Lois M. Collins

"My approach is not sexy or glamorous," says Kary Woodruff, a sports dietitian at The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital. "There are no quick fixes, just small but sustainable lifestyle changes you can adopt to maintain a healthy weight for life."

Woodruff recommends aiming to lose a half-pound to a pound a week. Faster weight loss usually means someone is losing water weight and muscle mass before they lose their fat, Woodruff says.

She cites as an example the current rage, the hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) diet. It promises one to three pounds gone per day, but she says that clinical trials have failed to prove long-term weight loss. The diet combines use of hCG injections or drops with a strict 500-calorie diet. That's the part "that's probably causing weight loss," she says, "but it's not sustainable." And when people go off the diet, there's a good chance they'll regain the weight they lost "or gain even more because of a yo-yo effect." There may also be medical complications with losing weight that quickly, she says.

Both Dvorak and Woodruff recommend that would-be dieters find the small changes they can incorporate into a healthy diet for a lifetime, such as choosing high fiber, less processed bread or new types of whole grains like quinoa.

"There are so many fad diets that center on low-carbohydrate diets. Carbohydrates are great foods if you get them from good sources," Woodruff says, noting that those who eat lots of barley, rye, whole grains, fruits and vegetables seldom have trouble managing blood sugars, for instance.

Once you've turned a good change into a habit, add another, she counsels. Maybe switch out white rice for brown. Then look at the fats you eat, making sure you go for the healthier ones, not the transfats.

That same incremental approach makes exercise doable over the long haul. A couch potato will give up pretty quickly if ordered to exercise for an hour five times a week. But that person can go for a walk twice a week while building up some stamina, then can add more walks or other activities. "Increase slowly in a way that becomes part of the daily routine, not something that has to be thought about."