Researchers at Tufts University looked at the calorie information for 29 quick-serve and sit-down restaurant foods. They then did their own calorie analysis and found that the menu items contained an average of 18 percent more calories than the stated values. Seven of the restaurant foods contained more calories, with some having up to twice their stated amount of calories. In addition, five of the restaurants provided free side dishes with the meal, and researchers discovered that the free side dishes had an average number of calories that was actually higher than the original entree.

In addition to restaurant menu items, the Tufts researchers also looked at 10 frozen meals bought from supermarkets. These meals had an average of 8 percent more calories than what was printed on the labels. Three of the store-bought meals contained up to twice their stated amount of calories.

“These findings suggest that stated energy contents of reduced energy meals obtained from restaurants and supermarkets are not consistently accurate and, in this study, average more than measured values, especially when free side dishes were taken into account, which on average contained more energy than the entrees alone,” wrote the researchers.

Not only could this make it difficult for dieters to lose weight by counting calories, but the researchers also noted that it could “reduce the potential benefit of recent policy initiatives to disseminate information on food energy content at the point of purchase.”

What Calories Have to Do with Weight Loss

The calories you eat are either converted into energy or stored within your body as fat. Your body will convert calories into energy for basic body functions and for all of your movement, but any calories that aren’t used for basic function or movement will be stored as fat. If you want to reduce your fat stores, then, you need to make sure you don’t have any “extra” calories left over. You can accomplish this by consuming fewer calories in your food or burning more calories through increased physical activity, or, ideally, through a combination of both.

Simple Ways to Cut Calories

How many calories do you need to burn or cut in order to lose weight? One pound of fat equals 3,500 calories. So losing one pound per week means burning an extra 500 calories a day through increased physical activity, or cutting 500 calories a day from your diet. Try these simple tips to consistently cut calories.

1. Skip One High-Calorie Item A Day. Keep in mind that your goal is to eliminate 500 calories a day from your diet. One or two replacements can do the trick. For example, giving up one 3-ounce snack bag of ranch-flavored tortilla chips can save you 426 calories. You might also consider giving up your morning flavored latte or your late-night bowl of ice cream. One change, when made consistently, can make a big difference.
2. Switch to Low-Calorie Varieties. Look for foods or ingredients you use regularly that may have low-calorie alternatives. For example, instead of using whole milk, which has 149 calories in every 8 ounces, try skim milk, which only has 86 calories per 8 ounces. Switch to diet soda, which usually has no calories, instead of sugary sodas or coffee drinks.
3. Practice Portion Control. The easiest way to eat fewer calories, of course, is to eat less food. Unfortunately, portion control can be the most difficult diet method to follow. Try using a smaller dinner plate to help guide you and make an extra effort to eat more slowly. Research has shown that taking 20 to 30 minutes to eat a meal can help you feel more full on less food.

In 2001, there were over 70,000 weight loss surgeries performed in the U.S. The 30-day mortality rate was nearly 2%, which experts considered to be “relatively high.”

In 2006, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a national coverage determination (NCD) for weight loss surgeries that limited Medicare coverage to weight loss procedures performed at institutions certified by either the American College of Surgeons or the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. In order to be certified, hospitals would need to perform at least 125 procedures a year, show they had adequate staff and equipment, and have a system in place for following up on patients’ progress after bariatric surgery.

After the new NCD, the number of centers performing weight loss surgeries dropped from 60 to 45, but the total number of procedures performed remained about the same.

Researchers at the University of California Irvine Medical Center reviewed 3,196 operations performed on Medicare and Medicaid recipients in the 18 months before the NCD and 3,068 done in the 18 months afterward. Their findings indicated that limiting weight loss surgeries to “high volume centers” resulted in better outcomes for patients. The move to high volume centers led to shorter hospital stays, lower complication rates, and lower mortality rates.

Today, thanks in part to technological innovations and changes in regulations, weight loss surgeries now carry about the same risk for complication as gallbladder surgeries.

“There is evidence from large controlled trials and numerous case series that bariatric surgery is currently the only effective therapy for promoting clinically significant weight loss and improving obesity-associated conditions among adults with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or higher…” said Daniel P. Schauer, MD, MSc in the study published in the January issues of the Archives of Surgery.

Using data from more than 399,000 participants in the 1991–1996 National Health Interview Surgery, the researchers calculated the effect of bariatric surgery on excess mortality (defined as death associated with obesity). With both men and women, both age and BMI played the most important role in determining the benefit of increased life expectancy. The younger and more obese, the more benefit derived from bariatric surgery.

While there were some limitations with the study, including life expectancy being the only outcome considered, regardless of quality of life, the researchers said that their study will be able to assist surgeons in determining which patients might derive the most benefit from weight loss surgery. They stated: “We believe results of this analysis can be used to better inform both patients’ and physicians’ decisions regarding gastric bypass surgery.”

In a study posted online in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, Dr. Marianne Tang Severinsen of Aarhus University Hospital noted that the distribution of body fat has an important impact on venous clotting and arterial thrombotic risk.

For men, an increase in waist circumference of 5 centimeters was associated with an increase in risk of venous thromboembolism of up to 18 percent, but for women, that risk rose up to 21 percent for an increase in hip size instead.

The researchers studied results from a “Diet, Cancer and Health” study of almost 60,000 mean and women. Following up 10 years later, there were 641 venous thromboembolic events that occurred. Whether they were deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism, these events were less affected by known risk factors, such as prolonged travel, than they were by increased body size and circumference.

Dr. Severinsen and her team found that with obese patients, a diagnosis of venous thromboembolism can be more challenging, because obesity can underestimate the effects.

While the complete biological link to venous thromboembolism remains unknown, the researchers have speculated that fat secretes substances that contain procoagulant activity.

The study showed that different types of stress can cause weight gain in men and women. For women, strains with family or friends were associated with weight gain, while men tended to gain weight when they experienced stress in the workplace.

A cross-section of 1,355 adults aged 25 to 74 in the Midlife In the United States study (MIDUS), followed from 1995 to 2004, was studied in-depth. Participants “with higher body mass indexes at baseline who reported greater psychosocial stress gained more weight, whereas this pattern was not evident for those with lower baseline body mass indexes.”

The stress hormone cortisol, which is associated with abdominal obesity, has been linked to this type of stress-related weight gain. In addition, a complex interplay of hormones such as glucocorticoids and ghrelin, which are appetite stimulants, and corticotrophin-releasing hormone and leptin, which act as appetite suppressants, could also be linked to obesity.

The study explained that these hormones are closely related to the physiologic pathways between stress and weight gain and emphasized the importance of reducing stress on adults. “Our findings show that stress should be recognized as a threat to the well-being of American adults, especially those who are already overweight,” Block said.