Every year, around 49% of U.S. adults attempt to lose weight, most of whom are women. Yet, for those who are successful at achieving weight loss, once they stop dieting, the weight comes back. Let’s face it: diets are hard to maintain over the long term.
Today’s article will explore why diets don’t work and why the best weight loss programs aren’t diets at all. Instead, diets that work focus on building habits for long-term success. Keep reading as we discuss:
The data is solid. Most people, around 95%, who lose weight on a weight loss plan will gain the weight back, some more quickly than others. Weight regains start within the first year after weight loss, and the pre-diet weight is usually met or exceeded within two to five years. One meta-analysis of 29 long-term studies found that over 50% of total weight lost among participants was regained within two years, and 80% was back by year five.
In other words, most people don’t maintain weight loss and may end up at a higher weight than before dieting.
Research suggests that dieting itself – losing weight, gaining it back, and losing it again –contributes to weight gain. This weight cycling, or yoyo, pattern can lead to physiologic changes that make maintaining weight loss more challenging. One study concludes that “dieting could be a major risk factor for weight gain in the long term.”
As if losing weight wasn’t hard enough, maintaining it is even more challenging. The food environment and physiologic changes are a couple of reasons why weight maintenance is difficult and often elusive.
The modern Western food environment is obesogenic, meaning it promotes obesity. Most people can access more calories than their body needs through highly processed foods. In many cases, processed options are cheaper and more convenient than nutritious whole foods. Less cooking, eating out more, and increased sedentary time also contribute.
Your body is wired to survive and sees weight loss as a stress. Weight loss changes physiology by decreasing metabolic rate and increasing appetite. Calorie restriction can increase the hunger hormone ghrelin, for example. Additionally, for many, a restrictive diet leads to overeating or binging, contributing to weight regain. So, if it feels like your body is working against your efforts, it is.
Why do most people begin a diet? Most people start a diet with good intentions, to look and feel better or address a health concern. So, the good news is that you don’t have a willpower problem! It’s not your fault when weight loss and maintenance is challenging.
Diets don’t happen in a vacuum. When you are focused on calories or restricting certain foods or food groups, there may also be other factors that the diet doesn’t address. These include:
Diets don’t happen in a vacuum. When you are focused on calories or restricting certain foods or food groups, there may also be other factors that the diet doesn’t address.
Diets that actually work focus on habits. The goal is to build sustainable habits you can easily maintain for a lifetime. Often, habits have less to do with calories and more with building the foundations of health and improving health over time. Weight loss may be a welcome side effect.
Focusing on habits often protects you from the extreme, “quick fix” dieting promises and subsequent weight regain. It’s a more moderate approach that can protect your metabolism and benefit long-term health and body composition.
To begin, consider one health habit you can commit to and work on consistency. It might be cooking at home three times per week or adding a daily walk after dinner. Once you have the first habit in place, work on the next.
If 95% of people eventually regain the weight they lost, what’s the secret of the other 5%?
Those who successfully lose weight and keep it off take a different approach than dieting. They change their lifestyle. They build habits that promote long-term health and wellness. They plan for weight maintenance, maintain a healthy mindset, and, maybe most importantly, get support.
Those who successfully lose weight and keep it off take a different approach than dieting. They change their lifestyle.
Here at The Fork Clinic, we recognize weight loss is difficult, and many complex factors contribute to your success. You don’t need a generic diet plan but a personalized approach that will work for you over the long term. We offer the best lifestyle and functional medicine strategies to help you achieve – and maintain – your weight goals over time, while preserving your long-term health. Give us a call today to get started!
References
Pélissier, L., Bagot, S., Miles-Chan, J. L., Pereira, B., Boirie, Y., Duclos, M., Dulloo, A., Isacco, L., & Thivel, D. (2023). Is dieting a risk for higher weight gain in normal-weight individual? A systematic review and meta-analysis. The British journal of nutrition, 130(7), 1190–1212.
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