Verified by 
Would you be surprised to learn that the most predictable outcome of dieting is weight gain? This is a well-known fact in obesity research that is seldom communicated to the general public. For the most part, it stays hidden in medical journals and the weight loss industry profits off our false belief that we can all achieve an ideal body weight with the proper mix of motivation, deprivation, and miracle fat-burning supplements. If we are unable to attain this ideal body, we blame ourselves. We turn fatness into a moral failing and pursue weight loss by any means necessary—even at the sacrifice of our health and wellbeing.
This week, a research study documenting the failures of dieting made it’s way out of the medical journal and onto the front page of The New York Times. And it turns out that weight gain following weight loss is more of a biological inevitability than a moral failing.
Week after week, millions of people tune-in to watch contestants on "The Biggest Loser" be publically humiliated, broken down, and then whipped into the thinnest—and therefore the best—versions of themselves. It is not uncommon for contestants to lose hundreds of pounds in a few months. But what happens when the cameras stop rolling?
According to research published in Obesity, the overwhelming majority of contestants regain most, if not all, of the weight that they lose during the show. Stars—just like us! Turns out, humans are biologically programmed to regain lost weight. This is not only true for cases of fast dramatic weight loss (like the contestants on "The Biggest Loser"), but it is also true for us average folks. Whether you lose weight quickly or slowly, whether you lose a drastic or minimal amount of weight, and whether you were fat or thin to start with, your body fights against maintaining a reduced weight. Through metabolic testing, researchers found that our body seeks to restore homeostasis by slowing our metabolism and altering our hormones in a frantic attempt to return our body to our previous weight. Six years after participants lost weight on "The Biggest Loser" (and then regained weight outside of the public eye), they continued to require less calories and more energy expenditure to maintain their weight than other people at exactly the same weight. On average, "The Biggest Loser" contestants had to eat 500 fewer calories per day to maintain their weight than a non-dieting peer.
Not only does our body need fewer calories to maintain weight, but we also feel hungrier following weight loss. Leptin is the satiety hormone that our body produces to indicate when it is time to stop eating. The researchers found that immediately after weight loss (at "The Biggest Loser" season finale) participants’ bodies were barely producing any leptin at all. This would result in people feeling hungry nearly all the time. As they regained weight their leptin levels increased, but never returned to normal.
This research highlights just how difficult it is to maintain weight loss. It is not impossible and there are a few unicorns that take extraordinary measures to fight against their biology to maintain a reduced weight, but not in the cards for most of us. In The New York Times article, Dr. David Ludwig, a Harvard researcher and prominent obesity specialist, stated:
“There are no doubt exceptional individuals who can ignore primal biological signals and maintain weight loss for the long term by restricting calories,” he said, but he added that “for most people, the combination of incessant hunger and slowing metabolism is a recipe for weight regain — explaining why so few individuals can maintain weight loss for more than a few months.”
The few people who are able to maintain the weight-loss long-term centered their lives around weight-loss working out for several hours per day, religiously tracking every calorie consumed, and ignoring hunger signals. In a thinner person, we would probably diagnose this as an eating disorder.
The New York Times takes the perspective that we should wait patiently until scientists discover a magical pill to overcome our body’s natural biology. In the meantime, I have 3 suggestions to help you get off the weight-loss-weight-gain roller coaster.
1.Stop fighting against your body
Albert Einstein said: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Stop the insanity! Dieting does not work. It forces us to fight against our own biology, which as the research study demonstrates, is a losing battle. Dr. David Ludwig told The New York Times:
“This is a subset of the most successful” dieters, he said. “If they don’t show a return to normal in metabolism, what hope is there for the rest of us?”
We have not failed our diets, our diets have failed us. We attribute dieting success (initial weight loss) to the diet plan but blame ourselves for the failure to maintain or continue weight loss long term. We believe that the diet worked but we are weak, lazy, and unmotivated because we couldn’t stick with it. This leads to feelings of shame and guilt when we regain the weight. We need to open our eyes to the reality that the entire system is flawed. Initial weight loss followed by long-term weight gain is the norm in dieting world. Isn’t it time that we stop spinning our wheels pursuing interventions that don’t work?
“There is always a weight a person’s body maintains without any effort. And while it is not known why that weight can change over the years—it may be an effect of aging—at any point, there is a weight that is easy to maintain, and that is the weight the body fights to defend. Finding a way to thwart these mechanisms is the goal scientists are striving for.” (The New York Times)
What if, rather than waiting for scientists to find a way to thwart these mechanisms, we took the revolutionary step of accepting our body in it’s current state? What if we declared peace in the war we’ve waged against ourselves and worked with our body at the weight that is easy to maintain in ways that promote health and wellness?
2. Focus on health not weight loss
Research supports the notion that people can be healthy at every size. That does not mean that everyone is healthy at every size; it simply means that health is possible for all people of all sizes. Nutrition and physical fitness tend to be more robust predictors of health than our weight.
Focusing on health involves listening to your body’s natural appetitive system and honoring cues for hunger, fullness, and satiety. It includes eating foods that you enjoy and are satisfying, but also listening to how your body feels after eating certain foods. It is important to address emotional issues that may drive eating. Engage in fun and pleasurable forms of physical activity that makes your body sing. When we nurture our bodies in these ways, our weight will naturally stabilize and health will improve. Where weight will stabilize is different for each person and is not based on BMI charts (which have proven to be terrible indicators of health). It may be a weight that is higher, lower, or the same as your starting weight. But, in terms of health, weight isn’t really so important.
3. Treat yourself with compassion.
If hating your body lead to thinness we would be a nation underweight. Change comes from developing a kind and loving relationship with your body that inspires you to care for yourself to the best of your ability. Shame leads us to withdraw, shut down, and act in punishing ways towards ourselves. We live in a fat-shaming society and it is hard to be compassionate to ourselves when society tells us that our body is wrong. In The New York Times, "The Biggest Loser" contestant Danny Cahill described his experience as a fat man:
“I used to look at myself and think, ‘I am horrible, I am a monster, subhuman,’” he said.
I encourage my patients to embrace the Opposite Golden Rule: treat yourself as you would treat others. Most of us wouldn’t say to our worst enemy the things that we say to ourselves. Think about how you would care for a child, beloved family member, or cherished friend if they were struggling. Would you kick them when they are down, tell them how awful they are, and vow to only love them if they change? Why is it acceptable to abuse ourselves if it is not okay to abuse others? When we can treat ourselves with dignity and respect we are able to truly care for ourselves. This leads to overall improvements in health and wellbeing. And that can be achieved at every size!
To learn more about Dr. Conason, The Anti-Diet Plan, and Mindful Eating, visit her website www.drconason.com, follow her on twitter, and like her on Facebook.
