Stepping up the weight loss. This article, which sets up a series of reports from the ninth International Conference on Obesity in Sao Paulo, Brazil, talk about how one loses weight, and how one maintains that weight loss.

Many experts believe that most people today who want to maintain a healthy weight have to be vigilant constantly in countries such as the USA, where high-calorie foods are ubiquitous and exercise has been programmed out of many people's lives.

"It takes a lot of conscious, cognitive effort," says James Hill, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. "People who are not devoting substantial effort to managing body weight are probably gaining weight."

Samuel Klein, president of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, agrees: "It means making weight management a priority in your life."

Statistics reveal how difficult that is to do. Worldwide, more than 1 billion people are overweight, and of those, 300 million are obese, according to the International Obesity Task Force. A startling 61%, or more than 120 million people, in this country are either overweight or obese, according to government statistics. Obesity is roughly 30 pounds or more over a healthy weight.

While not the only theme of this blog, weight control and exercise articles do consistently attract my attention.

"The bottom line for weight loss is you have to eat fewer calories than your body needs," Rolls says.

Brownell says that if people watch portion sizes, eat fruits and vegetables and less junk, "they'd be 90% of the way toward a healthy diet." And "if anything has become clear over the past 10 years, it's the importance of exercise in weight loss and maintaining."

There you go, eat intelligently and exercise. In our society this represents work. One should ask oneself whether that work is worthwhile. I would argue that question has a simple answer. Make rounds with me and you will probably agree.