Eat lots of fruits, vegetables and grain products, less sugar salt and soduim, and very little fat, saturated fat and cholesterol. And try to balance with 30 minutes per day of low key exercise like gardening, housework, brisk walking, etc. Eat a wide variety of foods in moderation, and wine is OK too. Discovered the second half of the signal system that tells the brain when it is full. Have been attempting to find the receptor gene since discovery of the OB obesity gene.
Obese people are resistant to the message due to deficiency in leptin receptors.
Drugs may bypass that resistance. An obesity drug is probably still years away. Also the cause of osteoporosis, diabetes and some cancers. The best thing to do, however, is both. Researchers were surprised to find that weight loss clearly produced more benefits than exercise alone.