into a huge lunch, then spend the rest of the day snacking on cookies and potato chips.

By the time Susan reached her early thirties, she weighed 181 pounds. She was so embarrassed about her appearance that she stopped shopping in clothing stores. “I only ordered out of catalogs—always clothing with elastic waists,” she recalls.

After several unsuccessful weight-loss attempts, Susan asked some of her slender friends how they stay slim. Their answer: breakfast.

Susan started slowly, with one slice of toast and a cup of coffee. She eventually added a bowl of cereal or oatmeal to her morning meal. To her surprise, she was less hungry at lunch and her midday munching stopped.

Now, her favorite breakfast foods include oatmeal, Kashi cereal with strawberries, and whole-wheat toast with a slice of cheese. Susan lost 36 pounds in less than a year. Her slimmer figure has made her a breakfast believer.

WINNING ACTION

Eat a real breakfast. Many women, like Susan, skip breakfast—and overeat all day as a result. Research shows that people who eat a healthy and hearty breakfast are thinner than those who eat no breakfast at all. That’s because breakfast helps boost your metabolism,so you burn calories more efficiently all day. For years, I skipped breakfast, too. Now, I make sure to grab something in the morning: a banana, a CI if Bar, or some yogurt. It’s amazing how much more energy I have until lunchtime.

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