Thursday I had dinner with a friend and one of my greatest heros in nutrition and health, Dr. Jim Hill. If his name sounds familiar, he's the person who started the National Weight Loss Registry and who started America on the Move (wearing pedometers and walking 10,000 steps a day.
Let me share something about him you might not have known and how it's changed my thinking.

In a classic article in Science, Hill showed that cutting only 100 calories a day from our diets will prevent weight gain in most of the US population. The majority of people only gain a pound or two each year, and their calculations showed that anything a person does to make this 100 calorie difference will lead most of us to lose weight. We can do it by walking an extra 2000 steps each day (about one mile), or we can do it by eating 100 calories less than we otherwise would.

The best way to trim 100 or 200 calories a day is to do it in a way which does not make you feel deprived. It is so much easier to rearrange your kitchen and change a few eating habits so you do not have to think about eating less or differently. This is the silver lining to this dark, cloudy sky. The same things that lead us to mindlessly gain weight can also help us mindlessly lose weight.

How much weight? Unlike the 3:00 AM infomercials, it would not be 10 pounds in 10 hours, or 10 pounds in 10 days. It is not even going to be 10 pounds in 10 weeks. You would notice that, and you would feel deprived. Instead, suppose you stay within the Mindless Margin for losing weight and trim 100-200 calories a day. You would probably not feel deprived, but in 10 months you would be in the neighborhood of 10 pounds lighter. It would not put you in this year’s Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, but it might put you back in some of your “signal” clothes, and it will make you feel better without costing you bread, pasta, and your comfort foods.

What small changes have worked for you?

周四，我和一位朋友，營養保健專家基米-希爾（Jim Hill）博士一起共進晚餐。他的名字是不是聽起來很耳熟，是他開創了美國國家體重減輕登記處，并且倡導美國人運動起來。（攜帶計步器。每天走一萬步）

讓我來說說你所不知道的希爾吧，還有我的思想是怎么改變的。

在《科學》雜志的一篇著名文章中，希爾認為對于大部分美國人來說，從每天的食譜中減少100卡路里的熱量，就能夠防止體重的增加。大多數人的體重每年只會增加一到兩磅，對他們的調查顯示，只要你減少了體內的100卡路里熱量，無論通過什么方式，大部分人的體重都是可以下降的。我們可以每天多走2000步（大約1英里）來消耗100卡路里的熱量，或者我們可以每天少進食100卡路里的熱量。

當然減少100到200卡路里熱量的最佳辦法最好能讓你不挨餓。重新安排下你的食譜，改變一些吃東西的習慣，這樣就不會讓你必須少吃或者吃不同種類的食物了，這是最好的辦法。這些無意中使我們體重增加的事情同樣可以使我們的體重減輕。

多少重量？不像夜里三點的電視購物，它會讓你在十個小時或者10天或者十周內增加10磅體重；你會注意到，你會覺得餓。相反，你可能在無意之中就減輕了體重或者每天減少了100到200卡路里熱量，你也不會感到饑餓。但是在10個月內，你就會減輕了10磅體重。雖然這不會讓你登上體育畫報的泳裝封面，但是你可以穿回你以前的衣服了，而你節約了面包、意大利面或者其他美味食品，這也會讓你感覺舒服。

你已經做了哪些小的改變呢？