University of Virginia Library

Med Professor Recommends
Competitive Weight-losing

Laymen's organizations devoted
to weight-losing through competition
often have more success than
physicians in helping obese persons
take off pounds, a University
physician says.

This is only one of the paradoxes
of obesity, according to John
A. Owen Jr., associate professor of
internal medicine at the University
School of Medicine.

Such organizations as Take Off
Pounds Sensibly (TOPS) may have
more success than some physicians
because too many physicians feel
obesity is not a real medical
problem but the patient's own
fault, says Dr. Owen. A doctor with
this attitude prescribes pills and a
diet and hurries the patient out of
the office, he says.

"Losing weight with an organization
such as TOPS or Weight Watchers
is competitive, exciting
and more of a fun thing," says Dr.
Owne. "Also, a dieter can call a
sympathetic fellow member for
cheering up at crucial moments."

Dr. Owen currently is discussing
"paradoxes of hunger" in a lecture
series aimed at supplying visiting
lectures for colleges and universities
across the country which train
health professionals but have no
medical school on campus.

Lecture At Georgia

Sponsored by the American
Medical Association, Dr. Owen's
next lecture will be tomorrow at
the University of Georgia.

Another paradox, he says, is
that although obese persons eat
greater than normal amounts of
food, they rarely eat from a feeling
of hunger.

Still another paradox is that
obesity in this country occurs more
often in the lower socio-economic
groups.

The poor don't try to live up to
the American ideal of slenderness.
They can't afford the right foods,
and those with large families
probably never plan a nutritious
meal, but let each family member
fend for himself, Dr. Owen says.

A fourth paradox, he says, is
that the more weight one loses, the
greater is his tendency to regain. No
one knows the reason for this, but
it may relate to tissue fat-storing
tendencies established early in life,
Dr. Owen says.

Three Guidelines

In addition to joining a weight-losing
club, Dr. Owen lists three
other guidelines for coping with
obesity: exercise, following a normal
diet but eating smaller amounts
and developing a new interest.

"When a dieter takes food away
from his schedule, he should
compensate by adding a new sport
or hobby," says Dr. Owen.

Such therapy is especially effective
in treating teenage obesity, he
says. This is often the worst kind
because teenagers, following the
herd instinct, feel they must look
like each other, he says.

"Above all," Dr. Owen says,
"obesity should be treated with
respect." Obesity is a "very stubborn
condition," and everyone
should weight carefully the costs as
well as the benefits of dieting.

Some persons set a dieting goal,
he says, and, when they can't reach,
lose complete confidence in themselves
as persons. On the other hand
obesity increases the mortality and
morbidity or degree of illness in
many diseases, he says.