Losing weight requires action, not resolutions

It's a new year, and if you find that weight loss is on your mind, you're not alone. The first time I lost more than 100 pounds I started in, yes, January.

Making a New Year's resolution is a good first step, but that resolution won't change the numbers on your scale. Following through on that resolution and improving your daily food plan can start those scale's numbers heading south.

At this point in, most folks ask "What do I do now? What weight-loss diet works best? Should I follow a book or an organized weight-loss program?" Fortunately for us, Consumer Reports in June 2007 weighed in on what books and diets seem to work better than others.

The magazine's top pick: "The Volumetrics Eating Plan" by Barbara Rolls. According to Consumer Reports, recent clinical trials established that folks who follow Rolls' diet show "the best overall weight loss of any diet evaluated." High praise, despite editors noting some of her recipes are "somewhat time-consuming to prepare."

Rolls recommends starting most meals with a clear, broth-based soup or low-fat salad and she stocks her diet with lots of high-water-content fruits and veggies and likes whole-grain pasta.

Her first book, "Volumetrics Weight-Control Plan" (available in paperback), makes an excellent companion for understanding the whys and hows of this unique food plan.

While he has a legion of followers, Robert C. Atkins' "New Diet Revolution" came in last in the ranking. The magazine found Atkins plan followers to have a better-than-average rate of weight loss short term, but just average weight loss at one year. Editors believe his diet is too restrictive, causing a worse-than-average drop out rate.

Dean Ornish's "Eat More, Weigh Less" book on his low-fat vegetarian food plan came in just one notch ahead of Atkins.

When it came to putting weight-loss programs to the test, Weight Watchers came out on top with a better-than-average rating. And, although Weight Watcher's scored average on weight loss, long-term adherence to the program was the best of any other program.

Jenny Craig, a program where participants buy single-serving meals and augment them with home food, came in a very close to second. Editors indicated that those who stuck it out on Jenny Craig "lost considerable weight."

Slim Fast, meal replacement drinks and bars, got very high marks from the magazine. In fact, editors rated the Slim Fast program as the best in terms of one- year weight loss and better-than-average in short term loss. However, Slim Fast's dropout rate was the worst of both books and programs.

If you're considering a web-centric diet, such as E-Diets, consider this: E-Diets' short term and one year weight loss ranked worse than average. According to Consumer Reports, E-Diets also suffers from below-average weight loss.

Now that the holiday season's over (along with all the food), make a resolution to pick a program that you can work with and that works for you.

Try this recipe: One of the key meals in my 160 pound weight loss: clear broth-based soups. I found them filling and sustaining while being low in calories. Here's one of my favorites.

Beef and Cabbage Soup

½ pound 93 percent lean ground beef

1 cup diced onion

6 cups defatted low-sodium beef broth, preferably homemade

1 can (16 ounces) whole tomatoes, chopped, juice included

2 tablespoons tomato ketchup

4 cups coarsely chopped cabbage

1½ cups thinly sliced carrots

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper

½ teaspoon crumbled dried basil

½ teaspoon crumbled dried oregano

1 small bay leaf

¼ teaspoon crumbled dried thyme

¼ teaspoon celery seeds

½ cup long-grain white rice

Spray the bottom of a large saucepan with vegetable oil. Over medium-high heat, cook ground beef and onion for about 5 minutes, or until the meat has lost its pink color, using the edge of a plastic spoon or spatula to break up the beef as it cooks. Pour off any accumulated fat.

Add the beef broth and the remaining ingredients except for the rice, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer gently for 40 minutes. Add the rice and simmer for 20 minutes more, until the rice is cooked. Remove the bay leaf and serve.

Makes 3 quarts.

LeanNotes: Ground all-white-meat turkey may be substituted for the ground beef. Use chicken or turkey broth for the beef broth.

Nutrition values per 1½-cup serving: 124 calories(17.1 percent from fat), 2.4 g fat (0.9 g saturated), 16.9 g carbohydrates, 2.3 g fiber, 9.6 g protein, 12.3 mg cholesterol, 840 mg sodium.

SaltSense: Omitting the added salt reduces the sodium per serving to 696 mg. Using no-salt-added beef broth further reduces the sodium per serving to 80 mg.