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You don't have to swap hamburgers for salads. Why you may shed more pounds if you focus less on eating healthier and more on simply not eating more

The anti-obesity messages are becoming mind-numbingly familiar: smaller portions. Less fried food. Fewer sodas. Its all true, but it has become mere background noise. Yes, fast-food companies have spectacular ad budgets (even as I write this article about horrifying obesity trends, I want that $10 Pizza Hut dinner box, the one that comes with a medium pizza and no fewer than 16 bread sticks). We livein a nation that can turn a lint-roller into an infomercial juggernaut. So why cant we sell healthy eating?

A study appearing this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine suggests a new idea. Maybe we should stop asking people to change or even limit their diets. Lets admit that no one really wants edamame more than Pizza Hut, and that when the Pizza Hut guy gets to the door, no one wants to see him carrying anything smaller than a Dinner Box. Instead, lets start with a simpler suggestion: just dont eat more than you do now.

This strategy wont solve the obesity problem, but it could help us to keep from getting any bigger. For two years, Gary Bennett of Duke Universitys Psychology & Neuroscience department and eight colleagues followed 365 obese patients who had already developed hypertension. The researchers chose not only a physically unhealthy population but one that was also struggling socioeconomically. Bennett says no participant in his study was earning more than $25,000 a year. The Duke team wanted to work with the poor because those with money can already afford to pick halibut and asparagus over hamburger and fries. For the poor, getting fresh fish and vegetables can mean a long bus ride and a weeks pay making health not only psychologically but also financially difficult.

(MORE: U.S. Obesity Rates Remain Stubbornly High)

The 365 patients were recruited from community-health centers and then randomly divided into two groups. The first group received whatever usual weight-loss care was provided at the center: typically a combination of one-on-one advice and then some take-home material that might include steps to follow on how to exercise more and eat better. Those in the first group also had the opportunity to schedule future appointments to talk about weight loss. Most did not.

The participants in the other group got roughly the same amount of time with a counselor and similar advice on how to lose weight. But they were also given the opportunity to receive monthly counseling calls from educators trained in the principles of motivational interviewing a well-studied method of cognitive therapy. And the participants in the second group were given the option of attending a monthly group session where they could share personal stories. But in order to keep the program inexpensive, the participants werent given specific diets. They didnt have to follow calorie counts or avoid certain foods, although they were repeatedly asked during the phone calls and in the group meetings not to eat more than they already did.

This approach has some advantages: even a cash-poor community clinic can set up a monthly call and occasional group meetings. This approach also has some disadvantages, chiefly that few participants actually lost much weight. After two years, those in the intervention arm of the study had lost only an average of 2.2 lbs (1 kg) compared with those in the control group. The amount wasnt statistically significant.

(MORE: Americas Obesity Crisis: Why We Eat)

But whats important is that most of the participants who got the automated calls and went to the meetings didnt gain weight and they showed significant improvement in their blood-pressure scores compared to those in the control group. People in this population tend to gain weight year after year, typically one to three pounds per year, says Bennett. Its very hard for anyone to lose weight, but we seem to have found a strategy that can help people at least not to put on more weight.

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A Weight-Loss Solution: Don’t Eat Less. Just Don’t Eat More

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Home » Lose Weight Fast » A Weight-Loss Solution: Don’t Eat Less. Just Don’t Eat More