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IN SPITE OF THE EVIDENCE before our eyes, the concept of an "obesity epidemic" has been questioned by the food industry as well as some sociologists and political scientists. They question the definition of obesity and complain that the focus on fat may be partly aimed at drumming up business for diet docs and stomach-stapling surgeons while exacerbating the stigma associated with being heavy. Others see the epidemic as the product of much larger forces outside the individual's control. A glut of government-subsidized corn, for example, has been turned into inexpensive corn-based snack foods and sweeteners—including the high-fructose variety, which some researchers believe may alter sugar metabolism and promote the growth of fat.

WALKING THE TALK: Though he logs 100,000 air miles each year, you'll never see James O. Hill '78G, '81G reading a book at an airport. The internationally recognized expert on obesity prefers to walk or run, chalking up at least 10,000 steps (about 5 miles) a day. "I generally eat a low-fat diet," he says, "but I don't obsess about food. I eat everything."

Gale Carey, UNH professor of animal science and nutrition, says flame-retardants can be added to the list of things that might be messing with our metabolism. Used in furniture and electronic equipment, these chemicals have been building up in our homes, our food and our bodies over the past 30 years. Carey is working with rats to investigate whether flame-retardants can interfere with the normal mechanisms of fat storage and use.

Understanding the complex causes of obesity, whether microscopic or macroeconomic, will be useful in the long run, no doubt. But Hill noticed several years ago that many in the healthcare profession were feeling overwhelmed to the point of paralysis. So he and his colleagues started a program called Colorado on the Move to help people learn how to consciously manage their own weight, and in 2004 the group founded America on the Move.

The principles of America on the Move are simple, even mathematical. An individual who cuts daily intake by 100 calories and increases daily activity by 2,000 steps (slightly less than half a mile) can halt the annual, insidious gain of one to two pounds a year. The deficit of 100 calories—equivalent to a pat of butter or a can of soda or a cookie—Hill believes, is small enough to stay "under the radar of the body's regulatory system." In other words, it won't trigger the slowing of metabolism and pangs of hunger dieters often experience.

The idea of a national movement to simply stop gaining weight has struck some observers as overly modest. To these critics, Hill says, "We don't have definite evidence yet that the small-change approach works, but we have plenty of evidence that big change doesn't work. So if small change doesn't work, we're in trouble." Once they get a grip on weight gain, he adds, many members go on to lose weight.

Perhaps as important as pounds lost are some of the other benefits of moving more, eating less and simply taking charge of one's own body. For one thing, exercise makes people feel good. Even pigs may get a runner's high, reports Carey, who has used miniature Yucatan swine to study the biochemistry of exercise. Pigs that become fit not only develop stronger hearts and more efficient circulatory systems, they also run eagerly to the treadmill room when it is time to exercise.

Kimberly Cals was thrilled to lose weight, but in the end, she says, the changes she's made have affected every aspect of her life. Even though she's busier than ever, having added a second job after receiving her associate's degree in 2004, she now has the energy to socialize in the evenings, to go running with her boyfriend, to try new things and have more fun. She and Sammie have even taken up juggling, an apt symbol perhaps for the struggle to manage one's weight. It will always takes some effort to defy the gravitational pull of earth—or couch. But once you get the hang of it, says Cals, it's easier than it looks, and very gratifying.

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