Obesity research-impossible to lose weight long term?

penny0919

"Traci Mann says the emphasis should be on measuring health, not weight. "You should still eat right, you should still exercise, doing healthy stuff is still healthy," she said. "It just doesn't make you thin.""

This doesn't make any sense to me. I get that studies show that if you exercise a certain amount it reduces some of your health risks, even if you don't lose weight. But people don't regain the weight they lost while continuing to eat right and exercise. They regain the weight because they start to slip back into old habits (basically eating over their maintenance). This Traci Mann is making it sound like you will gain weight DESPITE efforts to keep it off. That makes no sense.

Francl27

I believe it. It's a battle of will every single day.

madhatter2013

Your truth, my truth and the actual truth. Whether this article is true or not, it comes down to my determination. I will be that special snowflake that keeps the weight off until my dying days.

snowflake930

Camo_xxx wrote: »

I will be the special snowflake damn it !

^^ Lol, no, I am the snowflake! I am never going to stop logging and monitoring. -160# maintaining for 15 months.

Seriously, the statistics are staggering for gaining back the weight, and most people do if you follow them past 5 years. It is a fact.

lthames0810

GingerbreadCandy wrote: »

Well, yes, because the attitude of a lot of people is "once I am at my goal weight I am done". They do not see their diet as something they will keep on doing for the rest of their lives. The go on "A Diet" and cannot imagine doing it for the rest of their lives.

I agree that this accounts for many of the people that regain their lost weight. A while back I put this question on the forum about why did you gain back your weight given how hard you worked to lose it. Some of the people said this very thing...that they lost all their weight and were "done" and went back to their old eating habits.

More of the responses mentioned a big life event that derailed their eating habits. Something like a divorce or loss of a loved one or an injury or medical problem. No matter how well established they thought their new eating and exercising habits were, it all came apart under stress. That just tells me that maintaining weight loss requires more self discipline than we think it does. It never becomes natural.

SingRunTing

Someone already mentioned the national weight control registry. They study long term weight maintenance (the average weight maintenance for their members is 5 years). I like to read the articles that they have on how maintainers have maintained.

Here's a summary of their findings:

"There is variety in how NWCR members keep the weight off. Most report continuing to maintain a low calorie, low fat diet and doing high levels of activity.

78% eat breakfast every day.
75% weigh themselves at least once a week.
62% watch less than 10 hours of TV per week.
90% exercise, on average, about 1 hour per day."

Aside from continuing to monitor your diet, I really think that the weighing once a week and exercise has a lot to do with it. You catch it before your weight balloons again and, for me, I naturally eat less when I exercise regularly (don't know why, I just do).

Francl27

SingRunTing wrote: »

Someone already mentioned the national weight control registry. They study long term weight maintenance (the average weight maintenance for their members is 5 years). I like to read the articles that they have on how maintainers have maintained.

Here's a summary of their findings:

"There is variety in how NWCR members keep the weight off. Most report continuing to maintain a low calorie, low fat diet and doing high levels of activity.

78% eat breakfast every day.
75% weigh themselves at least once a week.
62% watch less than 10 hours of TV per week.
90% exercise, on average, about 1 hour per day."

Aside from continuing to monitor your diet, I really think that the weighing once a week and exercise has a lot to do with it. You catch it before your weight balloons again and, for me, I naturally eat less when I exercise regularly (don't know why, I just do).

One hour a day of exercise is such overkill though! The TV thing is sad, but I guess if you bike in front of the tv, it doesn't matter, right?

melimomTARDIS

I think if you stop taking the medicine, it stops working. So I am cool with logging for ever.

VeryKatie

I wonder how many people in the study really wanted to lose the weight in the same way that people who are successful at doing so did. You know, were they losing it because it was an opportunity to use a study to make weight loss easier, or was it all motivation from within that they would have lost the weight, study or no? It seems like the study has a bias that really hurts the results.

snowflake930

VeryKatie wrote: »

I wonder how many people in the study really wanted to lose the weight in the same way that people who are successful at doing so did. You know, were they losing it because it was an opportunity to use a study to make weight loss easier, or was it all motivation from within that they would have lost the weight, study or no? It seems like the study has a bias that really hurts the results.

The fact is, most people that lose weight, gain the weight back (some people even gain more). Statistics that are gathered, note that this is true for tracking people five years after losing the weight. This is NOT the only source that notes this. Google it and read it for yourself.

As others have said here, most people go back to the way they ate before losing the weight. Most do not develop lifelong healthier habits.

This part of weight loss is very worrisome to me. Losing was easy for me compared to being on maintenance for 15 months. Losing isn't easy, but for me, keeping it off takes constant monitoring. Pre-MFP, I don't think I had been on a scale for years, now I am on one daily. That is the way it will have to be for me..................for the rest of my life. I am not saying this is the way it has to be for everyone, but it definitely is for me if I want to keep the weight off for the rest of my life. It is too easy to revert back to bad habits for me.

MoiAussi93

I believe most people do gain it back...I know many more people who have lost and regained than who have kept it off. And I think in the majority of cases it is because people think once they hit some magic number they are "done". So then they go back to their old eating patterns and regain. They view "dieting" as temporary, when it really isn't. It really takes a lifestyle change. It takes creating new, healthier habits and reinforcing them every day.

It is relatively east to stay motivated when the scale keeps moving lower and clothes keep getting looser and people keep noticing. But when you hit goal and that stops, you no longer get those little moments to get excited about. You need to instead realize that the way you now feel and look is a direct result of the healthier lifestyle you continue to lead and take your excitement from that. Many people don't think this through. I think that's the same reason so many people give up when they hit a plateau. If they can't deal with not losing for two or three weeks, they probably aren't emotionally ready to keep it off long term.

I think the message from the study should be that you need to realize it never ends. You must continue to do the things that work for you. There is no finish line. I don't find that discouraging. It just takes acceptance that the "diet" is forever and a bit of planning to prevent yourself from slipping back into old habits.

girlviernes

This is why I LOVE longer term success stories on here, they give me so much hope. The truth is that it is hard, very hard, and you need to make changes you are prepared to follow for the rest of your life. There stops being that very motivating drop on the scale, so it's also harder to keep yourself focused, especially when life takes over.

The success rate for people quitting smoking is also pretty poor for any one attempt. But they try, and try, and try again, and eventually if you try enough times you will figure it out and stop smoking. Eating is harder since it is something we need to balance every day, but it can be done too. And each failed attempt offers many lessons that make the next time even more likely to be successful.

yopeeps025

melimomTARDIS wrote: »

I think if you stop taking the medicine, it stops working. So I am cool with logging for ever.

So do you continue to take the meds even when not in pain because for example doctors told you to?

girlviernes

I agree that we need to keep up our focus, tracking and weighing regularly is a great way to do so. There may be other ways to stay focused too, but be real with yourself if you are drifting...

FloraJL

I'm familiar with multiple studies that show major weight loss is improbable to sustain over a long period of time. But I'm also familiar with the studies that show fat people who don't smoke, eat nutritionally, and exercise daily live as long as skinny people.

So here's to healthy eating and exercise! Cheers!

ana3067

yopeeps025 wrote: »

melimomTARDIS wrote: »

I think if you stop taking the medicine, it stops working. So I am cool with logging for ever.

So do you continue to take the meds even when not in pain because for example doctors told you to?

This is a really poor analogy. If she were taking medication for chronic pain, yes she'd take it even when the pain dissipates because... the meds are working. If she only needed them for x weeks until something healed, then of course she'd stop taking them.

I also plan to log pretty much indefinitely. If not daily then at least most days. I also plan on doing bulk/cut cycles though, which entails tracking to ensure one doesn't eat too large of a surplus or deficit.

So basically we are all susceptible to regaining the weight, meaning it is a chronic issue to monitor. Take meds for chronic pain, log your intake of food for chronic weight issues. Some find that they don't need to log, but in my experience I was only successful not logging when I ate low cal while exercising too much as mentioned in this thread, which was not sustainable.

Francl27

I know of one person who didn't gain weight back... out of 5 who lost weight, at the top of my head (30 pounds or more). Although for all I know, she could have gained it back by now.

I don't think it's necessarily because you stop caring once you reach your goal weight, just that it's relatively 'fast' to lose weight, but then you have to keep doing the same thing forever. And when you had bad habits for 10+ years, it takes more than the few months you spent losing weight to learn new habits.

Ok stupid comparison = I'm wearing Invisalign now (invisible braces). The treatment is 10 months long, but after that I'll have to keep a retainer at night for probably 3-5 years until my teeth actually stay in place. It's the same principle... I'm guessing if you were overweight or obese for 10 years, it will take 5 years or more to be able to maintain your weight relatively easy... I started MFP 2 years ago and every day I can see how easily I could slip back to my old habits, considering that I don't love exercise, and moderation is still a struggle most days. When you lose the weight, you don't necessarily lose the reasons that made you overweight in the first place... whatever reasons they were (haven't figured out mine yet, except that I just love food. Doh.).

SergeantSausage

All of my Nopes.

Just give up and be a fat slob that dies 15 years early if you buy into this tripe. Why spend the time and energy, right? It can't ever work, right? Go ahead. Have that donut. You know you want it ...

SMH

MrsKGrady

There is a big difference in mindsets between diet and lifestyle change. I've said for years that diets don't work long-term because once someone goes off of the diet, they'll start gaining again because they aren't living any different from when they did before they lost the weight. These are the main reasons I will never do a meal replacement program like NutriSystem because you don't learn anything. This is also why I have planned (and am doing) a slow lifestyle change. I don't cut out things I can't ever live without and I still have my "bad" days. However, I continue to lose slowly and am gaining new habits that I will carry with me for life.

yopeeps025

ana3067 wrote: »

yopeeps025 wrote: »

melimomTARDIS wrote: »

I think if you stop taking the medicine, it stops working. So I am cool with logging for ever.

So do you continue to take the meds even when not in pain because for example doctors told you to?

This is a really poor analogy. If she were taking medication for chronic pain, yes she'd take it even when the pain dissipates because... the meds are working. If she only needed them for x weeks until something healed, then of course she'd stop taking them.

I also plan to log pretty much indefinitely. If not daily then at least most days. I also plan on doing bulk/cut cycles though, which entails tracking to ensure one doesn't eat too large of a surplus or deficit.

So basically we are all susceptible to regaining the weight, meaning it is a chronic issue to monitor. Take meds for chronic pain, log your intake of food for chronic weight issues. Some find that they don't need to log, but in my experience I was only successful not logging when I ate low cal while exercising too much as mentioned in this thread, which was not sustainable.

pain=/= chronic pain

So If I did talk about chronic pain you made a good argument.