Losing Weight — An Ill-Fated New Year's Resolution

Abstract

Today, at the start of the new year, millions of Americans will resolve to lose weight, but by tomorrow, or next week, or maybe next month, most of them will have given up trying. Few will have lost weight, and even fewer will sustain the loss. Still, at any given time of the year, an astonishing 15 to 35 percent of Americans are trying to lose weight.¹⁵ They buy low-calorie and low-fat foods, deny themselves desserts, drink only artificially sweetened beverages, join commercial weight-loss clubs (and buy their special and especially expensive prepared meals), visit “fat farms,” take diet . . .