What are the Proven Benefits of a "Lifestyle Change"?

_KitKat_

I can see both sides of this. I do not think an appropriate study could actually be done, OP you are asking about weight loss and even if that is the goal, that is not the issue to be studied. Reading these forums I have seen so many causes brought up on how individuals had the high weight to begin with. These are the things that would need to be studied. Can a binge eater successfully maintain a large weight loss without reverting? Can an emotional eater overcome their emotional ties to food for longterm weight maintenance? Can a person with lifetime depression and body image issues truly recover? These and many other questions are what I believe are the variables that are not controlled in any current study.

I also believe it would be critical to longterm results to know the persons past weight history. Have they always had weight issues? Contributing health issues?

I may be just optimistic but for myself I do believe I will maintain. The reason for this though, is I never had a weight issue till the last three years, so 3/37 or slightly less than 1/12 of my life. I do not have emotional issues, binge issues, had 2 kids and the weight dropped off without me ever having a thought about it. In the last three years I started snacking at night, not a ton but more than enough and the portion sizes slowly creeped up, I also became less active. I noticed but stayed proportional, when my weight hit higher than my weight at labor, I figured a health issue, then when I checked out as 100℅ healthy...I had to look at myself. I saw what I had done, I log now to lose the damage I caused and to see what a snack will do to my numbers, I still snack but more like I always did in the past (prior to weight gain), not nightly and not 5-6 oreo's instead only when I really want a snack and either a healthy option or 2 cookies. I also have bigger goals now than just weight loss, I figure if I have to work for it than I should aim for better than my normal....I want to be more fit that the 20 something me, and I was pretty fit then. This last part, is the part of my goal that will take willpower.

I guess my opinion is even the studies out currently are antidotal because they are seeing a percentage of the weight loss population as a whole or grouped by method, when the real study would be grouped by method and cause of original obesity.

Lifestyle change would work longterm, but if the underlying problems are not properly addressed than true lifestyle change never really occurred. Addressing underlying issues, forming new habits and having a strong desire and the will to maintain health with a slow adaptation into any changes would be the only way a true life style change would occur or reconditioning... Either of these do imply permanence by being rid of the prior factors. This would also be near impossible to study due to people brushing off emotional issues and telling themselves they made a lifestyle change when in fact if old habits renewed an actual change never occurred, but in reality only a limited adjustment happened.

I know this isn't a study, and OP I see where you are coming from. I just feel the wrong questions are being asked in these studies.

Plus without studies, the words taken at true meaning would signify long (life) term, a life style change is for life and is a change, meaning to switch to one thing from another, not experiment and then revert back. Just because the phrase or words may be misused, does not invalidate the concept.

tycho_mx

Myself as an anecdotal example.

I was never obese (or even overweight by some parameters), I was always physically active.

At 20 I was at my adult height - 1.87 m (about 6' 2"). I did very little aerobic exercise but some skill sports (intramural soccer, baseball) and lots of weight training, 6 days a week. I was 205 lb.

Part of the services provided to athletes at my university were diet assessments and body fat estimates via caliper. I was 22% body fat. I followed a calorie-restricted diet of 1600 cal for 12 weeks after being selected for varsity volleyball. I was down to about 185 lb and 18% body fat.

I continued to lose gradually but without focus, until I started cycling for competition at 30 (I'm 36 now). Now my weight fluctuates for the season between 165 lb and 180 in the offseason. I still let myself gain too much in the winter and take too long to try to lose weight to be competitive early in the season. I was exactly 164.8 for the first main goal of this year, and will try to be 160 for the second target in late August. It's not easy to lose weight while trying to keep performance quality. Just today I had a bad race despite trying to have a good diet (and still have a weekly deficit; I think there's other stresses at hand). My body fat goes from 12% to 17% within a season.

So yeah, that's 20 years of being about 20 lb lighter than my heaviest. Some of that has been muscle (and I still would be ok with losing some arm and chest muscle, it's not useful for cycling). The lifestyle change was dedication to aerobic performance. I don't know if that's a benefit or not - simply requisite for the desired competitive level (I was dropped today on a climb, frag!).

sculli123

The question isn't how do people gain weight back, we know how. We lose the weight, then eat like pigs again. The question is: Why do so many of us do that, given how horrible being overweight is and how hard we worked to not be anymore?

When that gets solved, then this issue can be laid to rest. For certain the simple, ill-defined phrase 'lifestyle change' isn't offering up any solutions.

It means you keep working out and eating right even after you hit your goal. You set new fitness related goals (doesn't have to just be losing weight). Mabye your goal is lose 30 lbs. Then once you get there, you maintain it and you set some other goal your interested in - maybe run a 5k, 10k, whatever. You keep working out and doing fitness related activities. You don't start eating junk because you lost your 30 lbs. You eat a maintainance amount of calories. If weight starts to creep up, you lower cals again. Rinse and repeat for life. Best thing to do is keep setting goals and enter into fitness related events so you have something to train for. Example: I'm training for a powerlifting meet and three mud obstacle races this summer. In the fall I'll be training for some other events. That's why it's a lifestyle, always have a goal to train (and eat) for.

jenilla1

I don't need research to validate my own personal experience. I've been maintaining for several years after making permanent, sustainable lifestyle changes. Doesn't matter to me if lifestyle changes work for others or not. It works for me. It's worked for other people I know who have tried it as well. Try your own personal experiment - make some lifestyle changes (and stick with them) and see what happens. If you don't think there's a benefit to something, then don't do it. Good luck with whatever your goals are, though...:flowerforyou:

Iwishyouwell

What are your current lifestyle choices? Smoking? Eating unhealthy foods? Doing jumping jacks in the middle of the highway? Well, whatever your lifestyle is, you've wound up on myfitnesspal which is a tool to help people lose weight and/or maintain a healthy weight.

Why are you here?

Now try to find some people who look/are healthy. Ask them what their lifestyle choices are. If they are similar to yours, you're on the right track. If not, maybe listen to what they say.

Eat less/make better food choices and exercise.

Eat more and don't exercise.

Which option is better off in the long run for losing weight?

Who are you addressing this to, and more importantly, how does this address the question presented in the OP?

Meerataila

The question isn't how do people gain weight back, we know how. We lose the weight, then eat like pigs again. The question is: Why do so many of us do that, given how horrible being overweight is and how hard we worked to not be anymore?

When that gets solved, then this issue can be laid to rest. For certain the simple, ill-defined phrase 'lifestyle change' isn't offering up any solutions.

It means you keep working out and eating right even after you hit your goal. You set new fitness related goals (doesn't have to just be losing weight). Mabye your goal is lose 30 lbs. Then once you get there, you maintain it and you set some other goal your interested in - maybe run a 5k, 10k, whatever. You keep working out and doing fitness related activities. You don't start eating junk because you lost your 30 lbs. You eat a maintainance amount of calories. If weight starts to creep up, you lower cals again. Rinse and repeat for life. Best thing to do is keep setting goals and enter into fitness related events so you have something to train for. Example: I'm training for a powerlifting meet and three mud obstacle races this summer. In the fall I'll be training for some other events. That's why it's a lifestyle, always have a goal to train (and eat) for.

If it was that simple everyone with even a moderate amount of nutrition information would never get fat in the first place, much less have trouble keeping weight off.

Iwishyouwell

It's rather telling that I create a thread asking for studies, which are quite commonly asked for on MFP forums to back up weight loss/weight maintenance claims...

Yet over half of you either get pissy and personal at me for asking, or go on about how you personally don't "need studies" to validate your road. Who said anything about "needing" studies for this? I'm asking that a very common, widely used claim that doing it the "right" way leads to long term success over all other methods be backed up with actual scientific, measurable evidence. Some of you are getting awfully emotional, and awfully personal, over a very simple request for information.

morehealthymatt

Have you tried using google? Or are you actually looking for someone to mail you a medical journal that contains weight loss articles?

A simple google search can provide you links to numerous studies about weight loss methods.

_KitKat_

The question isn't how do people gain weight back, we know how. We lose the weight, then eat like pigs again. The question is: Why do so many of us do that, given how horrible being overweight is and how hard we worked to not be anymore?

When that gets solved, then this issue can be laid to rest. For certain the simple, ill-defined phrase 'lifestyle change' isn't offering up any solutions.

It means you keep working out and eating right even after you hit your goal. You set new fitness related goals (doesn't have to just be losing weight). Mabye your goal is lose 30 lbs. Then once you get there, you maintain it and you set some other goal your interested in - maybe run a 5k, 10k, whatever. You keep working out and doing fitness related activities. You don't start eating junk because you lost your 30 lbs. You eat a maintainance amount of calories. If weight starts to creep up, you lower cals again. Rinse and repeat for life. Best thing to do is keep setting goals and enter into fitness related events so you have something to train for. Example: I'm training for a powerlifting meet and three mud obstacle races this summer. In the fall I'll be training for some other events. That's why it's a lifestyle, always have a goal to train (and eat) for.

If it was that simple everyone with even a moderate amount of nutrition information would never get fat in the first place, much less have trouble keeping weight off.

How do you see that? People who have emotional ties to food for stress and comfort, people that have binging disorders.....these issues can easily overtake the best intentions unless dealt with. Until the why is addressed, the how to fix it will never work. Not addressing the core issues is why people yo-yo and develope an even more harmful perpetuating cycle of self sabotage.

jimbmc

Perhaps, if you can not find a Study/Evidence, then do one. You have obviously had a weight loss journey, and have probably met a number of people who have gone through the same. Use your own personal experiences, and the experiences of others to find the evidence. Perhaps involve people on a "fad" diet also, so you can compare.

Thing is, if all you are after is percentages and stats, to prove something, then in my opinion, I don't think you're going to get an accurate picture. Stats can be manipulated to show what ever you want them to say.

Stick with actual people. Get their stories and experiences. Find out what has worked and what hasn't.

Then you'll have you're evidence, either way.

sculli123

The question isn't how do people gain weight back, we know how. We lose the weight, then eat like pigs again. The question is: Why do so many of us do that, given how horrible being overweight is and how hard we worked to not be anymore?

When that gets solved, then this issue can be laid to rest. For certain the simple, ill-defined phrase 'lifestyle change' isn't offering up any solutions.

It means you keep working out and eating right even after you hit your goal. You set new fitness related goals (doesn't have to just be losing weight). Mabye your goal is lose 30 lbs. Then once you get there, you maintain it and you set some other goal your interested in - maybe run a 5k, 10k, whatever. You keep working out and doing fitness related activities. You don't start eating junk because you lost your 30 lbs. You eat a maintainance amount of calories. If weight starts to creep up, you lower cals again. Rinse and repeat for life. Best thing to do is keep setting goals and enter into fitness related events so you have something to train for. Example: I'm training for a powerlifting meet and three mud obstacle races this summer. In the fall I'll be training for some other events. That's why it's a lifestyle, always have a goal to train (and eat) for.

If it was that simple everyone with even a moderate amount of nutrition information would never get fat in the first place, much less have trouble keeping weight off.

It is that simple. I've been doing it for more than half of my life (I'm 41 been working out since i was a kid). Stop making excuses is the first step.

RodaRose

There are a few threads going on at the moment detailing various studies that show that long term weight loss management has pretty abysmal success rates.

The common rebuttal is that said studies are reflecting participants that lost weight the "wrong" way with various fads, cleanses, diet pills, etc, and that these rates do not reflect people who did it the "right" way with a "lifestyle change".

I've been looking for evidence to back up this claim and so far I've found nothing. I also haven't seen anybody on MFP actually offer solid proof either.

So I'm asking for people to please offer links to studies that show concrete evidence that "lifestyle changes" in the area of calorie counting, slow weight loss, "everything in moderation" all lead to more successful maintainers in the long run.

Thank you.

It is much harder to maintain --- almost impossible -- because after a weight loss we have changed our bodies.

Different bodies mean what did to lose the weight will not be enough in the long term.
In other words, it is much more complicated than lifestyle.

>>Study Shows Why It’s Hard to Keep Weight Off
By GINA KOLATA
Published: October 26, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/27/health/biological-changes-thwart-weight-loss-efforts-study-finds.html

>>The Fat Trap
By TARA PARKER-POPE
Published: December 28, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/tara-parker-pope-fat-trap.html?pagewanted=all

>>The Weight of the Nation shows a controlled experiment in which they kept people in the hospital and measured their calories exactly. In order to maintain people had to eat even less and work out even more than they had when they were losing.
http://theweightofthenation.hbo.com/films -- This is free to watch ONLINE because the US gov and HBO worked in partnership to produce it.

kdeaux1959

Much of the time studies are done to promote a particular method which can in turn be marketed and sold. Since slow weight loss through diet and exercise is not exactly a skill that will lead to large profits, much of the incentive for such studies is lost. Therefore, such studies would be less likely than those that promote a special product of secret weight loss gimmick. It is an interesting question, however and well worth asking. Best wishes on your success.

Meerataila

The question isn't how do people gain weight back, we know how. We lose the weight, then eat like pigs again. The question is: Why do so many of us do that, given how horrible being overweight is and how hard we worked to not be anymore?

When that gets solved, then this issue can be laid to rest. For certain the simple, ill-defined phrase 'lifestyle change' isn't offering up any solutions.

It means you keep working out and eating right even after you hit your goal. You set new fitness related goals (doesn't have to just be losing weight). Mabye your goal is lose 30 lbs. Then once you get there, you maintain it and you set some other goal your interested in - maybe run a 5k, 10k, whatever. You keep working out and doing fitness related activities. You don't start eating junk because you lost your 30 lbs. You eat a maintainance amount of calories. If weight starts to creep up, you lower cals again. Rinse and repeat for life. Best thing to do is keep setting goals and enter into fitness related events so you have something to train for. Example: I'm training for a powerlifting meet and three mud obstacle races this summer. In the fall I'll be training for some other events. That's why it's a lifestyle, always have a goal to train (and eat) for.

If it was that simple everyone with even a moderate amount of nutrition information would never get fat in the first place, much less have trouble keeping weight off.

How do you see that? People who have emotional ties to food for stress and comfort, people that have binging disorders.....these issues can easily overtake the best intentions unless dealt with. Until the why is addressed, the how to fix it will never work. Not addressing the core issues is why people yo-yo and develope an even more harmful perpetuating cycle of self sabotage.

But what if losing weight causes those disorders? Quoting this again because I read it today in someone's post, and to me it sums up the issue of how difficult it is to maintain a loss and I don't think the words 'lifestyle change' address it at all:

"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=1&

The whole article is really worth a read.

Froody2

Round and round we go...

Still not once solid study to support one of the basic tenants of the "lifestyle change" push, that it somehow is the answer to long term maintenance and has a success rate that "dieting" does not.

This thread is a call for proof. Where is it?

I'm guessing the answer to your question is - we don't yet know. It's only recently that researchers have started to look at successful maintainers, hopefully there will be some answers in the future.

In the meantime, I'll stick to my "lifestyle change" thankyouverymuch. It may not be backed by hard data, but it's one HELL of a lot easier to stick to (for me) than the latest low carb, gluten free, paleo, cleansing juice fast diet fad. The whole point people are trying to make when they advocate for a lifestyle change, I suspect, is that losing weight doesn't have to mean going without and the sheer torture of craving something and not being able to have it. EDIT: I was talking about the process of weight loss here, sorry, not maintenance. Most instances I've seen of lifestyle change advocacy on here have been in this context, though.

TL;DR - I'll probably put all my weight back on in ten years but dammit, at least it'll be an easier ride lol.


Good luck with your endeavours, whatever they may be.

tycho_mx

It's rather telling that I create a thread asking for studies, which are quite commonly asked for on MFP forums to back up weight loss/weight maintenance claims...

Yet over half of you either get pissy and personal at me for asking, or go on about how you personally don't "need studies" to validate your road. Who said anything about "needing" studies for this? I'm asking that a very common, widely used claim that doing it the "right" way leads to long term success over all other methods be backed up with actual scientific, measurable evidence. Some of you are getting awfully emotional, and awfully personal, over a very simple request for information.

Whoa, hang on a minute there - you clearly posted " I love reading anecdotal testimonies", which is why I posted my crap.

But to get to the term at hand, I think we're simply looking at this using the wrong words "lifestyle change".

I got a fair amount of results doing a search under " long term weight loss". The first abstract I found cites:

" National Weight Control Registry members have lost an average of 33 kg and maintained the loss for more than 5 y. To maintain their weight loss, members report engaging in high levels of physical activity (≈1 h/d), eating a low-calorie, low-fat diet, eating breakfast regularly, self-monitoring weight, and maintaining a consistent eating pattern across weekdays and weekends. Moreover, weight loss maintenance may get easier over time; after individuals have successfully maintained their weight loss for 2–5 y, the chance of longer-term success greatly increases. Continued adherence to diet and exercise strategies, low levels of depression and disinhibition, and medical triggers for weight loss are also associated with long-term success."

http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/booth/hliving/shvslonex.html

(A bit long, participants lost weight, regained some at 18 months. Takeaway message :

" - in overweight women, multiple short periods of exercise are as beneficial as a single long period in terms of weight loss, exercise participation and fitness (in combination with dietary change);
- multiple short periods of exercise can be incorporated into everyday life;
- the more exercise taken, the more weight lost;
- barriers to exercise participation need to be addressed (e.g. exercise needs to be convenient) and alternative options suggested (e.g. short brisk walks to the shops)."

tffcx

Here's some anecdotal evidence for your consideration: my sister crashed dieted, eating at a 1000 calorie deficit (200 kcal worth of congee - delicious and amazingly filling tbh - 3x a day). If the weight loss parameters matter, she started out at 155cm/45kg. She lost 10kg in a little over a month and has gleefully reverted to her hawker-feasting ways (google image "hawker food" and you'll see just how sinful it is) while maintaining the weight loss. Plenty of my friends have embarked on crash diets too, due to the pervasive obsession with "skinny" in our culture (no judgement from me here, it is what it is), and most keep the weight off even while seemingly stuffing their faces post-diet.

I was curious about this and so I googled around. (No studies because this was a long time ago and I've since forgotten my sources, sorry.) The results were kinda anticlimactically obvious... Turns out the only difference between an extreme diet and a "lifestyle change" (apart from the mental aspect, which would fall under the realm of psychology rather than physiology I assume) would be more metabolic slowdown from the former - but not nearly enough to compensate for the significant reduction in caloric intake. In fact metabolic slowdown is practically negligible. So long as you eat below your new TDEE during maintenance - and you already know this - you will maintain. I would go an extra step to surmise that to these crash-dieting individuals there is little danger of eating above their TDEE simply because it seems like such a generous caloric allowance after their short fling with semi-starvation.

Iwishyouwell

Have you tried using google? Or are you actually looking for someone to mail you a medical journal that contains weight loss articles?

A simple google search can provide you links to numerous studies about weight loss methods.

So in other words, you've got nothing.

Thanks for your input.

SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish

I'm sure you can agree to this fact: If you eat a certain way and get fat, you must have been eating a surplus of calories (more than you burned), so if you diet to lose weight and plan to be off the diet later and go back to the way you were eating without changing anything, you WILL get fat again. There is no chance it wont happen if you do the exact same things and are again at a surplus, right?

So really, you need no studies to see this very unsurprising fact: there really is NO way you can go back to eating at a surplus and not gain weight after your diet, without changing your intake, or your burn right? It's just not possible... it would actually be very unusual if any amount of people who "dieted" and didn't change their lifestyle or eating habits kept the weight off...I'm certain that 5% successful people are doing something different now, either intake or output.

When someone says "lifestyle change" they mean they did exactly that, changing how much they eat (reducing calories) or types of foods (lower calorie) and/or exercise (burns calories) which all can keep you at a "maintenance" and not re-gain (or lose).

Besides the fact we all know surplus of calories = gain, another reason you wont find studies proving benefits of "lifestyle change" is that its very difficult to study. Almost by definition everyone in a study has to sign up to get on a type of DIET, which by definition is not the person making a sustainable lifestyle change. You might think so, but everyone has different preferences and desires and if whatever diet involves eating something a person doesn't prefer or seek on their own, or even just amounts they would like, the sure aren't going to continue that habit when they are off diet. Almost by definition any studied "diet" is not sustainable and is not a "lifestyle change" of the type that works. Even the exercise portion of a study is not usually something that qualifies as a "lifestyle change": it is usually a controlled portion of exercise in the study of a certain kind most probably, not something natural the person is going to go seek and find enjoyable and modify to their own liking, but do according to study parameters. After the study is over? They do whatever they want...which is not what they did during the study if they don't particularly enjoy it.

tycho_mx

More interesting stuff from NWCR

http://www.drlenkravitz.com/Articles/winningtwo.html

Again, a summary of the factors detected and reported for the successful long-term weight losers:

1) Doing high levels of physical activity
2) Consuming a low-calorie, low-fat diet
3) Weighing themselves frequently
Of recent, a fourth common strategy most (78%) members report is eating breakfast (typically cereal and fruit) every day. As well, current members eat 2.5 meals/week at a restaurant and 0.74 meals/week in fast food establishments.

A common personality trait in registry members is their personal vigilance regarding weight loss maintenance. Forty-four percent of registry members weigh themselves daily, while 31% weigh themselves at least once per week. Further investigation of this population reveals that “successful weight loss maintainers continue to act like recently successful weight losers for many years after their weight loss” (Wing and Phelan, 2005).


So - exercise more, and monitor yourself