Researchers claiming it's impossible to keep weight off

I don't care enough about whether you believe me, or any study, to go through the trouble of searching for articles and studies on the topic I've come across through the years.

You can believe whatever percentages you like, whatever helps your road. Has nothing to do with me sir.

Oh ok, thanks, now I know in the future not to try and have a discussion with you. Will save us both a lot of time.

I don't post on MFP to have a discussion specifically with you. I don't even know who the hell you are LOL. So yes, that works just fine.

The thing is that if you refer to studies, don't supply references and blow off people who try to engage intelligently with you, then you are essentially talking to yourself - just adding valueless noise.

Watching this with interest...

I lost 90lbs by doing it slowly, it was a lifestyle change that I was going to stick to blah blah blah. I kept it off for a year. Then I got a trapped nerve in my back which meant I had to give up running. Then I changed jobs and am more sedentary. Suddenly 25lbs has piled back on and I am knocking at the door of overweight again. So I'm back to lose it, hoping that I don't take my eye off the ball again. But for me, maintenance was just as hard as losing it in the first place, but without the highs of seeing the scale drop.

This is what kills me every time. I know that weight maintenance = portion control but I have a hard time caring about what I'm putting in my body when I'm not actively engaged in something.

(Joining this thread for later reading and replying.)

I would say that is an opinion piece written by a journalist not a scientific paper. Just because a journalist talks about what certain scientists think personally doesn't make that science.

Scientists are people, they have opinions too. Not everything that exits a scientists mouth is science.

The article isn't written by a journalist. It says "For psychologist Traci Mann, who has spent 20 years running an eating lab at the University of Minnesota..."

I would say that is an opinion piece written by a journalist not a scientific paper. Just because a journalist talks about what certain scientists think personally doesn't make that science.

Scientists are people, they have opinions too. Not everything that exits a scientists mouth is science.

The article isn't written by a journalist. It says "For psychologist Traci Mann, who has spent 20 years running an eating lab at the University of Minnesota..."

The byline for the article is Kelly Crowe at CBC news.

That quote is a lead in to an OPINION expressed by a psychologist who studies eating behavior.

http://www.weightymatters.ca/2014/06/more-on-almost-impossible-feat-of.html

What I'm getting at is that I think what makes maintaining weight loss seem "almost impossible" are the goal posts society has generally set to measure success. No doubt, if the goal set is losing every last ounce of weight that some stupid chart says you're supposed to lose then the descriptor "almost impossible" may well be fair. On the other hand, if the goal is to cultivate the healthiest life that you can honestly enjoy, subtotal losses, often with significant concomitant health improvements, are definitely within your reach.

This is one of the most infuriating pieces of garbage I've read in a long time.


"Long-term weight loss happens to only the smallest minority of people."

It doesn't 'happen to' people. People make choices and these choices affect our health.


"...if we check back after five or 10 years, there's a good chance they will have put the weight back on. Only about five per cent of people who try to lose weight ultimately succeed, according to the research... Those kinds of stories really keep the myth alive..."

Myth: (n.) a widely held but false belief or idea.

It's not a false belief or idea that weight loss is possible. In fact, the idea that it is IMpossible is false, and downright insulting to the human race and our grand achievements. We have put people on the moon, but it's impossible for an individual to change his/her lifestyle? Laughable.


"You should still eat right, you should still exercise, doing healthy stuff is still healthy... It just doesn't make you thin."

Yes it does. Moreover 'thin' is a generally incomplete goal-- FIT and MOBILE are better ones. And training and nutrition can indeed lead to fitness and mobility for anyone.


"...we are held hostage to our biology, which is adapted to gain weight..."

No, we aren't. Biology is 1/3 the explanation for any human behavior, with psychology and sociology being the other 2/3. Any first-year psych student can explain this idea in detail. Perhaps these researchers should've consulted one.


I have my own theory as to why people in our society are unable to maintain healthy lifestyles: it's because we live in a culture that facilitates a pervasive refusal to take ACCOUNTABILITY, largely by throwing around excuses for self-destructive behavior and calling them science.

This is just want people *want* to hear to prevent them from even feeling like they have to try. Sad that they post this kind of stuff, and then the next segment probably promote some new diet syrup or some crap!