A pair of studies out this week on keeping those extra pounds at bay offer some standard – and sometimes surprising – advice.
1. Ditch those extra TV sets. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo researchers, reporting in this month’s edition of Annals of Behavioral Medicine, found that people who had lost weight, and kept it off at least 5 years had fewer television sets in their homes than overweight people who hadn’t lost weight. Not surprisingly, they also had more exercise equipment, and burned as many as 1,000 more calories each week on physical activity.
2. Purge the pantry. The Cal Poly study, which looked at 167 weight-loss maintainers and around 300 others seeking treatment for obesity, also found those successful at keeping the weight off had fewer high-fat items in their kitchens, and more fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy. (Again, not much of a surprise.)
3. Let kids sleep late on weekends. (Really!) A separate study by researchers in Hong Kong, published in November’s Pediatrics, found letting kids sleep late on weekends and holidays could help them stay thinner. Previous research has established links between lack of sleep and obesity – possibly because sleep deprivation changes levels of our “hunger” hormones. But this study of more than 5,000 kids ages 5 to 15 found that those who made up for lack of weeknight sleep by sleeping later on weekends were much less likely to be overweight than those who did not.
If you don’t know the difference between “simple carbohydrates” and “complex carbs,” you should. Taking in just a bit more of the complex sort (non-processed foods, beans, oatmeal, whole grains) and less of the simple (soft drinks, processed foods, white bread) could be enough to help you feel fuller and lose weight. University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers presented a study June 11 showing that diets high in carbs, but especially simple carbs, cause insulin levels in the body to spike. This drives blood sugar down (sugar crash), making you feel hungry. But slightly reducing the amount of calories from carbs, and focusing more on complex carbs, kept test subjects’ glucose levels more even and made them feel full longer. 
Here’s one more potential benefit of coupling up: It could help you lose weight. In a study that followed 357 couples over the course of a year, researchers from the University of Connecticut found that spouses of folks on intensive weight-loss programs also lost some pounds.
