There are few absolutes in weight loss science. High-carb versus low-carb diets are still the subject of endless debate. Whether snacks make you slimmer or fatter is an argument for the ages. The evidence for calories-in versus calories-burned is even being questioned. Amid this dissonant squabbling a clarion truth emerges: ...

Cash is a powerful motivator when it comes to shedding pounds, and the lure of money is even greater when dieters win or lose as a group. Previous studies showed that earning money as a reward for losing weight is an effective motivator — researchers at the Mayo Clinic recently found ...

Annette Miller does a push-up during the Fit Nation kickoff weekend in Atlanta. (CNN) -- You never know who's watching. As a child, I always thought this saying meant I had to make sure I was on my best behavior when grown-ups weren't around to make me mind. Over the past year, ...

Willpower, apparently, can be bought. The chance to win or lose $20 a month enticed dieters in a yearlong study to drop an average of 9 pounds – four times more weight than others who were not offered dough to pass up the doughnuts. Many employers, insurers and Internet programs dangle dollars ...

Brittni Garcia's family didn't go out for walks; they went out for dinner. And when they were at home, they enjoyed watching movies, playing board games and eating big Mexican-style home-cooked meals. This lazy lifestyle led Garcia to weigh more than 200 pounds by the eighth grade. "My mom always said, 'You ...

Timing is everything for losing weight . In the latest collaborative study, researchers at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Tufts University and the University of Murcia in Spain, found that the time of day you eat large meals may help to  predict how many pounds you drop. In a study published in ...

With all the talk about obesity in America, you might be surprised to know that most people are pretty good at losing weight. Weight loss programs have proven effective in helping people drop pounds. But keeping them off is another story. Studies have shown that overweight participants typically give up their newly ...

”It’s easy to quit smoking,” Mark Twain supposedly said. “I’ve done it hundreds of times.” Something similar could be said of losing weight: It’s relatively easy to drop a few pounds, but keeping them off is much trickier. That explains why so many people fall into the classic pattern of yo-yo ...

Another study endorses the effectiveness of the ubiquitous, points-based weight loss program Good news for people who do Weight Watchers: a study pitting the commercial weight-loss program against professionally directed weight loss treatments found that dieters stuck with Weight Watchers longer and were more likely to lose weight. Researchers led by Angela ...

Researchers provide the strongest evidence yet that soda and other sugary drinks contribute to the obesity epidemic in children. The new findings, reported in a trio of studies published online in the New England Journal of Medicine, offer persuasive support for New York City’s first-in-the-nation ban on large-sized soft drinks at ...