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Home » Long Term Weight Loss » Is Long Term Weight Loss Possible? – AskMen

If long-term weight loss were impossible, would it even be worth trying to lose weight?

Well, bad news. Areport that hit headlines recently suggests that permanent weight loss is near impossible. Decades of clinical research, public health initiatives and personal attempts at diet and exercise have yielded a net sum of zero. Sure, people lose weight all the time; thats pretty easy to do but they cant keep it off.

A review of the scientific literature shows that virtually every participant of structured weight-loss programs regains all of their weight loss within five years. Those who managed to keep the weight off averaged a weight loss of 6.6 pounds and a reduced weight of less than 3% of their initial body weight. That means that if you were a 250-pound overweight dieter, after five years of watching your weight, youd be a sleek 243 pounds. That may not sound like a lot, but it has some scientists impressed. Take Weight Watchers, for example. According to a study paid for by Weight Watchers, half of all dieters who reached their goal weight through their program were still at least 5% lighter after five years. The starting weight was 165 pounds overweight, but not obese. The dieters lost about 22 pounds, or 13.3%, by restricting calories, but then regained an average of 11 pounds five years later. Next to the near-zero success rate of hospital and university-based studies, Weight Watcher results were considered a major victory. At this point, just being able to stop people from gaining more weight is considered a success.

A long-term weight loss effort maintained anywhere from one to five years is considered successful if youre 5 to 10% lighter than you were initially. Setting the bar so low means that, in reality, successful losers go from obese to overweight not from overweight to thin. From a public health perspective, obesity is classified as a Body Mass Index (BMI) over 30. If youre a regular reader of AskMen, youll know that BMI is a measure of a persons weight in relation to their height, not an indicator of body fat. Bodybuilders with low body fat will invariably be classified as obese since muscle weighs more than fat. From a global perspective, however, we know that nations are not populated by Spartan Warriors (their descendents, the Greeks, are now Europes most overweight country), so using BMI is a fine way to measure obesity at a national level.

By now, it wont surprise anyone to hear that the world is fatter than ever. In 2010, there were 1.5 billion people worldwide who were obese, and the trend is growing. Obesity is behind 3.4 million deaths and 3.9% of years of lives lost a substantial increase from previous decades that makes obesity a major global health issue, perhaps more important than malnutrition and infectious disease. In the past 33 years, no country has had a success story in curbing their obesity epidemic. Some countries in the Middle East (Kuwait, Libya, and Qatar) and the Pacific (Tonga Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Tonga and Samoa) now have more than half of their population classified as obese. In the United States, more than one-third and 17% of youth are obese. As a result, as many as 40% of women and 24% of men in America are trying to lose weight at any given time; many have tried a variety of methods such as diets, exercise, behavior modification, and drugs. Even those who are not overweight particularly young women are trying to lose weight. We know that obesity is a complex issue; it reflects inherited, environmental, cultural, socioeconomic, and psychological conditions. How to reverse the process, on the other hand, is beyond our understanding. At least, thats what the science is suggesting.

So what about the guy or girl you see in those Before and After photos in weight loss infomercials those who completely transform their bodies through diet and exercise? Either theyll regain all the weight in a few years or theyre one of those exceptional individuals that are rarely encountered like that friend of a friend you heard who lost 50 pounds and completed a marathon. If they did it, the mind convinces us, so can we. But the math is against us. If only two out of 1,000 Weight Watchers customers actually maintain large weight loss permanently, you cant expect such simple advice as Eat less, exercise more to actually work. In todays world of surplus calories and sedentariness, eating less and exercising more takes willpower, and lets admit it, willpower doesnt work.

The main reason dieting fails is because many of us still believe that cutting calories is the best way to lose weight. You will indeed lose weight but wait and see how long it takes for the starvation mechanism to kick in and for your brain to betray you with food urges that are impossible to resist. For a formerly fat person, this is what it feels like all the time. The part of the brain that controls hunger and appetite the hypothalamus is continually turned on. That means that the brain of a 175-pound man who used to be overweight is quite different than the brain of a man who was always 175 pounds. The reason we cant lose weight is because our brains think were not overweight, and might actually think that were underweight. The biochemistry of how our brain regulates bodyweight is covered in my earlier AskMen article on how to maintain weight loss.

While science has had dismal success in keeping the weight off people, it has recently shed light on why peoples brains make them gain weight. Our bodies are fine-tuned machines that keep everything in balance a process termed homeostasis. The brain regulates the amount of body fat by adjusting our energy levels, appetite and digestive efficiency. It is counter-evolutionary to carry around too little or too much fat. If obesity occurs, it means that theres a breakdown in the system caused by an imbalance in brain chemistry, mirrored by an imbalance in our environment.

Food and other things we put in our mouth (let your imagination run wild) is the closest exposure we have to our environment we literally place stuff from the outside into our insides. Its no surprise, then, to learn that diet has an enormous effect on our body and its chemistry. A recent study shows that years of eating and overeating the typical American diet actually damages the brain. More specifically, it damages the signalling pathways in the hypothalamus the part of the brain that regulates metabolism and appetite.

Two hormones have been recognized to have a major influence on appetite and energy balance: leptin and ghrelin. Leptin is a hormone that signals to the brain how much fat were carrying and can suppress appetite and energy intake. Ghrelin does the opposite its a fast-acting hormone that plays a role in increasing appetite. We can take a guess at how the brain of a former fat person works. Their brains are resistant to the appetite-suppressing effects of leptin and more sensitive to appetite-stimulating ghrelin. It cant tell how much fat is stored in the body and you cant trust the messages its sending you about appetite, hunger and fullness.

So what dietary factors in the typical American diet cause such damage to the brain? Its the fat and simple carbs. A fatty, high-carb diet causes alterations in structural plasticity, i.e. brain changes. The underlying mechanism involves inflammation and damage to the nerves, suggesting that our bodies were not designed to thrive on modern diets. They were designed for whole foods.

In one of my university nutrition classes, the professor asked us: What is the sweetest food found in nature? The answers ranged from honey and maple syrup to fruit. All of these, he noted, were seasonal only available for a few months or days out of the year. He then asked, What is the fattiest food? Animals were the correct answer. The final question What food found in nature is both high in fat and high in sugar? was too tough to answer. We couldnt think of a single one. Fruits are fat-free and animals are low-carb. Yet every single processed food we find in the grocery aisles are high in both sugar and fat and, oftentimes, salt. These three nutrients are highly addictive to humans simply because they were crucial for our survival in the wilderness.

Our bodies havent evolved as fast as the food market industry, who were quick to recognize that tasty food sells. In our fight against fat, it is plainly a fight between them and us. Fatty high-carb foods are too delicious, too tempting, and too plentiful for us to resist. Our own genes drive us towards overeating these foods, and once the weight creeps on, many of us turn to fat-free or low-carb foods that are marketed as weight-loss aids. Ironically, many of these diet shakes, diet bars, and diet packs are themselves highly processed foods.

Change your diet, and change it fast. In the words of Underground Wellness Sean Croxton, JERF just eat real food. Wholesome real food is not processed and has the closest macronutrient balance that our bodies were designed to digest and metabolise. While some damage to the hypothalamus may be permanent, it may be possible to reverse much of it. Whether you adopt the Paleo or the Mediterranean diet, choose a way of eating that works for you but that includes lean quality meats, seafood, plenty of vegetables, fruit, nuts, and seeds. Say goodbye to fast food and junk food and never, ever let yourself go hungry for the sake of losing weight. If youve been battling weight for a while, make sure to eat fish. Omega-3 fats are possibly the most potent anti-inflammatory agent in your diet and they also appear to modulate the negative effects of a fatty, high-carb diet. Even better news, fish oil is fantastic for memory and brain health, and can make developing Alzheimers far less likely.

Permanent weight loss takes time. Dont think for a second that losing weight Biggest Loser-style is the way to go. Many of those who dropped massive amounts of weight on the show have gained most of it back again within a year or two. You need to heal your brain. And unlike a scratch or a broken bone, healing your brain takes time. Be patient and keep it simple. Just eat real food.

Permanent weight loss does not work with inane methods of loss and maintenance. Dieting is typically viewed as an undertaking of severe vigilance on calorie intake and expenditure. Picture the dieter who is on a highly restrictive diet, denying their ability to use food for comfort or celebration, establishing a surreal marathon-type goal, and nail-biting their way through hunger and cravings. Theyve chosen suffering as their weight management method. No matter how much you want to lose weight, people arent built for long-term relentless suffering. To be successful, you need to find a way to enjoy your journey. Eat simply and avoid fatty, high-carb foods. The global obesity epidemic would reverse its course if traditional foods and eating habits (eating dinner as a family, for example), were preserved. Unfortunately, whether by choice or necessity (inaccessible, unaffordable, or unavailable food), inexpensive processed market foods have largely replaced indigenous cuisines. Theres no easy solution to curing obesity. However, despite what statistics show, permanent weight loss is not incurable. We just need to heal our brains first.

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Is Long Term Weight Loss Possible? - AskMen

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Home » Long Term Weight Loss » Is Long Term Weight Loss Possible? – AskMen