State of Slim: Fix Your Metabolism and Drop 20 Pounds in 8 Weeks on the Colorado Diet

Americans are getting fatter. A third of them are now obese-not just a few pounds overweight, but heavy enough to put their health in jeopardy. But, one state bucks the trend. Colorado is the leanest state in the nation, but not because of something in the air or the water. Rather, it's where diet, activity, and environment perfectly intersect.
From their Denver-based research facility, leading weight-loss experts Dr. James Hill and Dr. Holly Wyatt set out to discover why Coloradans are so slim and how they stay that way. They studied the patients in their weight-loss clinic along with the lean people of Colorado. They also looked for clues in the National Weight Control Registry, a scientific database of thousands of successful "losers" across the country who have dropped an average of 70 pounds and kept it off for 6 years. Their comparison of these groups led to an aha moment-the discovery of 6 simple habits that keep people in a state of slim.
With proof that you can live like a lean Coloradan anywhere, Hill and Wyatt used those 6 habits as the foundation for their revolutionary plan, the Colorado Diet. Unlike most "diets," this one reveals the secrets of people who are in the state of slim, whether it's because they've always been slender or because they've lost weight and kept it off over the long term. This is critical, because what you need to do to for long-term weight maintenance is different from what you do to lose weight. You must repair your metabolism. If you don't, you can drop pounds, but you won't keep them off. The NWCR participants and Colorado residents had intuitively uncovered the right blend of food, activity, and habits that keep metabolism in top working order. Follow their lead, and you'll be able to actually eat more food and still stay at a healthy weight.
The Colorado Diet is divided into three phases with very clear objectives: Reignite, Rebuild, and Reinforce your metabolism. In the Reignite and Rebuild phases, you'll drop 20 pounds in just 8 weeks as you discover how to eat and move so that you are working with, rather than against, your body's metabolism. With a new, flexible metabolism, you'll progress into the Reinforce phase, where you'll continue to lose weight and solidify your new lifestyle. Along the way, you'll learn how to make changes in your environment and your mind-set so they support, rather than thwart, your success. By following the Colorado Diet, you'll get your body into a State of Slim for good.

James O. Hill is executive director of the Anschutz Center for Health and Wellness at the University of Colorado and the author of The Step Diet: Count Steps, Not Calories to Lose Weight and Keep It off Forever. He and Dr. Wyatt co-founded the National Weight Control Registry. He lives in Denver, CO.

Holly Wyatt, the Anschutz Center's associate director, is a physician and clinical researcher at the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado and the national director for the Centers for Obesity Research and Education. She lives in Denver, CO.