By Peggy O'Farrell
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The premise is pretty basic: Eat a little less, move a little more, and you'll lose weight.

John C. Peters of West Chester Township is all about the moving part. He's co-author of The Step Diet (Workman Publishing; $22.95).

Some diet plans make you count carbs or calories or "points." The Step Diet wants you to count steps - the one foot in front of the other kind. The book even comes with a pedometer to make it easier.

Peters helped found America on the Move, a national fitness initiative that encourages Americans to add 2,000 steps and cut 100 calories every day.

Anyone who's been on a diet knows losing weight is easier than keeping it off. And there's a reason for that, Peters points out.

"When you become smaller, you burn fewer calories just being at rest," he says. "You have to look at the missing energy expenditure, and there are two choices. Option A is you just have to eat less for the rest of your life. That's no fun. Option B is adding back the missing energy from the weight you lost."

The book offers a 12-week plan for increasing activity, cutting calories and losing weight. After 12 weeks, followers are encouraged to try to maintain their weight loss for a month or so before going back on the plan.

The easiest way to lose weight is to just cut food consumption by 25 percent, Peters says. He is the director of Procter & Gamble's Nutrition Science Institute and the associate director of the Snacks and Beverage Technology Division.

"If you want to lose one or two pounds a week, eat 25 percent less food. Take everything on your plate, cut it in quarters and don't eat a quarter. It's a way of un-supersizing portions, and lo and behold, it leads to weight loss."

The book provides formulas for how many additional steps treats - say a milk shake or a doughnut - require to compensate for the calories. Readers can save up steps for days they know they'll be eating more, or take additional steps to make room for treats.

E-mail pofarrell@enquirer.com