WORKING FROM THE INSIDE OUT KEEPING POSITIVE ATTITUDE IS KEY TO SUCCESS IN WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAMS.

Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer

As too many stand-up comedians have noted, embedded within the word ``diet'' is the equally unpleasant word ``die.''

Most weight-loss experts will say the two words are not so dissimilar. The process of shedding pounds involves saying goodbye to your lifestyle and one version of yourself before welcoming a slimmer and healthier you.

Sarah, the Duchess of York, puts weight loss in the context of personal reinvention in her latest book for Weight Watchers. Her upbeat attitude is contrary to the way most of us approach dieting, nutrition experts say.

Because dieting is anything but grief-free, psychologically speaking. And overcoming that grief and replacing it with a positive outlook is just as important as reading food labels, experts say.

Of course, it's not an easy proposition.

``Some people go through a grieving process. It's like losing a friend,'' says Maria Fisk, a dietitian who works in the cardiac rehabilitation center at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank. ``They're losing a habit that gives them pleasure.''

People often overeat because they're unhappy and are frequently just as miserable when they begin a diet (you'll often hear new dieters talk about ``hitting rock bottom'' weight-wise). Then there are the life-threatening health risks - such as heart disease and diabetes - that doctors warn us about if we don't lose weight.

When we start the diet, some of us go through even more grief, viewing weight loss as an odyssey of restriction and self-deprivation.

That kind of gloomy mindset is the dieter's black hole, say nutritionists. We are, by nature, pleasure seekers, so most of us won't continue self-depriving behavior no matter how many doctors tell us it's the best thing.

Successful weight loss, they say, often depends on developing a healthy and upbeat psychological attitude. Dissatisfaction may be what gets you to step from the scale to the treadmill, but experts say you need to find a way to be positive about the process for it to be successful.

``We try to get people to like themselves, then work from the inside out,'' says Laurie Rendall, a clinical dietitian at Encino Tarzana Regional Medical Center. ``Psychologically, there are tons of reasons why people don't lose weight. Maybe something happened to them as a child, and weight is the barrier. It all depends on how the person feels.''

The first mistake is associating dieting with loss. It's better to view the process a transformation, an evolution or a rebirth.

The duchess's latest Weight Watchers book is titled ``Reinventing Yourself With the Duchess of York'' (Simon & Schuster; $25). More a self- help book than a meal planner, ``Reinventing Yourself'' is full of motivational techniques and positive-thinking strategies designed to get readers to make changes.

Weight loss - via the Weight Watchers program - is a key step to an individual's ``reinvention,'' but it's not the only step. There are nine profiles of Weight Watcher group leaders in ``Reinventing Yourself,'' each with a lengthy account of how that leader altered her life, whether through a career change, a new relationship or by running a marathon.

``I had to talk with the leaders to know just what it's like to really understand why you eat,'' said the duchess during a recent interview with the Daily News. ``That's what Weight Watchers has taught me, and I thought about writing it down rather than keeping it to myself.''

``Weight has been an obsession with me since the age of 12,'' she added. ``I always realized that I ate too much to compensate for the emotional feelings. And in doing that, of course, I put on weight. So the spiral started.''

On the day the duchess was in Los Angeles signing copies of her new book, Weight Watchers received another endorsement, this one from the federal government. The United States Department of Agriculture released a report stating that so-called ``fad diets'' are less likely to be successful at promoting and maintaining weight loss than traditional moderate-fat eating programs such as those advocated by the American Heart Association and Weight Watchers.

The report also said this topic requires further study.

``Current research doesn't reflect the effect of the nutrient composition of a diet on a person's ability to maintain the weight loss over a period of time,'' the report states. ``Furthermore, it is not known what impact eating behaviors, environment, physical activity and other physiological factors have in the maintenance of weight in adherence to a diet.''

To nutritionists like Fisk and Rendall, the USDA's findings aren't all that surprising. Few registered dietitians will steer their patients toward high-fat or high-carbohydrate regimens. A better plan of action, says Rendall, is teaching an overweight person to eat balanced meals, limit portion sizes, read labels and modify behavior.

``There is no magic pill,'' says Rendall, who worked for the now-defunct NutraSystem weight-loss program before becoming a dietitian. ``I don't promote diets. I promote healthy living.''

On the other hand, argue promoters of less conventional weight-loss methods, if losing weight is at least partially dependent upon finding a psychological comfort zone, why bash something that works? Do you tell Jared Fogle, the Indiana student who lost 245 pounds by eating nothing but Subway sandwiches, that he should have done things differently?

Even the Duchess of York, who considers herself ``addicted to diets,'' is diplomatic when asked about non-Weight Watchers plans.

``I don't know if they work or don't work,'' she says. ``All I say is that I find them terribly difficult to keep to. You do five days of drinking a certain liquid or you do five days of eating certain things, and you automatically go on a splurge of wanting to eat everything you haven't had in five days.''

Habitual dieter Elizabeth Sanchez says she tried everything - ``Phen-fen, all that fun stuff.'' But after gaining a lot of weight after sustaining a knee injury, the 39-year-old machine operator was referred to Fisk at Providence Saint Joseph.

Fisk's regimen of calorie counting, reading labels and limiting portion sizes did the trick, says Sanchez, who has lost 52 pounds since last June 1.

``It's not even like a diet. It's more of a life change,'' says Sanchez. ``You can't say, `OK, my goal is 50 pounds.' Say, `This week, let me just lose a pound or two.' If I only lost one or two pounds this week, that's all right. That's still one less pound I'm carrying around.

``You have to take little baby steps. If you overwhelm yourself, you kind of sabotage yourself.''

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) Looking up, slimming down

Nutrition experts and Sarah, the Duchess of York, agree a positive attitude is key to losing weight

(2) Sarah, the Duchess of York, gives a rose to a customer at Brentano's book store in Beverly Hills. The duchess gave roses to those who bought her newest Weight Watchers book as an apology for being late to the book signing.

(3) Clayton Beerworth of Simi Valley holds Sarah's new book and the roses he received from the Duchess of York.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer