CNN Presents Classroom Edition: Fat Chance

Educator Guide

Segment Summaries and Discussion Questions

Segment One: Keeping Weight Off is Hard to Do

Successful weight loss -- losing weight and keeping it off -- is so unusual that Professor James Hill, Ph.D. at the University of Colorado, keeps a list of people who've managed to do it. Karen Brown and Robert Romaniello are two of the people on the National Weight Control Registry.

Karen went from 194 pounds to 124 pounds while Robert lost 60 pounds. Both managed to do it while fighting against our body's natural physical instincts to eat when food is available and in a society that seemingly discourages exercise.

1. What is the difference between being overweight and being obese?

2. What percentages of Americans are obese and overweight?

3. What are the health implications of this trend?

4. What genetic and biological factors make it difficult for people to lose weight? Why weren't prehistoric people obese? According to the video, why do 95 percent of the people who lose weight gain it back?

5. Who is Jim Hill? What is the focus of his research? What does Dr. Hill mean when he says, "The epidemic of obesity is a byproduct of our success as a society"? How has modern society actually prevented humans from being active when they want to be?

6. Why are Karen and Robert two of Dr. Hill's success stories? How much did each once weigh? What does each weigh now?

Segment Two: Expect Failure But Keep Trying

According to Dr. Hill, only five percent of dieters actually keep the weight off, like Karen Brown and Robert Romaniello have. After studying the roughly 3,000 people in the National Weight Control Registry, Dr. Hill and his colleagues have come up with seven keys to losing weight and keeping it off. The first tip: Expect failure but keep trying.

Both Karen and Robert say they used food as an emotional crutch, eating when they felt lonely and unhappy. And both of them cite health considerations as the factor that finally motivated them to change their habits and keep the weight off.

1. What factors contributed to Karen's weight gain? What does Karen mean by "food is your friend"? What emotions cause people to want to eat?

2. What measures did Karen take to lose weight over the years? Why didn't these diets work for Karen?

3. According to Dr. Hill, what percentage of successful dieters are able to maintain their weight loss? What is a "fad diet"? Why are fad diets considered a poor way to maintain weight loss?

4. What requirements must people meet to be included in the National Weight Control Registry? How many people are listed in this registry? How has Professor Hill used the registry in his research?

5. What are the first two of Dr. Hill's seven tips for successful weight loss?

6. Why were Karen and Robert able to make the switch from being junk food junkies to eating healthy?

7. What health problems are linked to being overweight and obese?

8. In the segment, we learn that, before their weight loss, both Karen and Robert used food as an "emotional crutch." What does this mean? How did they break this cycle?

Segment Three: Exercise is Good

Another thing Robert Romaniello and Karen Brown have in common is that they both have a regular exercise regimen. Robert runs and does push-ups and sit-ups. Karen runs daily, lifts weights and leads ten aerobics classes a week.

It took time for both Robert and Karen to get to where they could exercise as much as they currently do. But if you can't exercise as much as Robert and Karen, Dr. Hill suggests incorporating physical activity into daily routines, like taking the stairs instead of the escalator

1. What are Dr. Hill's third, fourth and fifth tips for effective dieting?

2. Why is it important to weigh yourself often if you are trying to lose weight? How did Robert implement and benefit from this weight loss strategy?

3. How have Robert and Karen integrated exercise into their lifestyle? How has exercising on a regular basis impacted their lives? What challenges did they face during their quest to become fit?

4. In addition to planned workouts, what can people do to get more exercise?

Segment Four: Five Meals a Day

Of the many diets that claim to have the answer to losing weight, a federal government study found that a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet is the best at keeping the weight off. Data from the weight control registry also shows that successful dieters often eat five meals a day.

Dr. Hill says the data isn't completely clear on this point. "I think it's more likely that by spreading them out over the day, what you're avoiding doing is overeating in any given situation," says Hill. Other researchers are studying whether genetics may predispose some people to being overweight and where there are drugs that can be created to help them.

1. What are Dr. Hill's sixth and seventh tips for losing weight?

2. Why does Dr. Hill recommend a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet? What foods are included in this type of diet?

3. If you want to lose weight, why is it better to eat five small meals, rather than three large meals, a day?

4. What personal characteristics do you think Karen and Robert possess that enable them to be so successful at dieting? Why might some people have difficulty following Robert and Karen's weight loss plan?

5. Who is Dr. Steven B. Heymsfield? According to Heymsfield, why might some obese people need drugs to lose weight?

6. How might people's genes make them eat too much, or make them overweight?

7. How has studying mice helped scientists to understand the correlation between genetics and obesity?

8. What types of drugs are being developed to treat obesity?

Segment Five: Overweight Children

Karen Brown felt wonderful when she successfully lost weight. But now she's fighting the battle again, this time for her son, who has been teased by other children for being overweight.

Karen's son is not alone. Among children, the rate of obesity has doubled in the last 20 years, bringing with it serious health consequences.

Type 2 diabetes -- brought on by obesity and once found only in adults -- is becoming more and more common in children. Infants tend to self-regulate their food intake, but once children hit school age, they stop listening to their stomachs.

1. How prevalent is obesity among American children?

2. What is the correlation between childhood and adult obesity?

3. What biological and societal factors contribute to childhood obesity? At what age do children lose their ability to instinctually self-regulate their intake of food?

4. How can parents help their children to develop healthy eating habits and be physically fit?

5. What problems has Jamie Brown faced as a result of being overweight? How has his mother, Karen Brown, tried to help Jaime lose weight?

Segment Six: Fit But Fat

Brown and Romaniello have overcome genetics and changed their lifestyles to successfully lose weight, but they are the exception. Dieting failures are much more common, like the story of Lynn McAfee, who went on her first diet while still a baby.

McAfee is a part of the "fit but fat" movement, which encourages physical exercise and healthy eating, but doesn't encourage dieting because it's unlikely to work. McAfee says there is study after study showing that dieting doesn't work. "You can't yell at us louder. That's not working," she says.

1. Why are Karen's and Robert's weight loss successes considered unusual?

2. Who is Lynn McAfee? What problems did she encounter during her quest to lose weight? Why did she decide to stop dieting? How has she incorporated exercise into her life?

3. What is the "fit but fat" movement? What does it mean to be physically fit? To what extent is exercise important in achieving and maintaining weight loss and good physical health? Do you think the "fit but fat" movement will help stop the obesity epidemic in the U.S.?

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