results of 20year study reveal weight loss is unattainable
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What in_the_stars posted in the other thread on this issue is far more enlightening to me than rawr rah rah willpower, get some!
"The Rockefeller subjects also had a psychiatric syndrome, called semi-starvation neurosis, which had been noticed before in people of normal weight who had been starved. They dreamed of food, they fantasized about food or about breaking their diet. They were anxious and depressed; some had thoughts of suicide. They secreted food in their rooms. And they binged. "
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/08/health/08fat.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
This is no ordinary test of willpower. This requires extraordinary willpower. Failing to acknowledge that is setting ourselves up for failure.
You need to stop making assumptions. I never said true weight loss was an easy test of willpower. Why do you think it impresses people so much when folks genuinely succeed? Not many do. That is a fact. But do you really think the kind of people that go hmmm i wonder if I have the willpower succeed? No it's the kind of people that simply refuse to fail that succeed. I never said losing weight was easy. I simply said that it was directly in our control.0 -
Well!
Guess we'll just have to prove that study wrong, won't we?
woohoo! this ^
0 -
Well!
Guess we'll just have to prove that study wrong, won't we?
woohoo! this ^
Yep. Almost all "diets" fail while almost all "lifestyle changes" succeed.0 -
Well!
Guess we'll just have to prove that study wrong, won't we?
woohoo! this ^
Yep. Almost all "diets" fail while almost all "lifestyle changes" succeed.
Almost all "lifestyle changes" succeed? You got any evidence to back up that rather incredible claim?0 -
That's because most people don't diet in sustainable ways. They diet with too big a deficit and too restrictive a diet, they frequently don't exercise (which increases the risk of losing lean mass and slowing the metabolism in the process) and so they set themselves up for having a really hard time maintaining.
Fact is that with the right approach and attitude, maintaining can be a lot easier, and is totally possible.
It's really annoying that the scientists have concluded that health services etc should just give up, rather than have a radical overview about the effectiveness of the specific advice they're giving people for weight loss. How many doctors just stick people on 1200 cals/day diets? ... lots do. How many doctors advise people to lift weights to protect their lean mass while dieting? not many. ....... and most people don't even follow diets prescribed by their doctors, they do this cleanse or that fad.... there's so much misinformation out there it's no surprise that 95% of people fail to maintain long term... that doesn't mean it's impossible for people to lose weight and keep it off... it means the approaches that most people are taking to do that are flawed!!
Seriously if scientists took that approach to any other field of science we'd never develop any technology because they'd just have given up the whole project on the grounds that their current approach wasn't working....
This is an excellent concept, especially about the attitude about these studies - even with the obvious misinformation. Its like, what if they thought this way about Cancer? "Well, no sure-fire cure yet...probably should give up and stop trying."0 -
Why do so many people here automatically assume all the studies done around weight loss and maintenance are based off participants who lost weight with pills/fad diets/cleanses/etc?
I've never seen a single person here post anything to back this assumption up. So it really just sounds, at this point, like wishful thinking.
The assumption isn't that they all did fads, cleanses etc (at least not as far as I can see)...... the assumption is that they "went on a diet" then "went off their diet" and that they didn't make a conscious effort to make their diet sustainable or put much effort into the maintenance phase of dieting. The study was on a random sample of joe public......... when you consider people who diet in general... how many of them put in the effort to make sustainable lifestyle changes as opposed to looking for quick fixes, or even if they diet with sensible deficits and exercise, how many "go on a diet" then revert back to their old ways? There's a whole load of different mistakes being made by people (cleanses and fads being one of a whole range)..... no way is it the case that 95% of people are doomed to gain back weight no matter what they do. I don't believe that for one minute. For people who don't want to be in that statistic, they need to identify all the things that yo-yo dieters are doing wrong and avoid them, and identify what successful long-term maintainers are doing right, and do those things instead.0 -
By definition of the phrase, a lifestyle change is permanent. Permanently being active and eating at maintenance is going to keep you at the weight you want to be. Q.E.D.Well!
Guess we'll just have to prove that study wrong, won't we?
woohoo! this ^
Yep. Almost all "diets" fail while almost all "lifestyle changes" succeed.
Almost all "lifestyle changes" succeed? You got any evidence to back up that rather incredible claim?0 -
Why do so many people here automatically assume all the studies done around weight loss and maintenance are based off participants who lost weight with pills/fad diets/cleanses/etc?
I've never seen a single person here post anything to back this assumption up. So it really just sounds, at this point, like wishful thinking.
The assumption isn't that they all did fads, cleanses etc (at least not as far as I can see)...... the assumption is that they "went on a diet" then "went off their diet" and that they didn't make a conscious effort to make their diet sustainable or put much effort into the maintenance phase of dieting. The study was on a random sample of joe public......... when you consider people who diet in general... how many of them put in the effort to make sustainable lifestyle changes as opposed to looking for quick fixes, or even if they diet with sensible deficits and exercise, how many "go on a diet" then revert back to their old ways? There's a whole load of different mistakes being made by people (cleanses and fads being one of a whole range)..... no way is it the case that 95% of people are doomed to gain back weight no matter what they do. I don't believe that for one minute. For people who don't want to be in that statistic, they need to identify all the things that yo-yo dieters are doing wrong and avoid them, and identify what successful long-term maintainers are doing right, and do those things instead.
Tracking and life-style changes (exercise, active, selective food choices) perhaps? (Note - I don't necessarily agree with the low fat reasoning at the bottom of this post but it is one researcher's conclusion vs high fat diet (probably not isocaloric)Long-term weight loss maintenance in the United States.
Kraschnewski JL1, Boan J, Esposito J, Sherwood NE, Lehman EB, Kephart DK, Sciamanna CN.
Abstract
CONTEXT:
Although the rise in overweight and obesity in the United States is well documented, long-term weight loss maintenance (LTWLM) has been minimally explored.
OBJECTIVE:
The aim of this study is to estimate the prevalence and correlates of LTWLM among US adults.
DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS:
We examined weight data from 14 306 participants (age 20-84 years) in the 1999-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). We defined LTWLM as weight loss maintained for at least 1 year. We excluded individuals who were not overweight or obese at their maximum weight.
RESULTS:
Among US adults who had ever been overweight or obese, 36.6, 17.3, 8.5 and 4.4% reported LTWLM of at least 5, 10, 15 and 20%, respectively. Among the 17.3% of individuals who reported an LTWLM of at least 10%, the average and median weight loss maintained was 19.1 kg (42.1 pounds) and 15.5 kg (34.1 pounds), respectively. LTWLM of at least 10% was higher among adults of ages 75-84 years (vs ages 20-34, adjusted odds ratio (OR): 1.5; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.2, 1.8), among those who were non-Hispanic white (vs Hispanic, adjusted OR: 1.6; 95% CI: 1.3, 2.0) and among those who were female (vs male, adjusted OR: 1.2; 95% CI: 1.1, 1.3).
CONCLUSIONS:
More than one out of every six US adults who has ever been overweight or obese has accomplished LTWLM of at least 10%. This rate is significantly higher than those reported in clinical trials and many other observational studies, suggesting that US adults may be more successful at sustaining weight loss than previously thought.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140106115351.htmesearchers from The Miriam Hospital have published one of the first studies of its kind to follow weight loss maintenance for individuals over a 10-year period. The results show that long-term weight loss maintenance is possible if individuals adhere to key health behaviors. The study is published in the January 2014 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
J. Graham Thomas, Ph.D., is the lead author on a 10-year observational study of self-reported weight loss and behavior change in nearly 3,000 participants. The participants had lost at least 30 pounds and had kept if off for at least one year when they were enrolled in the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR).
The participants were then followed for 10 years. Thomas explains that the goal of the study was to determine how well they kept the weight off and to identify predictors of successful weight loss maintenance.
Thomas says, "On average, participants maintained the majority of their weight loss over this extended follow-up period, and better success was related to continued performance of physical activity, self-weighing, low-fat diets, and avoiding overeating."
Other findings from the study show that more than 87 percent of the participants were estimated to be still maintaining at least a 10 percent weight loss at years five and 10. The researchers found that a larger initial weight loss and longer duration of maintenance were associated with better long-term outcomes. Conversely, they found that decreases in physical activity, dietary restraint and self-weighing along with increases in fat intake were associated with greater weight regain.0 -
Why do so many people here automatically assume all the studies done around weight loss and maintenance are based off participants who lost weight with pills/fad diets/cleanses/etc?
I've never seen a single person here post anything to back this assumption up. So it really just sounds, at this point, like wishful thinking.
The assumption isn't that they all did fads, cleanses etc (at least not as far as I can see)...... the assumption is that they "went on a diet" then "went off their diet" and that they didn't make a conscious effort to make their diet sustainable or put much effort into the maintenance phase of dieting. The study was on a random sample of joe public......... when you consider people who diet in general... how many of them put in the effort to make sustainable lifestyle changes as opposed to looking for quick fixes, or even if they diet with sensible deficits and exercise, how many "go on a diet" then revert back to their old ways? There's a whole load of different mistakes being made by people (cleanses and fads being one of a whole range)..... no way is it the case that 95% of people are doomed to gain back weight no matter what they do. I don't believe that for one minute. For people who don't want to be in that statistic, they need to identify all the things that yo-yo dieters are doing wrong and avoid them, and identify what successful long-term maintainers are doing right, and do those things instead.
Tracking and life-style changes (exercise, active, selective food choices) perhaps? (Note - I don't necessarily agree with the low fat reasoning at the bottom of this post but it is one researcher's conclusion vs high fat diet (probably not isocaloric)Long-term weight loss maintenance in the United States.
Kraschnewski JL1, Boan J, Esposito J, Sherwood NE, Lehman EB, Kephart DK, Sciamanna CN.
Abstract
CONTEXT:
Although the rise in overweight and obesity in the United States is well documented, long-term weight loss maintenance (LTWLM) has been minimally explored.
OBJECTIVE:
The aim of this study is to estimate the prevalence and correlates of LTWLM among US adults.
DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS:
We examined weight data from 14 306 participants (age 20-84 years) in the 1999-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). We defined LTWLM as weight loss maintained for at least 1 year. We excluded individuals who were not overweight or obese at their maximum weight.
RESULTS:
Among US adults who had ever been overweight or obese, 36.6, 17.3, 8.5 and 4.4% reported LTWLM of at least 5, 10, 15 and 20%, respectively. Among the 17.3% of individuals who reported an LTWLM of at least 10%, the average and median weight loss maintained was 19.1 kg (42.1 pounds) and 15.5 kg (34.1 pounds), respectively. LTWLM of at least 10% was higher among adults of ages 75-84 years (vs ages 20-34, adjusted odds ratio (OR): 1.5; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.2, 1.8), among those who were non-Hispanic white (vs Hispanic, adjusted OR: 1.6; 95% CI: 1.3, 2.0) and among those who were female (vs male, adjusted OR: 1.2; 95% CI: 1.1, 1.3).
CONCLUSIONS:
More than one out of every six US adults who has ever been overweight or obese has accomplished LTWLM of at least 10%. This rate is significantly higher than those reported in clinical trials and many other observational studies, suggesting that US adults may be more successful at sustaining weight loss than previously thought.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140106115351.htmesearchers from The Miriam Hospital have published one of the first studies of its kind to follow weight loss maintenance for individuals over a 10-year period. The results show that long-term weight loss maintenance is possible if individuals adhere to key health behaviors. The study is published in the January 2014 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
J. Graham Thomas, Ph.D., is the lead author on a 10-year observational study of self-reported weight loss and behavior change in nearly 3,000 participants. The participants had lost at least 30 pounds and had kept if off for at least one year when they were enrolled in the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR).
The participants were then followed for 10 years. Thomas explains that the goal of the study was to determine how well they kept the weight off and to identify predictors of successful weight loss maintenance.
Thomas says, "On average, participants maintained the majority of their weight loss over this extended follow-up period, and better success was related to continued performance of physical activity, self-weighing, low-fat diets, and avoiding overeating."
Other findings from the study show that more than 87 percent of the participants were estimated to be still maintaining at least a 10 percent weight loss at years five and 10. The researchers found that a larger initial weight loss and longer duration of maintenance were associated with better long-term outcomes. Conversely, they found that decreases in physical activity, dietary restraint and self-weighing along with increases in fat intake were associated with greater weight regain.
I think fundamentally the crux of the issue when people talk about successful maintenance is how much you keep off. I think a lot of people (myself included, tbh) see a 10% down from initial weight as not very successful, since in my case, I would still be still very obese with only a 10% maintained loss from my intial weight. I think that clouds the issue some.
Interesting studies. I wonder why observational studies give a much higher rate of maintenance than trials do.0 -
Except it isn't 10% loss but at least 10%.
Mean loss might be much higher.0 -
What in_the_stars posted in the other thread on this issue is far more enlightening to me than rawr rah rah willpower, get some!
"The Rockefeller subjects also had a psychiatric syndrome, called semi-starvation neurosis, which had been noticed before in people of normal weight who had been starved. They dreamed of food, they fantasized about food or about breaking their diet. They were anxious and depressed; some had thoughts of suicide. They secreted food in their rooms. And they binged. "
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/08/health/08fat.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
This is no ordinary test of willpower. This requires extraordinary willpower. Failing to acknowledge that is setting ourselves up for failure.
You need to stop making assumptions. I never said true weight loss was an easy test of willpower. Why do you think it impresses people so much when folks genuinely succeed? Not many do. That is a fact. But do you really think the kind of people that go hmmm i wonder if I have the willpower succeed? No it's the kind of people that simply refuse to fail that succeed. I never said losing weight was easy. I simply said that it was directly in our control.
It's not specifically you I quoted at. It's the general tone of 'toughen up, buttercup, it's easy,' that I find in many posts here. No, it's not easy. Telling people it is doesn't do anyone any favors.
But I thought of something having to do with what others are posting about that 'at least %10' part:
The first 25 pounds or so wasn't that hard. If I'd just lost %10-%12 of my body weight, I bet I would have been able to breeze along eating in moderation and been able to maintain the loss. It was after I hit around %15 of my body weight lost that I started having issues very similar to what was described. So maybe for someone who either doesn't have much to lose or is happy at a higher weight, it isn't that bad. But for me, it's a daily struggle no matter what I try. Whether I'll keep doing it or decide it's not worth it is, of course, all on me, but it bends my nose out of shape when people try to say it's easy.0 -
Studies have shown that 100% of people die!...
...guess we should all just give up.
I recommend researching how to achieve your goals instead of reasons to fail.
^This0 -
What in_the_stars posted in the other thread on this issue is far more enlightening to me than rawr rah rah willpower, get some!
"The Rockefeller subjects also had a psychiatric syndrome, called semi-starvation neurosis, which had been noticed before in people of normal weight who had been starved. They dreamed of food, they fantasized about food or about breaking their diet. They were anxious and depressed; some had thoughts of suicide. They secreted food in their rooms. And they binged. "
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/08/health/08fat.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
This is no ordinary test of willpower. This requires extraordinary willpower. Failing to acknowledge that is setting ourselves up for failure.
You need to stop making assumptions. I never said true weight loss was an easy test of willpower. Why do you think it impresses people so much when folks genuinely succeed? Not many do. That is a fact. But do you really think the kind of people that go hmmm i wonder if I have the willpower succeed? No it's the kind of people that simply refuse to fail that succeed. I never said losing weight was easy. I simply said that it was directly in our control.
It's not specifically you I quoted at. It's the general tone of 'toughen up, buttercup, it's easy,' that I find in many posts here. No, it's not easy. Telling people it is doesn't do anyone any favors.
But I thought of something having to do with what others are posting about that 'at least %10' part:
The first 25 pounds or so wasn't that hard. If I'd just lost %10-%12 of my body weight, I bet I would have been able to breeze along eating in moderation and been fine. It was after I hit around %15 of my body weight lost that I started having issues very similar to what was described. So maybe for someone who either doesn't have much to lose or is happy at a higher weight, it isn't that bad. But for me, it's a daily struggle no matter what I try. Whether I'll keep doing it or decide it's not worth it is, of course, all on me, but it bends my nose out of shape when people try to say it's easy.
The nose bending is all your. You own that. If you take offense at the experience of others and their sharing look at how it affects you or step away from the forums.
While it might not be easy for you, there are things to be learned there. And yes, people struggle with a lot of different aspects of health, exercise or fitness. Some people here are struggling with significant health issues that are truly formidable.
And for others, it is easy. And they might have found a few keys that they want to share. Should they be silenced because your nose got out of shape?
I find a small deficit easy, I find tracking relatively easy. I find eating nutritiously very easy. I would find large cuts, knocking out sugar, going vegan/paleo/fruitarian/etc. impossibly hard - so I don't do it. I find doing exercise with some frequency easy but training permanently hard - so I listen to those that find it easy to see what they do, how they approach it and see what I can pick up.
Be offended that weight loss is easy for some or use it to learn something.
If you're offended the month you joined this place - I'm not sure you are going to last long with that.
I do wish you success! :flowerforyou:0 -
What in_the_stars posted in the other thread on this issue is far more enlightening to me than rawr rah rah willpower, get some!
"The Rockefeller subjects also had a psychiatric syndrome, called semi-starvation neurosis, which had been noticed before in people of normal weight who had been starved. They dreamed of food, they fantasized about food or about breaking their diet. They were anxious and depressed; some had thoughts of suicide. They secreted food in their rooms. And they binged. "
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/08/health/08fat.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
This is no ordinary test of willpower. This requires extraordinary willpower. Failing to acknowledge that is setting ourselves up for failure.
You need to stop making assumptions. I never said true weight loss was an easy test of willpower. Why do you think it impresses people so much when folks genuinely succeed? Not many do. That is a fact. But do you really think the kind of people that go hmmm i wonder if I have the willpower succeed? No it's the kind of people that simply refuse to fail that succeed. I never said losing weight was easy. I simply said that it was directly in our control.
It's not specifically you I quoted at. It's the general tone of 'toughen up, buttercup, it's easy,' that I find in many posts here. No, it's not easy. Telling people it is doesn't do anyone any favors.
But I thought of something having to do with what others are posting about that 'at least %10' part:
The first 25 pounds or so wasn't that hard. If I'd just lost %10-%12 of my body weight, I bet I would have been able to breeze along eating in moderation and been fine. It was after I hit around %15 of my body weight lost that I started having issues very similar to what was described. So maybe for someone who either doesn't have much to lose or is happy at a higher weight, it isn't that bad. But for me, it's a daily struggle no matter what I try. Whether I'll keep doing it or decide it's not worth it is, of course, all on me, but it bends my nose out of shape when people try to say it's easy.
The nose bending is all your. You own that. If you take offense at the experience of others and their sharing look at how it affects you or step away from the forums.
While it might not be easy for you, there are things to be learned there. And yes, people struggle with a lot of different aspects of health, exercise or fitness. Some people here are struggling with significant health issues that are truly formidable.
And for others, it is easy. And they might have found a few keys that they want to share. Should they be silenced because your nose got out of shape?
I find a small deficit easy, I find tracking relatively easy. I find eating nutritiously very easy. I would find large cuts, knocking out sugar, going vegan/paleo/fruitarian/etc. impossibly hard - so I don't do it. I find doing exercise with some frequency easy but training permanently hard - so I listen to those that find it easy to see what they do, how they approach it and see what I can pick up.
Be offended that weight loss is easy for some or use it to learn something.
If your offended the month you joined this place - I'm not sure you are going to last long with that.
I do wish you success! :flowerforyou:
No, they should not be silenced for saying it's easy. Good for you if it's easy for you to do moderation (it's impossible for me, I even have to watch myself around dried fruit or I'll find the entire family size container gone).
They and you can say it's easy. But I'm going to argue that it's not true. At least in my case and, from what I'm reading here and what the statistics say, a lot of other cases, too.
Which doesn't mean I'm not going to look for tips and tricks I can try for myself that might help make it easier. Because I will and always have.0 -
Except it isn't 10% loss but at least 10%.
Mean loss might be much higher.
Oh yes, I just think though that seeing 10% as the cutoff for success makes it easier to discount results when you are talking about long-term weight loss of large amounts of weight .In the AJPN study it looks as though mean maintained loss settled to somewhere around 22%.
I actually don't think the odds for weight loss are as dire as the 95% number that is always bandied about which I don't think really has much behind it, but I do think that the majority of people do fail to keep it off based on the trials I've seen. The NWCR data is encouraging, though. I wonder how representative it is. I suspect those who are willing to enroll and continue with the yearly questionnaires are probably significantly different than the population.0 -
All this study "proves" is that 95% of people are weak.
This 100 times over0 -
I interpret the original post as meaning: diets don't work. I buy that. However, "lifestyle change" does work, which involves more than going on a diet.
I lost over 60lbs going on 2 decades ago...20 years and 2 kids later, I'm smaller, healthier, and more fit than I was as a teenager. I didn't go on a diet though.0 -
What in_the_stars posted in the other thread on this issue is far more enlightening to me than rawr rah rah willpower, get some!
"The Rockefeller subjects also had a psychiatric syndrome, called semi-starvation neurosis, which had been noticed before in people of normal weight who had been starved. They dreamed of food, they fantasized about food or about breaking their diet. They were anxious and depressed; some had thoughts of suicide. They secreted food in their rooms. And they binged. "
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/08/health/08fat.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
This is no ordinary test of willpower. This requires extraordinary willpower. Failing to acknowledge that is setting ourselves up for failure.
You need to stop making assumptions. I never said true weight loss was an easy test of willpower. Why do you think it impresses people so much when folks genuinely succeed? Not many do. That is a fact. But do you really think the kind of people that go hmmm i wonder if I have the willpower succeed? No it's the kind of people that simply refuse to fail that succeed. I never said losing weight was easy. I simply said that it was directly in our control.
It's not specifically you I quoted at. It's the general tone of 'toughen up, buttercup, it's easy,' that I find in many posts here. No, it's not easy. Telling people it is doesn't do anyone any favors.
But I thought of something having to do with what others are posting about that 'at least %10' part:
The first 25 pounds or so wasn't that hard. If I'd just lost %10-%12 of my body weight, I bet I would have been able to breeze along eating in moderation and been fine. It was after I hit around %15 of my body weight lost that I started having issues very similar to what was described. So maybe for someone who either doesn't have much to lose or is happy at a higher weight, it isn't that bad. But for me, it's a daily struggle no matter what I try. Whether I'll keep doing it or decide it's not worth it is, of course, all on me, but it bends my nose out of shape when people try to say it's easy.
The nose bending is all your. You own that. If you take offense at the experience of others and their sharing look at how it affects you or step away from the forums.
While it might not be easy for you, there are things to be learned there. And yes, people struggle with a lot of different aspects of health, exercise or fitness. Some people here are struggling with significant health issues that are truly formidable.
And for others, it is easy. And they might have found a few keys that they want to share. Should they be silenced because your nose got out of shape?
I find a small deficit easy, I find tracking relatively easy. I find eating nutritiously very easy. I would find large cuts, knocking out sugar, going vegan/paleo/fruitarian/etc. impossibly hard - so I don't do it. I find doing exercise with some frequency easy but training permanently hard - so I listen to those that find it easy to see what they do, how they approach it and see what I can pick up.
Be offended that weight loss is easy for some or use it to learn something.
If your offended the month you joined this place - I'm not sure you are going to last long with that.
I do wish you success! :flowerforyou:
No, they should not be silenced for saying it's easy. Good for you if it's easy for you to do moderation (it's impossible for me, I even have to watch myself around dried fruit or I'll find the entire family size container gone).
They and you can say it's easy. But I'm going to argue that it's not true. At least in my case and, from what I'm reading here and what the statistics say, a lot of other cases, too.
Which doesn't mean I'm not going to look for tips and tricks I can try for myself that might help make it easier. Because I will and always have.
I love dried fruit - 3 years ago I would easily eat half a kilo of it in one sitting (usually on a biking trip with dire dire dire consequences). I still eat a lot. In this case my control mechanism is two fold, I either keep the pantry full or empty of certain items. If it's full I don't fear I'm going to run out, or empty if I can't handle that. I know I can't eat too much dried figs or prunes or else - I like those so they"ve replaced dried apricots and mango.
Moderation strategies are built over time and with relation to new food attitudes. Learning that I'd rather have a banana vs a chocolate bar (same fullness for me but 1/3 the calories) means that I'll eat more lower calorie dense food and still feel full...)
My shopping practices changed slowly but most of all my attitude to what I wanted to achieve with my body, what fitness level I want, what I'm doing to achieve it and the positive reinforcement that I get from that - that is what I mean by easy.
You can believe 5% or 30% or 40% success rate (there are studies for each) or not care about that and focus on how you are making things better for yourself (and not just about weight loss, btw). I know that sound a bit kumbaya, but it's true.
ETA: Dried fig day today.
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All this study "proves" is that 95% of people are weak.
This 100 times over
Not "weak" in my opinion. Simply not interested enough in making the commitments required, for various reasons. I call this shifting of priorities. It it takes work, and is not a priority (I'm not arguing whether it should be or not, but look at the people arguing or complaining about the hassle of measuring their food - simply, the hassle outweighs the "cost" of measuring because it's not that important for them. i.e. not a priority). People get other stuff to focus, their careers, their families, etc.
I have successfully lost more than 25 lb. from my heaviest. I wasn't unhealthy, I wasn't obese. I did have 20% body fat. My lifestyle change was exercise - I had a pretty sedentary late adolescence, and only started working out diligently when I reached 18. Even then I was still not that interested in anything more than pick up games and weights until I joined a varsity team at 20.
Then I became very fond of competition, and weight management became important for my athletic aspirations. So it was a lifestyle change about 18 years ago, when I weighed 200+ lb Vs. 165-170 right now. I still fluctuate a lot, up to 180 in the winter with less exercise and no races for motivation. But it is important to me, so I do the work - even if weight management is not the primary motivation.
EDIT - just looked at the post above. There's some foods that are absolutely unmanageable for me, like mixed nuts. I'll eat a 5 lb bag in less than a week. I certainly have work to do and I'm "weak" resisting them. So I become smart: only buy small amounts for a single sitting, not very often.0 -
I love dried fruit - 3 years ago I would easily eat half a kilo of it in one sitting (usually on a biking trip with dire dire dire consequences). I still eat a lot. In this case my control mechanism is two fold, I either keep the pantry full or empty of certain items. If it's full I don't fear I'm going to run out, or empty if I can't handle that. I know I can't eat too much dried figs or prunes or else - I like those so they"ve replaced dried apricots and mango.
Moderation strategies are built over time and with relation to new food attitudes. Learning that I'd rather have a banana vs a chocolate bar (same fullness for me but 1/3 the calories) means that I'll eat more lower calorie dense food and still feel full...)
My shopping practices changed slowly but most of all my attitude to what I wanted to achieve with my body, what fitness level I want, what I'm doing to achieve it and the positive reinforcement that I get from that - that is what I mean by easy.
You can believe 5% or 30% or 40% success rate (there are studies for each) or not care about that and focus on how you are making things better for yourself (and not just about weight loss, btw). I know that sound a bit kumbaya, but it's true.
ETA: Dried fig day today.
Now this is good info. And I haven't tried dried figs. Not even sure I've ever eaten one. It might be time to add them, carefully. I am learning that I can control my sugar cravings better if I have enough roughage with it. I don't eat raisins by the handful (unless I cave) I put them in with some onions, mushrooms, beans, etc. And that I can cope with. If I chopped up a candybar and threw it in a salad, I'm pretty sure that wouldn't go so well!0
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