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FRIDAY, Jan. 2 (HealthDayNews) -- The holiday cookies have almost been polished off and the decorations packed away.
So now it's time again for that nagging New Year's resolution -- to shed some pounds in the coming year.
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What most people need is motivation. But that can be hard to find in the familiar weight-loss mantras of "eat less" and "exercise more," especially when lingering holiday desserts beckon and chilly weather makes it easy to sit by the fireplace instead of strolling around the block.
Luckily, researchers have uncovered some new approaches that might just work.
For instance, meal replacements, which come in shake or bar form, can help people take weight off and keep it off, says Dr. George L. Blackburn, associate director of Harvard Medical School's Division of Nutrition.
Blackburn recently reported at a meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity on the 10-year success rate of 130 men and women who used meal replacements to manage their weight.
He compared those who used meal replacements with a control group of 154 men and women who didn't use the products. After 10 years, members of the meal-replacement group were nearly 33 pounds lighter, on average, than control group members.
The "mean" loss with the meal-replacement plan after 10 years was 6.1 pounds. But the controls gained weight, averaging more than 26.6 pounds, accounting for the nearly 33 pound difference between the groups.
What's the secret of the meal replacements, which the subjects used for two meals a day while trying to lose weight, and one meal a day while trying to maintain it?
"This controls the portions," says Blackburn, whose study was partially funded by SlimFast, which makes meal-replacement products.
"The number one problem [with trying to lose weight] is supersizing [of portions]," Blackburn says.
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