Researchers claiming it's impossible to keep weight off

Options
12357…14

Replies

  • echofm1
    echofm1 Posts: 471 Member
    Options
    The reason I'm hesitant to trust the numbers of the researchers, in this case, is because long-term weight loss is difficult to do in a highly controlled study. In fact, the more controlled it is in this case, the less likely participants probably are to keep the weight off. This is because it sets up the diet problem: Follow our strict plan to lose the weight. Then we let you go into the world and see if you regain (Spoiler! Most of them do). It's a hard metric to track because if you don't control it at all it's hard to gather results, but if you do control it then your results are likely to be skewed.

    That being said, a lot of people probably do regain the weight, or at least part of it, for various reasons. Women might have a baby, or it might just be the result of getting older, or maybe something happens in their lives. And maybe after that point they go back down, maybe they don't.

    I think it would be interesting to see the long term success of people after they've hit goal weight though, and comparing the programs used to see which methods of weight loss have the highest chance of long term success. We all say that it's calorie counting and a reasonable deficit (and I agree!), but it would be neat to see it in comparison to things like Shakeology, Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, etc.

    It would also be neat to see if there's a difference depending on how much weight you lose. How likely is it that someone who lost 150 lbs will regain all the weight (within 2 lbs like the article claims) vs. someone who lost 100, vs. 50, vs 25, vs. 10. More interesting things to consider!
  • defauIt
    defauIt Posts: 118 Member
    Options
    It's really amazing how 100% of the people in this thread are the 5%.

    Also fun to note, the 5% count someone who has lost 5% of their weight permanently as a success. So if you're 300lbs and go to 285lbs you're part of the very rare 5%. People going from 300lbs to 180lbs are a tiny subgroup of the 5%.

    But feel free to say every single study which has found the same result to be wrong. Your anecdotal evidence and disbelief is much more credible then thousands upon thousands of data points.
  • belgerian
    belgerian Posts: 1,059 Member
    Options
    Too many variables to come to a conclusion like that. I will agree that a significant number of people will regain maybe 20 percent for one reason or another. But to the extent they are promoting I dont believe it. What kind of nutritional and physical training and for how long and what were the BF percantages before and after and how old is this group and where are they from and what kind of family history to they have and or medical issues. I could go on with my questions on these control groups.
  • AglaeaC
    AglaeaC Posts: 1,974 Member
    Options
    It's not a diet and exercise plan. It is a lifestyle change. I'll repeat, lifestyle change. Changing a lifestyle from unhealthy to healthy isn't just about losing excess fat, but sure as heck about a lot more.

    There are many habits that need to be altered and there is lots of work behind each permanently finished habit.

    Once all the bad habits have been changed, however, one should logically be a whole new person, so to speak, and there shouldn't be any reason whatsoever to revert to the old bad habits, unless one actively chooses to permanently finish the good ones.
  • lindsey1979
    lindsey1979 Posts: 2,395 Member
    Options
    I don't understand what's so shocking about this article or why some are reacting to it so strongly. I thought this was a pretty well-known fact -- that a lot of people don't maintain over the longterm.

    That's personally why I think it's so important to get to the underlying reasons for the hunger and desire to eat -- whether it's a nutritional deficiency, hormonal issue or psychological issue. Our bodies didn't evolve in time of perpetual abundance, so it's no surprise that when left to our own devices, that so many overeat and become fat -- that's the only way people survived not that long ago.
  • amoffatt
    amoffatt Posts: 674 Member
    Options
    This is why I try to explain to others that it is a lifestyle change with no diet. Usually if a person invests in all these different diet gimicks, they do yes lose, but what about keeping it off? Diet roller coaster, been there, done that.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
    Options
    I lost about 45 lbs in 1994 and kept it off until my first pregnancy almost 10 years later. It can be done and I am doing it again. I've spent most of my life doing things other people said were "too hard". I am the 5%.

    Wasn't the 5% those who kept it off for more than 10 years? It sounds like you are exactly what the article is talking about. You are doing it again.

    Errr. Pretty sure that the research would have excluded those who regained due to pregnancy. If not, that has to be the most incompetent bunch of researchers ever.
  • SarahAnna87
    SarahAnna87 Posts: 65 Member
    Options
    I didn't read all the comments, so sorry if I repeat. I agree this article does not address everything involved with weight loss, and maintenance. I have spoken with a few obesity experts over the last little while, including my own doctor, and they agree that the maintenance will be much harder in the long run and to anticipate the struggles. I am not going to go into all that I have learned (another day another time).

    But, I have started to look at my weight loss journey and future maintenance in a way any person with an addiction handles there journeys. It is one day at a time, but something that must be constantly monitored. Will I stumble? Probably. I already have, many times. But I get back up. I personally think that is key -- GET BACK UP.

    Addiction is probably the wrong word to use but I am lacking something better.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
    Options
    It's really amazing how 100% of the people in this thread are the 5%.

    Also fun to note, the 5% count someone who has lost 5% of their weight permanently as a success. So if you're 300lbs and go to 285lbs you're part of the very rare 5%. People going from 300lbs to 180lbs are a tiny subgroup of the 5%.

    But feel free to say every single study which has found the same result to be wrong. Your anecdotal evidence and disbelief is much more credible then thousands upon thousands of data points.

    Funny. I posted earlier and didn't say anything about being in the 5% other than that I think it's not relevant. Each diet plan will have a different success rate. I want to know the success rate for what I'm doing, not what someone else is doing.

    Besides, I'm planning on a couple of cut/bulk cycles. Pretty sure that deliberate weight gain should take me out of the tested population anyway.
  • VeganCappy
    VeganCappy Posts: 122
    Options
    I agree, you will feel miserable, but if you do it right, that misery will pass as your body starts to become accustom to foods with lower calorie densities. If you eat the right foods, you can eat all you want and still lose weight, feel great, and still perform anaerobic exercise (you can't in ketosis).

    There is evidence to suggest that this is not true. The reduction in metabolism from losing body fat may be permanent. The effect has been tracked in people who have kept their weight off for several years. Their metabolisms are still 12% - 20% lower than people of the same weight who were never obese.

    If it became easier over time I would expect to see more people succeed long term, too, which we don't.

    When you lose weight, your resting metabolism goes down. When you increase your fitness, your resting metabolism goes down.

    I'd like to see your reference, because I can see a false conclusion if ignoring the factor that the people who lost weight are continually exercising and staying more fit than the people who were never obese.
  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
    Options
    People fail at keeping the weight off for the same reasons they fail at anything else in life. I'm not sure why this is a point of contention. If you treat your weight as the end goal and not something you need to keep working on, you're going to fail, just as you would at a job or relationship. There's really no need to complicate things.
  • lthames0810
    lthames0810 Posts: 722 Member
    Options
    6. Possibly most importantly, once achieving goal weight, they did not attempt to simply maintain weight. They continued to want to improve body composition by doing rotating periods of muscle gain and fat loss (also known as bulk/cut cycles).

    I feel like number 6 is really the key here. It is why they continue to do numbers 1-5. When people no longer have a goal and simply want to focus on maintaining the can become relaxed. The work is done, now it's just smooth sailing. This is unfortunately not true at all. The only thing "easier" about maintenance vs. fat loss is that calories can be slightly higher. Not even a ton higher, we're talking around 500 calories a day higher. Not really a ton of wiggle room. If instead of just maintaining you decide to focus on body re-composition, you have no room to be relaxed. A muscle gaining phase involves more precise control then a fat loss phase does. It's much harder work. It's slower, results are less dramatic. You can lose 100 lbs in a year if you try hard. You can only hope to gain a fraction of that over a lifetime of attempting muscle gain. It probably takes most people 5-10 years worth of bulk/cut cycling to reach their muscular genetic potential. Spending that long tracking calories, working out, weighing in, seems like adequate time to have fully integrated those habits into your life. 10 years in you probably have little worry of falling off the wagon.

    Very, very interesting. Vismal, you always have a way of casting a problem in a new light.

    I now see the potential to take real action to not become one of the 95% (as opposed to just hoping I won't.) The only thing is that this particular goal of working toward the best possible body in this particular way doesn't seem applicable to a older woman like myself (who loathes lifting weights.) I just have to find an equivalently elusive goal that I can work toward over the long term. Maybe something to do with my bicycling...like improving my watts per kilogram or something like that.

    Thank you for this!
  • Pirate_chick
    Pirate_chick Posts: 1,216 Member
    Options
    I lost a lot of weight before, and when I reached my goal, I went back to my old eating habits. Unsurprisingly, I put double what I lost back on. It's my own fault, no excuses. This time, I have that knowledge and decided to make it a lifestyle change. Meaning, if I don't plan on giving it up forever, I am not giving it up now. I learning to eat in moderation. Not starve or binge/purge like I did last time.
  • 1princesswarrior
    1princesswarrior Posts: 1,242 Member
    Options
    I remember a forum awhile back that pointed to a HBO documentary about a study of leptin therapy after weight loss. They were studying why people gained weight after losing it and yo-yo dieting and found that after weight loss the leptin levels never returned to normal. I know this was already mentioned and just repeated it to describe the study. It was very interesting and I didn't bookmark the link...ugh. But it is the only study I've ever seen taking this approach to maintaining weight after a significant loss.

    Tbh, I don't know if I fall into the 5% or not because I'm still losing and I was always athletically built until about 6 years ago when I started having health troubles. My brother and parents have yo-yo dieted as long as I can remember though but they've never tried calorie counting and structured exercise. I'd like to think that all the knowledge I'm gaining here will apply in maintenance once I get there and I can be part of the 5% but I won't know until I get there.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Options
    People fail at keeping the weight off for the same reasons they fail at anything else in life. I'm not sure why this is a point of contention. If you treat your weight as the end goal and not something you need to keep working on, you're going to fail, just as you would at a job or relationship. There's really no need to complicate things.

    Yet jobs are lost and relationships fail too. Even if you are giving it your best shot.
  • JustSomeEm
    JustSomeEm Posts: 20,220 MFP Moderator
    Options
    Are we sure this isn't a satirical article picked up by a reputable news service? Wouldn't be the first time. some of the phrasing in the article makes me want to laugh.
  • defauIt
    defauIt Posts: 118 Member
    Options
    It's really amazing how 100% of the people in this thread are the 5%.

    Also fun to note, the 5% count someone who has lost 5% of their weight permanently as a success. So if you're 300lbs and go to 285lbs you're part of the very rare 5%. People going from 300lbs to 180lbs are a tiny subgroup of the 5%.

    But feel free to say every single study which has found the same result to be wrong. Your anecdotal evidence and disbelief is much more credible then thousands upon thousands of data points.

    Funny. I posted earlier and didn't say anything about being in the 5% other than that I think it's not relevant. Each diet plan will have a different success rate. I want to know the success rate for what I'm doing, not what someone else is doing.

    Besides, I'm planning on a couple of cut/bulk cycles. Pretty sure that deliberate weight gain should take me out of the tested population anyway.

    My first comment was a tongue-in-cheek joke about how almost everyone thinks they're special and was not meant as a statement of literal truth.

    Would it have helped if I added [/joke] tags?
  • in_the_stars
    in_the_stars Posts: 1,395 Member
    Options
    It's really amazing how 100% of the people in this thread are the 5%.

    Also fun to note, the 5% count someone who has lost 5% of their weight permanently as a success. So if you're 300lbs and go to 285lbs you're part of the very rare 5%. People going from 300lbs to 180lbs are a tiny subgroup of the 5%.

    But feel free to say every single study which has found the same result to be wrong. Your anecdotal evidence and disbelief is much more credible then thousands upon thousands of data points.

    yeah, because "The plural of anecdote is not data."
  • FunkyTobias
    FunkyTobias Posts: 1,776 Member
    Options
    When you increase your fitness, your resting metabolism goes down.

    Making **** up again I see.

    Fitness and RMR have no correlation.

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1550061
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9029211
  • in_the_stars
    in_the_stars Posts: 1,395 Member
    Options
    When you increase your fitness, your resting metabolism goes down.

    Making **** up again I see.

    Fitness and RMR have no correlation.

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1550061
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9029211

    So true.

Categories